Tap it out: Foursquare for BlackBerry updated with NFC support

Check-in service Foursquare is helping its BlackBerry fans bridge the cross-platform communication gap, enabling them to exchange tips, lists, venues, and profiles with friends by way of near field communication support in the newest version of its BlackBerry app.

Friday, the New York-based company has released an update to Foursquare for BlackBerry that makes the app speedier, more accurate in the GPS department, and now able to support smart-tagging on NFC-enabled devices. The company has also moved app activity notifications to the BlackBerry inbox.

“You can share places and tips among other BlackBerry and Android devices (or even check in at places with NFC stickers), with a simple tap of your phone,” Foursquare explained in a blog post on the update.

Foursquare added NFC capabilities to its Android application in February (but only for devices running Android 4.0). So while a limited pool are able to take advantage of the nifty new tech — the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Curve 9370 devices come equipped with NFC technology — the update at least keeps Foursquare’s BlackBerry users on par with their Android pals, and lets them tap to exchange information with each other. How touching (pun intended).

The startup has actually been experimenting with the intersection of NFC and its service for more than a year now. Foursquare was testing a tap-in system at its New York headquarters in March of last year, but ran its first consumer implementation in partnership with Google at last year’s Google I/O.

Unfortunately, covetous, would-be early adopters on iPhone and those toting around unsupported Androids and BlackBerries will just have to exchange Foursquare tips and check in the old-fashioned way.

Foursquare, which has raised more than $71 million in funding, recently surpassed 20 million users and 2 billion total check-ins.

Photo credit: Dennis Crowley/Flickr