A map that reveals itself as you explore.
- users
- 2M+
- users
- ARR from subscriptions at peak
- ~$1M
- ARR from subscriptions at peak
- by Foursquare, 2025
- Acquired
- by Foursquare, 2025
Every map app felt identical: impersonal, and optimized for the average stranger instead of for me. I wanted a map that reflected my world, the places I'd actually been and the restaurants my friends loved.
I designed the entire product end to end and led engineering across iOS, backend and data. Superlocal grew to over 2 million users and, at its peak, nearly $1M in annual recurring revenue from subscriptions. Foursquare acquired it in 2025, and it still runs today as its own product inside Foursquare.
Design decisions
- 01
Fog of world
You start looking at a muted, unknown world, and the map unlocks around you as you check in. A small decision, a grayscale fog at low opacity, became the feature people described when they told their friends about the app.
0% explored
Try it: move your cursor over the map to clear the fog. - 02
Ask it like a friend
We shipped natural-language place search well before it was table stakes. Queries became recommendations trained by your own activity, so the longer you used the app the better it knew you.
AI-powered natural-language search. - 03
Stats that feel like yours
Exploration needed a reward. Personal stats turn check-ins into a record of how much of the world you've seen.
Personal stats and activity.
Highlights
- Designed the whole product: UX, UI, brand, motion and the fog-of-world metaphor
- Grew to over 2 million users and nearly $1M ARR from subscriptions
- Shipped natural-language AI place search years before it was table stakes
- Led product, design and engineering across iOS, backend and data
- Acquired by Foursquare in 2025, where Superlocal still runs as its own product
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