Since splitting its app in two, Foursquare has focused on streamlining the check-in experience in Swarm, the new check-in centric half of Foursquare.
The company updated Swarm Thursday with a widget that allows you to check in without launching the app and displays nearby friends.
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To use the widget, simply tap the check-in button from your notifications menu. Unfortunately, the widget auto-fills the check in location to the closest venue (much like check-ins in the main Swarm app), so you'll still have to launch the full app if you want to check in at a location other than the default.
The widget also displays your nearby friends, so you can see friends who have recently checked in within a 5-mile radius.
To add the widget, grab the latest version of the app and then add the widget from the Today menu in your notification center. Widgets, which allow developers to break out small pieces of apps and put them in the notification center, made their iOS debut with the launch of iOS 8 last month.
The updated app is available to iOS users now. The company didn't say whether it would bring similar functionality to its Android or Windows Phone app.