Do you love hacking? Do you love Siri? Boy do I have a deal for you!
3 Steps
- Authorize your iPhone — text “foursquare” to the short-code number 368266 (it spells out DotCom)
- Save the Short-Code — save the shortcode number 368266 as “Foursquare” in your iPhone’s contacts
- Use Siri — say something like the following: “text foursquare, Foursquare at Starbucks Michigan Avenue”
BELOW ARE NOTES & DETAILS OF HOW TO DO DIFFERENT THINGS WITH FOURSQUARE VIA SMS
This is an SMS hack, not native Siri functionality, so you need to include certain keywords before your checkin, in this case the second “foursquare” is actually the keyword to the SMS service that tells it to check in.
How does foursquare know my location?
Your location is based on your last check in. If you’re checking in from a city that’s different from your last check in, you can change your location by replying 3 from the main menu.
Will I be charged for texting?
You can use foursquare by text messaging for free, but standard message and data rates apply. Many people these days have unlimited texting plans, but you should check with your cellular carrier if you aren’t sure.
How do I reply to a menu?
You can simply reply with the numbers next to the menu items that appear in parentheses. For example, to look at recent check-ins by your friends just reply 1 from the main menu.
Does this work outside the US?
Right now foursquare SMS is only available in the US.
Are there any navigation shortcuts?
Yes. Any of these commands can be texted to DOTCOM (368266):
- foursquare at (place) [ex. ‘foursquare at empire state building’]
One-text check-in. This shortcut will check you into the first search result (in this example, the first search result for ‘empire state building’). The search is based on the location of your last check-in, and adding the street name or zip code to the search will help refine the results [ex. ‘foursquare at starbucks hudson’]. By performing this search on foursquare.com, you can find out which venue will most likely come up first in the search results when using this shortcut. This command checks you in publicly, but does not broadcast to Twitter and Facebook.
- foursquare checkin (place) [ex. ‘foursquare checkin starbucks’]
Drops you into either the venue listing so that you can check in or the venue search if there are multiple locations (i.e. Starbucks).
- foursquare tips
Pulls up tips nearby from your friends, based on your last check in location.
- foursquare profile
Pulls up your profile where you can do things like check out your mayorships, history, or badges.
- foursquare todo
Pulls up your to do list.
- foursquare reset all
Use to revoke your phone’s authorization (this will require you to re-register your phone with a new pin if you want to use foursquare SMS again).
If you forget the shortcuts, you can always find them by texting foursquare to DOTCOM (368266) and then replying 6 for help.
