iPhone Loopt Not-So-Secrets: Directions

If you’re an avid Loopt iPhone user, you’re probably quite familiar with the core features - Friend Map, Friend List, and Share What’s Up. To enhance your Loopt experience, we’re highlighting some of our lesser known features this month:

Get directions to a friend

Instead of typing in starting and ending addresses to find the route to a friend, a few taps on Loopt shows you where you want to go. On your Friend List, click on the friend you are meeting up with, tap “More” at the top of their journal, and now choose “Directions” on the actions screen. This will take you to Google Maps which provides you with directions from your location to theirs. Super fast!

 

What do you think of the directions feature? If you already knew about, let us know how you’ve used it – entertaining stories are always appreciated. Leave us your comments!

Loopt at NATPE

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), which holds its annual conference from January 26-29 in Las Vegas, asked top media and technology companies to showcase the latest digital products and services. Loopt was asked to work with Ad Council to show how it could help the Community of Veterans (http://communityofveterans.org/) connect with one another. Check it out:

Chase’s Cool Journal Widget

Chase is a student at Kansas State University who writes a blog called “Mostly Boring (with a Chance of Random)”: http://ctherkelsen.blogspot.com/. He says that he added the Loopt Journal Widget to his site because “it was a cool addition that gave something more to my blog – one of my friends thought it was a neat touch.” Updating the Journal Widget has also helped keep Chase entertained on long car rides from Iowa to Kansas. We asked him if we could share it with the rest of the Loopt community:

You can share your Loopt Journal with any of your friends anywhere with the Loopt Journal Widget too. To create a Loopt Journal Widget, just log-in to your Loopt account online, go to Loopt Link, and click on the Journal Widget icon to get started. You can also go here to create and place your Loopt Journal Widget (it’s as easy as copying and pasting).

If you think you have a cool Loopt Journal Widget, e-mail us at blog@loopt.com and we’ll share it here!

The Inaugural Experience Online

Nick was one of the lucky few to be in DC for the historic inauguration of President Obama. As he writes, “I wanted to make a point to include as many people in the experience as I could.” Nick had a problem though: how could he make updates to Twitter, Facebook, and Wordpress all simultaneously? His answer: Loopt. For Tuesday’s ceremony, he implemented Loopt Link features to allow for maximum reach. With Loopt, his “Blackberry was in control of every Loopt journal entry, Tweet, Facebook status and post at nickganga.com.”

To learn more, check out: http://nickganga.com/?p=565

iPhone Loopt Not-So-Secrets: Twitter Linkage

If you’re an avid Loopt iPhone user, you’re probably quite familiar with the core features - Friend Map, Friend List, and Share What’s Up. To enhance your Loopt experience, we’re highlighting some of our lesser known features this month:

Share Loopt updates on Twitter 

Did you know that you can link Loopt to your Twitter account? Doing so lets you simultaneously update Twitter whenever you share what’s up on Loopt. You even have the option to share your location on your Twitter updates! If you want to enable Loopt-Twitter linkage, go to the Settings tab and tap "Loopt Link". This will take you to your Loopt account online where you can click on the Twitter icon to get started.

What do you think of the Loopt-Twitter linking feature? If you already knew about, let us know how you’ve used it – entertaining stories are always appreciated. Leave us your comments!

Convos with the Loopt Community: Facebook Linking

We receive a lot of great feedback from the Loopt community that is invaluable in allowing us to improve our service. We understand that it isn’t always clear how your feedback is being received so we wanted to let you know what’s going on at Loopt to address your issues/suggestions.

Question:

“Loopt is only updating my Facebook status occasionally. I do not know why it does it…and mostly it does not. However, when I go to Loopt Link and then try to re-link (it says Facebook already gave permission) then it seems to update for awhile…then it stops later. Can you help?”

-Mike, via e-mail

Answer:

Mike was right. Many members of the Loopt community were experiencing this issue - it was one of the most popular topics on our Loopt forum. We’re happy to announce that we just rolled out an improvement that should make Facebook linking much more reliable.

If you already have the Loopt: Where It Is application for Facebook, you can take advantage of the update by going to your Facebook page, then choosing Applications in the lower left, and going to Loopt: Where It Is (if you don’t already have Loopt’s Facebook application, you can get it here: http://apps.facebook.com/-loopt-/).

Once on the Loopt: Where It Is application page, near the top on the right hand side, make sure you’ve completed Step 1 (Allow Status Update), Step 2 (Allow Offline Access), and right below those, Link to Your Loopt Phone (see below). Once you’ve done all those things, double click anywhere on the map and set a status. This finalizes the link, and from then on, updating your Loopt status from your phone or computer will update your Facebook status unless you return to this page and change your settings.

We hope this helps! Leave us a comment and let us know.

-Chris

 

Loopt self-help resources:

• Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.loopt.com/help

• Forum for Comments/Ideas/Questions: http://getsatisfaction.com/loopt

• List of Currently Supported Carriers/Devices: http://www.loopt.com/phones

• Password Resets and Number Changes: http://support.loopt.com

Happy Inauguration Day!

Today, the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, was sworn into office.  It's a historic day.  The opening inaugural ceremonies kicked off at the Lincoln Memorial:

If you are lucky enough to be in DC for the festivities, we would love to hear your stories on how Loopt helped you out. If you have an iPhone, you can also turn on Loopt Mix and find one another by putting the following tag in your profile:

Inauguration 2009

iPhone Loopt Not-So-Secrets: Location Labels

If you’re an avid Loopt iPhone user, you’re probably quite familiar with the core features - Friend Map, Friend List, and Share What’s Up. To enhance your Loopt experience, we’re highlighting some of our lesser known features this month:

Naming your location

Create your own location labels when you Share What’s Up by tapping on “Location”. Depending on the granularity you want to provide, you can choose the city, neighborhood, or the intersection from a suggested list. But sometimes location labels like “San Francisco” or “Cow Hollow” just don’t cut it. Instead, you might want to customize it to “Home Sweet Home” if you’re at home or “Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria” if you’re at the restaurant. Find and select the location label of your choice from the suggested list or make your own!

  

  

What do you think of the location label feature? If you already knew about, let us know how you’ve used it – entertaining stories are always appreciated. How do you label your locations? Leave us your comments!

Loopt-Twitter Linkage: Technomadia

Serolynne and radven (also known as Cherie and Chris) have decided to travel around the country and live life on the road – their new home is www.technomadia.com. Both are self-described technology geeks that have integrated various technologies into their lives to keep in touch with their friends and family as they embark on their “technomadic” adventure. They’re really good at linking their Loopt accounts to Twitter to allow others to follow their adventure so we asked them if we could show it off:

If you want to share your Loopt adventures like Serolynne and radven via the Loopt-Twitter integration, just log-in to your Loopt account online at www.loopt.com, go to Loopt Link, and click on the Twitter icon to get started. Serolynne and radven, we wish you good luck on your adventure – keep the posts coming!

What's your Loopt-Twitter integration story? Email us at blog@loopt.com and we can show you off too!

iPhone Loopt Not-So-Secrets: Look Around

If you’ve ever been to California or reside in this beautiful state, you’ve probably been to an In-N-Out Burger. They’re everywhere. For those who don’t know, there’s a “secret menu” that includes all sorts of goodies, such as a “flying Dutchman”, a Neapolitan shake, or a “3 by Meat”. Just something to enhance your next trip to In-N-Out!

If you’re an avid Loopt user on your iPhone, you’re probably quite familiar with the core features - Friend Map, Friend List, and Share What’s Up. But, like In-N-Out, there’s more! Every Friday for the rest of this month, we’ll highlight some our lesser known features to enhance your Loopt experience:

Find places around you

Did you know that you can find places to eat or things to do around you using Loopt? Above the Friend Map is a button of a magnifying glass. Click it and search for, say, Mexican food, and you’ll find Mexican restaurants and taquerias around you. Even cooler, you can see reviews from Yelp, comments from your Loopt friends, and you can add your own comments!

What do you think of this "look around" feature? If you already knew about, let us know how it’s helped you find the places you were looking for – entertaining stories are always appreciated. Leave us your comments!