Foursquare for iPad set to check into the App Store soon

Foursquare is coming to iPad, at long last.

The popular local-based social networking service has been expected to release an iPad app since as far back as 2010, when its then rival Gowalla (now owned by and integrated into Facebook) made its debut on Apple’s tablet.

But it’s only now that Foursquare has confirmed its imminent arrival on iPad. And the impetus for the move appears to be the spinoff of its check-in functionality into the standalone Swarm app in May, making the original Foursquare app a more Yelp-like app for local search and discovery.

As reported by Mashable:

The split explains why Foursquare has decided it’s finally time to release an iPad version. Speaking at Mashable’s Media Summit on Friday, Steven Rosenblatt, the chief revenue officer for Foursquare, said the app would be released within a few weeks. The rationale, he said, was to give people “sitting on their couches” a way to plan restaurants to visit and future travel.

The iPad version is likely to be released through a universal update to the existing Foursquare app for iPhone. Swarm, however, is not expected to be optimized for iPad, since check-ins are better suited to mobile phones than tablets.

Foursquare and Swarm are available on the App Store for free.

Both apps were recently updated with support for interactive notifications in iOS 8.