The filters — accessed by tapping the “filter” button at the upper right when starting an Explore search — allow you to show places:

• You have or haven’t been to before
• Your friends have been
• Offering Foursquare specials
• That are open
• That are on your to-do list
• In a particular price range

Like the desktop version, the filters can be combined in all sorts of ways to, for instance, find the cheap brunch places your friends have been but you haven’t or places on your to-do list that are offering a special. They make Explore even more useful as a search engine for finding places to go right now.

The update is now available on the iTunes store and Google Play.

What do you think of the new filters?

/Updated (11:41 am) to reflect launch of Android version.

Our memory of each day is made up of little snippets, which come together to form a complete memory of the day. With Days, you can assemble those snippets together using photos and animated GIFs to form a complete “day” that can be shared with friends in a sort of “visual diary.”

The photos and animated GIFs are easy to take right within the app. Tap the shutter button once for a photo or multiple times in a row to create an animation. Each moment can be tagged with a location from Foursquare to give it a little more context.

Your days can’t be posted until the day is done, so you won’t be tempted to post a day that’s only part-way through. They can be automatically be shared with your friends on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr, or emailed to contacts from your address book.

After seeing a few posts from friends, I finally get it. Days isn’t something you’ll use for your mundane, everyday routines, but it’s a fun way to share the days that are a little bit different.

Days is free in the iTunes app store. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments.

Foursquare’s iPhone app was updated last night to version 6.1.1. It adds a share button for badges, mayorships and streaks to the post check-in screen.

Now when you receive a message from Foursquare on the post check-in screen, you’ll be able to share it to your friends on Facebook and Twitter. These message appears to alert you to your mayorship status, any badges you’ve earned, the streaks you’ve maintained, specials you’ve unlocked and more.

This function replaces the automatic badge and mayorship tweets/posts that Foursquare discontinued last month. It allows users to share a wider variety of achievements within the app, but also means they can be more selective about what they’re sharing with their friends.

Foursquare essentially makes a screenshot of the notification screen and adds that as a photo to your tweet or Facebook post, along with a link to your check-in.

One other addition in this version of the app is one of my favorite features from Tweetbot. When you add a photo to a check-in, there’s now an option to use the last photo taken so you don’t have to dig into your camera roll to find it.

What do you think of the changes?

UPDATE (8:34 pm): The same update is now available for Android.

An update for Foursquare’s Windows Phone 8 app just landed. Once again, it’s been rebuilt from the ground up and provides most of the same features as its Android and iPhone counterparts, along with some features unique to Windows Phone.

The app follows Windows Phone’s Metro UI conventions, but — unlike the previous version — doesn’t stray too far from the Foursquare design patterns established on Android and iPhone. Users can now pin specific people or venues to their start screens, receive notifications on their lock screens and use voice recognition to search and check in. It also allows check-ins via NFC, which is included in all Nokia phones.

As announced in February, this version of Foursquare will come pre-loaded on Nokia Lumia phones in both the US and abroad. It was developed in partnership with Microsoft and Nokia, but Foursquare’s product and design teams played a significant role in its creation.

Nokia has integrated Foursquare data with the augmented reality feature built in to some of the Lumia phones, too, so users will be able to see nearby recommendations and specials as they’re browsing.

An update for Windows Phone 7 is expected in the coming weeks.

If you’re a Windows Phone 8 user, download the new update from the store and let us know what you think in the comments.

Have you ever had a desire to become a real estate tycoon in your hometown? Buying up properties and developing them to their full potential — all while making boatloads of cash?

iOS game Tiny Tycoons might give you some good practice without investing serious amounts of money. Like Landlord and Turf Geography Club, all the properties within the game are actual venues from the Foursquare database, so you can literally take over your hometown — or any other city in the world — right from your phone.

More than just a simple Monopoly-style game, Tiny Tycoons improves on the gameplay of those earlier apps by offering several different types of gameplay within the app. You earn money by “working” various jobs. Each task you perform nets more coins and helps you to level up, eventually becoming a superstar chef or a big-shot CEO. New levels unlock new content, including clothes, vehicles and more.

The properties you purchase earn you more money, based loosely on their Foursquare traffic. They can be upgraded with new floors and looks, which help to bring in even more money.

If you grow tired of taking over your hometown, Tiny Tycoons offers an option to fly around the world to other cities, so you’re not just tied to places you actually visit.

Tiny Tycoons is a fun take on tycoon-style games, offering a connection to the real world that most don’t include. It should have enough gameplay options and unlockable content to keep most people interested longer than simple property-collecting games.

The app is available free on the iTunes store for iPhone or iPad. There are, of course, in-app purchase options for buying more coins, cash or other content.

The biggest change is the addition of things happening nearby to the home screen. You’ll see nearby friends and interesting places nearby, including trending venues.

The app has not yet moved to the iPhone/Android 6.0 design which integrates Explore on the home screen, so there’s still a tab for it at the bottom of the screen. On the Explore tab, you’ll find an enhanced auto-complete that matches venue names and common searches as you type.

Like iPhone users, Blackberry users can now quickly check in by double-tapping a venue name in the list, skipping the shout/photo screen.

The free update is available in Blackberry App World.

/Thanks to Nan Palmero for the screenshots!

A new app for Android solves both those issues by checking you in only when you connect to known Wi-Fi networks, eliminating any potential battery drain. You set up the networks and their corresponding venues in advance, so there’s no risk of being checked in to the wrong place accidentally.

There’s not much to the interface of Wi-Fi Check-in. It does most of its heavy lifting in the background, waiting for you to connect to one of the Wi-Fi networks you’ve previously specified. As soon as you connect, it checks you in to the designated venue on Foursquare and notifies you on your phone. It even passes your approximate location to Foursquare, so you’re still eligible for the Mayorship.

Wi-Fi Check-in is ideal for checking in to places you visit on a regular basis, like your home, office or the local Starbucks, saving you the trouble of pulling out your phone for those monotonous check-ins.

The app is currently in the early stages of development (by none other than Foursquare engineer Matthew Rathbone, who also created Simple Check-in for Android), so there will likely be other features added in the near future. It’s free on Google Play, so give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments.

Kullect allows you to create collections kullections that resemble boards from Pinterest. Each kullection can have multiple photos, videos, thoughts or places. It features a unique set of photo filters that lend an Instagram-esque quality to your shots without going overboard. Every item can be tagged with a location from Foursquare’s venue database as well.

You can curate your own kullection or open it up to your friends and allow them to add media.

To me, it seems an ideal app for collecting memories from a family vacation and sharing them with loved ones. It allows you to tell a story — sort of like a scrapbook — using the photos and videos you’ve collected on your trip. The location component makes it easy to place each of those items in a geographical context. With the ability for friends to add media, everyone on the trip could add their photos as well, turning it into a giant, collaborative scrapbook.

Other use cases include creating kullections that showcase your creative pursuits, like crafts or photography, or journaling the things you’ve cooked or eaten at restaurants.

Kullect is a nicely designed app that makes it fun to collect your memories and thoughts into well-organized groupings and then share them with friends. It’s free in the iOS app store or on Google Play.

Treehouse connects to Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. You can choose up to 15 friends from each service whose posts you’ll see in your Treehouse timeline. It makes it much easier to keep up with those friends whose updates you really want to see without them getting crowded out — or worse, hidden completely (ahem, Facebook) — by extra timeline cruft.

In Treehouse, you can also post to any of your networks (including Foursquare check-ins) directly from the app, making it a one-stop app for keeping up to date with your friends’ lives and keeping them up to date with yours.

Treehouse is free in the iTunes app store. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments.

The app, expected to launch sometime this morning, opens by showing you a map and list what’s happening nearby, including friends who are nearby and new and trending local venues. It could also list suggestions for things to do, based on the time of day or places you’ve checked in recently. A search bar also appears right at the top of the screen.

As usual with Explore, the results are personalized based on the places you and your friends have been, as well as the tastes of local experts. They also change based on whether you’re near home or traveling.

The update comes at a critical time for Foursquare. Early users have grown bored with the original gaming aspects, while they haven’t offered a compelling reason for new users to sign up. This update must attract a significant number of regular users in order to recapture the attention of both businesses and investors, who’ve cooled on Foursquare amid reports of slow user growth. Foursquare is reportedly working to secure more funding.

By moving the search and discovery features front and center, they show new users and veterans alike what they’re focused on now. Foursquare sees search as the future of the company; it’s something users and businesses understand, and it’s monetizable.

Unfortunately, many users only think to use Explore when they’re traveling. With suggestions on the first screen, users will see that Foursquare can provide excellent recommendations even in their own neighborhoods.

It also shows users the value they get from checking in. With personalized recommendations in front of them each time they open the app, users will see how their check-ins and those of their friends directly affect the quality of the suggestions they get from Foursquare.

We’ll have more coverage once the app is released.

What do you think of the changes?