Apps such as Foursquare have brought an onslaught of location sharing options to the App Store and the latest, pin!Down, gives you full manual control on naming your favorite spots. While it might be reinventing the wheel, it gives you the ability to create your own map complete with customized locations.
When you open the app you’re prompted to login through Facebook to be able to share your pins. However, you can skip this step if you’re not hip on sharing that info. I’ve been using it this way and there hasn’t been an issue. Once logged in (or not), the app displays a map with your current location along with a few options. One of them is found in the bottom right under save this location. This will be where you spend most of your time.
Once tapped, pin!Down gives you the option to name the location. For instance, I named the local coffee shop “Starbucks aka Home Office.” I’m sure I’ve paid for someone’s tuition there for the amount of coffee I’ve purchased over the past year. After naming the location you can can add details to it, which could act almost like a tips section for best food choices, where to park, etc.
You can also select a category such as work or food to help organize your locations. You can manually type in the address or allow the app to insert the address via location services. Within the same edit screen you can add photos as well as share the location via Facebook and Twitter once you’ve authorized those apps. Once saved, new locations are added to the my locations section where they can be easily selected for quick access or to update with current information.
The user interface is very straight forward and can be easily navigated. All buttons are placed where one would expect and moving from one tab to the next is quick and easy. Visually, I like that the map is the main feature of the app. This makes it extremely easy to find your locations quickly upon opening the app.
Overall, pin!Down is a solidly built app that is easy to use. It’s not going to be for everyone, especially if you don’t like to manually enter your own locations. However, if you’re into taking on the task of remapping your area then you’ll have your work cut out for you.
