Welcome to Foursquare for Android!
Quick Start
Foursquare is a nightlife social game guide hybrid that rewards you with points for going out to a variety of places over the course of a night, and encouraging others to do the same. If you don't currently have an account you can create one at http://m.playfoursquare.com/signup.
The first screen you see is the Nearby screen, showing you venues near your present location (wireless or GPS). Selecting the venue you're at loads the Venue screen for that location, which shows you Tips, Todos, a Map, and Recent Checkins. You can quickly check in at the selected venue by hitting the Quick Checkin! button or check in with a shout by pressing Menu > Checkin!
The Friends tab, next to the Nearby tab, shows you the last publicly known location of your friends along with their most recent shout.
Venues can be added by pressing Menu > Add Venue. Each venue in the Foursquare system must have a uniquely identifiable name (such as "McDonald's - Westwood").
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Manual--------
First Timers
Since this is your first time running Foursquare for Android the first screen you'll see will ask you for your Foursquare account information. This will be your phone number and your account password. Foursquare for Android will save this information and you won't have to log in again unless you uninstall and reinstall the application or manually Log out from the Preferences screen. If you don't have an account, clicking on "Need an account?" will take you to the Foursquare website where you can easily create an account.
Nearby Screen
Now that you've logged in, the next screen is one you'll be seeing a lot: the Nearby screen. Using the location data enabled by your Android powered handset, we'll grab a list of venues close to your current physical location. If the venue you're presently at does not exist hitting Menu -> Add Venue will allow you to add your location into Foursquare's system. If the venue you're at shows up, clicking on it will take you to the Venue Screen where you can check in.
The second tab will take you to a view of this venue on a map. In the upper right corner of the map you'll see buttons that will lead you into the Google Maps (left button) application focused on venue's location so you can easily get driving directions, or take you to Yelp (left button) to read reviews of the venue.
The third tab will show you who the Mayor of this venue is as well as who else on Foursquare has recently checked in.
You can add a Tip or a personal ToDo to any venue by pressing Menu -> Add Tip. On the dialog that appears you can change between Tip or ToDo by using the drop down menu. Remember: Tips are things you think other people should do; ToDos are things you want to do.
Add Venue Screen
The Add Venue screen will auto-populate the address fields with your present location. This address will be pretty accurate if you have GPS turned on but may be off if you're only using Wireless Networks location. Each venue in Foursquare needs a unique name, so instead of "McDonald's" you should name the location in a way that's easily identifiable, such as "McDonald's - Westwood". You're also asked to identify the nearest major cross street to help other Foursquare users locate the venue, and add a phone number if it's available. Adding a new venue to Foursquare nets you an additional 5 points on top of the 5 points you get for checking in at it for the first time.
First Timers
Since this is your first time running Foursquare for Android the first screen you'll see will ask you for your Foursquare account information. This will be your phone number and your account password. Foursquare for Android will save this information and you won't have to log in again unless you uninstall and reinstall the application or manually Log out from the Preferences screen. If you don't have an account, clicking on "Need an account?" will take you to the Foursquare website where you can easily create an account.
Nearby Screen
Now that you've logged in, the next screen is one you'll be seeing a lot: the Nearby screen. Using the location data enabled by your Android powered handset, we'll grab a list of venues close to your current physical location. If the venue you're presently at does not exist hitting Menu -> Add Venue will allow you to add your location into Foursquare's system. If the venue you're at shows up, clicking on it will take you to the Venue Screen where you can check in.
Pressing Menu on this screen gives you several options. You can Search for a venue if it doesn't appear in the list automatically. Nearby will refresh your location and load a new list of venus. Refresh will refresh the list using your last updated location and search terms. Add Venue will take you to the Add Venue screen, and the More button will let you view your profile info under My Info and adjust your Preferences.
Pro-Tip! If you frequently check in at a certain venue, you can add a shortcut to that venue on your phone's Home screen by long pressing on your Home screen, selecting Shortcuts, then Foursquare Venues. A shortcut to the venue of your choice will appear on your Home screen.
The second tab on this screen is for your Friends. It displays the last known locations of your friends along with the most recent shout they posted. Clicking on one of your friends will load their profile information. Pressing Menu -> Shout! will broadcast a shout message to all your friends, useful if you're trying to coordinate a group activity. Menu -> Leaderboard will let view your friend's rankings against each other as well as the rankings for the city you're a member of.
Venue Screen
Now that you've selected a venue you can quickly Check In at that venue by hitting the Quick Checkin! button. If you'd like to shout while you check in, hitting Menu -> Checkin! will allow you to put in a shout alongside your check in. (In the options screen you can set the Quick Checkin! button to show the Shout dialog when you hit it.)
On this screen you can see Tips and ToDos that users have added to this venue. Tips are suggestions from other users of fun or interesting things to do, see, or eat at the selected venue. ToDos are things other Foursquare users wish to do at the selected venue themselves, and maybe their desires will inspire you to create some ToDos of your own.
The second tab on this screen is for your Friends. It displays the last known locations of your friends along with the most recent shout they posted. Clicking on one of your friends will load their profile information. Pressing Menu -> Shout! will broadcast a shout message to all your friends, useful if you're trying to coordinate a group activity. Menu -> Leaderboard will let view your friend's rankings against each other as well as the rankings for the city you're a member of.
Venue Screen
Now that you've selected a venue you can quickly Check In at that venue by hitting the Quick Checkin! button. If you'd like to shout while you check in, hitting Menu -> Checkin! will allow you to put in a shout alongside your check in. (In the options screen you can set the Quick Checkin! button to show the Shout dialog when you hit it.)
On this screen you can see Tips and ToDos that users have added to this venue. Tips are suggestions from other users of fun or interesting things to do, see, or eat at the selected venue. ToDos are things other Foursquare users wish to do at the selected venue themselves, and maybe their desires will inspire you to create some ToDos of your own.
Pro-Tip! Currently if you complete a tip, you've got to report it through the website. In future builds of Foursquare for Android you'll be able to complete them through the app itself.
The second tab will take you to a view of this venue on a map. In the upper right corner of the map you'll see buttons that will lead you into the Google Maps (left button) application focused on venue's location so you can easily get driving directions, or take you to Yelp (left button) to read reviews of the venue.
The third tab will show you who the Mayor of this venue is as well as who else on Foursquare has recently checked in.
You can add a Tip or a personal ToDo to any venue by pressing Menu -> Add Tip. On the dialog that appears you can change between Tip or ToDo by using the drop down menu. Remember: Tips are things you think other people should do; ToDos are things you want to do.
Add Venue Screen
The Add Venue screen will auto-populate the address fields with your present location. This address will be pretty accurate if you have GPS turned on but may be off if you're only using Wireless Networks location. Each venue in Foursquare needs a unique name, so instead of "McDonald's" you should name the location in a way that's easily identifiable, such as "McDonald's - Westwood". You're also asked to identify the nearest major cross street to help other Foursquare users locate the venue, and add a phone number if it's available. Adding a new venue to Foursquare nets you an additional 5 points on top of the 5 points you get for checking in at it for the first time.
Pro-Tip! Shift+Click&Drag in Browser will allow you to easily copy and paste address information from Google searches so you can paste it using Menu+V into the Address field.
Preferences Screen
The first two options on the Preferences screen are fairly self-explanatory. Do you want your friends and Twitter followers to be notified every time you check in and shout? If unchecked you can decide when you make a shout whether or not you want your friends and followers to be notified. Quick Checkins will not send notifications at all unless these options are checked.
Checkin without prompt changes the behavior of the Quick Checkin! button. If unchecked, you'll be asked if you want to Shout every time you hit the Quick Checkin! button.
Add Friends and Friend Requests will take you to the m.playfoursquare.com website in your Browser so you can find, add, and accept new friends.
You can also change the city you're playing in by hitting Update City which will automatically locate you and update your city for you. Logout will log you out of your Foursquare account.
The first two options on the Preferences screen are fairly self-explanatory. Do you want your friends and Twitter followers to be notified every time you check in and shout? If unchecked you can decide when you make a shout whether or not you want your friends and followers to be notified. Quick Checkins will not send notifications at all unless these options are checked.
Checkin without prompt changes the behavior of the Quick Checkin! button. If unchecked, you'll be asked if you want to Shout every time you hit the Quick Checkin! button.
Add Friends and Friend Requests will take you to the m.playfoursquare.com website in your Browser so you can find, add, and accept new friends.
You can also change the city you're playing in by hitting Update City which will automatically locate you and update your city for you. Logout will log you out of your Foursquare account.