Facebook Takes on Yelp With Newly Rebranded 'Local' App

Got no plans this Friday nighttime? Facebook wants to aid you find something to exercise.

The social network last year launched a standalone app called Events to help users discover activities — from festivals and 5Ks to neighborhood fairs and nightlife. Today, that app is getting some Yelp-like features and a new name: Facebook Local.

As TechCrunch pointed out, Events was never hugely popular with users: SensorTower data indicates it simply received most 100,000 downloads. Facebook is likely hoping to have more success with Local.

Available for iOS and Android, Local aims to help you discover not but events happening about y'all, simply also restaurants, bars, and other places to visit in your area. This should make it easier to program what to practice before and later on an consequence.

The app will surface the events and places your friends are buzzing about, and offer recommendations based on what's popular in your social circle, things and places you've been to in the past, and Pages yous like. You can browse curated guides to find things to do by category, view events and places on a map, and filter the results by twenty-four hours or even the time of day.

The app likewise lets y'all search for events, places, and activities in some other city or neighborhood. You lot can opt to add calendars from your telephone, then you don't accept to switch between apps to see if you lot're gratuitous at a certain day and time.

Meanwhile, if you're debating whether to lay low and accept yoga class or striking the gild and become lit this Friday night, you can now poll your friends on Facebook. The company last calendar week rolled out a new Polls tool globally on iOS, Android, and the desktop.

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's good on fitness and smart home products. Teaching yoga for nearly ten years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fettle trackers, eye rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, force training machines, treadmills, and more than. Angela also tests smart domicile devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, simply to name a few.