Here’s some good news: One of the original, and most fondly remembered social gaming features is back. Swarm, the social check-in app that evolved from Foursquare has been updated so you can once again become Mayor of your favorite local establishments.
This time, it’s even more fun because you now compete against the entire Swarm network to be the mayor of that favorite local coffee shop, instead of solely trying to attain more stickers.
The rules are pretty easy to follow: You will become Mayor of an establishment if you check-in more than anyone else over a 30 day period. The app will only count one check-in per day, so don’t think you can just check into Starbucks a million times in an afternoon and automatically become mayor.
Swarm also features a progress bar, removing the frustration and guesswork involved in wondering when you’ll get that highly desirable Mayorship. At this time, friend-based Mayorships are being removed from the app, and you will be competing against yourself or against the Swarm network. Over the last few weeks, Swarm has been adding up all of your check-in’s, so once you update the app, you should be able to see all of the places you’re Mayor.
This is a big update for Swarm. Mayorships on Foursquare were a hotly contested honor, but more than that, they served as an actual reason for checking into a location — meaning more people used the app. Swarm also makes it easier to brag on Facebook or Twitter when you take over mayorship or receive a new sticker. With these new changes, Swarm could see a rapid influx of old Foursquare users returning to the new, and less geekily popular, app.
You can download Swarm from the App Store and Google Play.