Foursquare has launched a free tier for its Pilgrim SDK. The Pilgrim SDK allows developers to build location-aware apps and features. Prior to this release, Pilgrim was only available for a fee to enterprise customers. Now, independent developers, who develop apps with 100,000 monthly active users or less, can use the technology for free.
"Innovation can (and should) come from any corner," Chuck Fuller, Foursquare Senior Staff Product Manager, commented in a blog post announcement. "That's why Foursquare is excited to make its superpower available to independent developers at no cost and without restrictive usage limits... Pilgrim SDK now empowers independent developers to tap into Foursquare's most powerful location intelligence technologies to build engaging app experiences."
The SDK includes the features that tech giants such as Uber, Samsung, and Twitter have relied on for years. Examples include geofencing, home, and work detection, visit detection (Snap-to-Place), webhooks, user states, and more. The SDK is available for both iOS and Android. Visit the Pilgrim SDK docs to learn more.
For Foursquare, this move is somewhat a return to its roots. In its early days, it targeted consumers. As it scaled and needed to monetize, it moved into more B2B services; hence, the requirement to pay for SDK access. While that model has helped grow the company into an enterprise, it did limit the ability for Foursquare to empower the entire developer community. Dennis Crowley announced the free tier at TechCrunch Disrupt SF and his core excitement about the offering is lowering the bar needed for developers to access this powerful technology.