Foursquare to split into two apps

Foursquare, Dennis Crowley's location-based mobile app, is breaking apart its core business into two separate mobile products: a social check-in app Swarm, and a venue-discovery app, Foursquare.

Swarm is taking on all of Foursquare's current social features, such as check-ins and friends' whereabouts. It will be launching in the upcoming weeks. Crowley describes it as a "social heatmap" to The Verge that shows where you and your friends are without always having to actively check-in. The new app uses a number of signals from your phone, from GPS to the numbers of bars, to more accurately guess where a user is, and it can reveal which neighborhood you're currently in to friends. It sounds like Swarm might also have a messaging or "broadcast" component, to let you meet up with friends nearby more easily.

The remaining Foursquare app will focus on the "Explore" feature and make Crowley's company much closer to a full-on Yelp competitor. "Explore," is a way to search for things to do and places to visit based on check-in data. It doesn't sound like the app will keep its check-in button.

Foursquare began rebuilding its app and working on Swarm in late 2013. It noticed that users were either using Foursquare to find cool new places or to check-in, but most people weren't doing both at the same time.

"Our company has always been about helping you keep up and meet up with their friends, and discover great places," the company writes in a blog post. "Our two new, unbundled apps are designed to do that for everyone. Swarm is for people who want the fastest and easiest way to connect with their friends. Foursquare is for explorers who want to know about the best spots, and to share what they've found with others."

Foursquare has raised more than $120 million. It has tens of millions of users who have produced more than 5 billion check-ins.