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People can hire an Uber ride in more places that just the Uber app itself. Apps for Weather.com, United Airlines and Starbucks already point users to the ride-hailing service.
Now people will see Uber show up in the Foursquare app as well.
Foursquare and Uber announced Monday that they’re integrating their capabilities. When a person checks out the latest restaurants on Foursquare, a local search and discovery app, they’ll be prompted to hail a ride with Uber. This could be a boon for Uber’s business, which connects drivers and passengers via a smartphone app, because Foursquare reaches people who may not already use the ride-hailing service.
As for Foursquare, a company spokeswoman said partnering with Uber was a “natural fit” since its service is meant to help people find places to go. Foursquare declined to comment on the terms of the partnership.
Foursquare marks the latest app to hitch itself to Uber. The ride-hailing startup announced in August that any app could integrate with it. At the time, Uber said it was partnering with Starbucks, United Airlines, Trip Advisor and Open Table. Some of these apps let people hire an Uber ride directly from their app, while others prompt users to go the Uber app. For example, the United app shows users the closest Uber drivers and fare estimates.
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“Apps can pass a destination address to the Uber app, display pickup times, provide fare estimates, access trip history and more,” Uber said in a blog post at the time.
Uber’s strategy of placing itself in related apps ensures that its service pops up even when smartphone users don’t necessarily have the Uber app up and running.
For Uber’s integration with Foursquare, the two companies are using a mobile “deep linking” technology called Button, which enables the two apps to integrate and send traffic to one another. Other apps, like Glamsquad, Resy and Handy, have also used Button for deep linking.
“Using Button simplified the process of integrating Uber into Foursquare,” Noah Weiss, Foursquare’s senior vice president of product management, said in a statement. “With a few lines of code we were able to create a seamless experience when requesting an Uber built directly into our app, saving us time and effort.”
Updated at 1:45 p.m. PT with comment from Foursquare spokeswoman.
