The official Foursquare app for Windows Phone has had a rough week. A featureless update released on June 24 seemed innocuous enough until users on the Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon had problems launching the refreshed app. The problem seemed limited at first, until a small patch update, version 3.5.8, hit the Store, reportedly fixing the crashes. That 3.5.8 update, nonetheless, is unable to be downloaded by those with a Lumia 1520, revealing an "Item not available" message.
To be clear, Foursquare has not pulled the app. Heading to the webstore, the app is still visible, and it does not have the telltale "This app is no longer published" message that would be indicative of such a change. Instead, the app is being selectively blocked, based on phone model, from downloading.
Foursquare is likely doing this to mitigate, at least temporarily, the problem of new users downloading the app and having it crash. It appears from our own testing that only Lumia 1520 users are affected. The side effect, of course, is that people who are currently having problems with the app cannot update or reinstall it until Foursquare comes out with yet another update. It is not clear when that will happen though we presume it will not be too long.
Foursquare appears to be doubling-down on Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 as a recent job listing notes that they now have a "priority project" to build a "marquee mobile service app for all Windows Phone and Windows 8 users." A new universal app for Foursquare is presumably still a few months out, however. It is also not known if such an app will even be Foursquare or one for their new service, dubbed ' Swarm', or both.
We've reached out to Foursquare for a comment and will update accordingly. In the meantime, users can opt to use popular third-party Foursquare app 4th & Mayor to continue their checkins.
- Download 4th & Mayor for Windows Phone
- Download Social Extension for 4th & Mayor (Windows Phone 8.1 only)
