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Comment by Touche | Hacker News Reader

How crazy is it that at one point there were 5 or 6 check-in apps, it was all the rage and now there is essentially 1 (which itself is neglected). There were startups that were getting serious funding with the hopes of being 3rd place in the check-in category.

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It makes more sense when you think of it as a game instead of some sort of location sharing system.

Games are popular for a while, then they're not, for no real reason. One year everyone is playing it, the next year no one is, or just an odd collection of dedicated fans. Occasionally you have games that hold on for decades, like bridge or World of Warcraft or Settlers of Catan, but it's just a longer scale rather than true permanence.

I mean Instagram is, in many ways, a check-in app, and is spectacularly successful.

No, Instagram is missing the fundamental focus that makes something a "check-in app", i.e. a data presentation hierarchy where "I am at (specific place)" is on top. Instagram's top level of data is "I have picture".

Sure, if you stretch it far enough every social network is in some way a check-in app.

Right. But they weren’t when Foursquare launched, and now they are.

There were startups that were getting serious funding with the hopes of being 3rd place in the check-in category.

I remember one called Whrrl. It was run by a company called Pelago in Seattle, and IIRC was funded by T-Mobile money. I visited its offices a few times. They got cheap office space high up in what was formerly the Washington Mutual Tower when WaMu ate itself.

Interesting. I remember there was a check-in aggregator app, you checked in using that app and it checked you in to Foursquare, Gowalla, and others.

IIRC I think Google Maps might have added a check-in feature... it was a crazy time.

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