Now in Beta: Friends on North
In our experience, our favorite places come from friends. Whether it be a trip to a new city or grabbing an afternoon coffee around the block, we turn to our friends to find the best.
Friends' suggestions are always better than trusting the opinions of thousands of strangers on the internet or following what “the algorithm” has decided we should like.
That's why, today, we're excited to announce a bunch of new ways you can use North with your friends:
"Your Map" tab is now just "Map", and it now not only includes your places, but also any of your North friends' places too!
We've added an activity feed, so you can now discover places your friends love as they stumble upon them.
Now you'll always see your friends thoughts on places, so its easy to get the whole picture about places from your friends.
These feature enable new social use cases, such as:
Get inspired by a friend's 🥰 places in a new city you're visiting.
See where the ⭐️s align to easily pick a place you and a friend have been eager to try.
Share your thoughts with each other on places you and your friends want to try.
This part is really important though: all these new social features are in beta.
As such, they're subject to big changes, and we could use your feedback to shape how they work. Don't be shy—we want to hear what you're finding useful and what you aren't.
PS: We’ve also added usernames, so its easy for your friends to find you in the app. We’ve automatically created a username for you, but if you want to change it, follow the instructions here.
New Map Experience
We have made it easier for you to view your places in different cities quickly. Tap the new Map Search Bar at the top of the screen to search or browse cities in which you have saved places.
Or, zoom out on the map to see your places cluster into cities with a new carousel to swipe between your cities.
New Search Experience
Search now includes faster and easier ways to search for places in different cities around the world. Search history also enables you to quickly get back to recent searches and recently searched areas.
More Photos
We now attempt to find up to 20 photos of your places, making it easier to do that all-so-critical “vibe check” before saving a place.
A Bunch of Polish
We also shipped a bunch of quality-of-life improvements that should make North even more delightful to use:
Links in notes and list descriptions are now tappable.
Places now include an “Open in Google” to view the place, including additional photos and reviews, in Google Maps.
You can now set your preferred mapping application (Google Maps or Apple Maps) in your user preferences.
You can now create Smart Lists for cities that you have not yet saved places for.
The pop-up confirming that you have saved a new place no longer covers the back button.
Tapping the “+” button everywhere now pulls up a quick add menu, which was previously only available in the list view.
Video Overview