Localwire is an Android app that wants to make it as easy as possible to find out what’s going on near you, to connect to the people that are in your area, rather than simply connecting through one social media network. Localwire is a way of bringing local people together, and rather than posting to Twitter about an event in your area, you would use Localwire, letting the people that would care most know about it. It can also be used by businesses and stores to send out messages and notices of sales, local events and more. Localwire is currently more active in India, but a global expansion is planned soon. .
To get started with Localwire, all you need to do is go ahead and download the app from the Play Store and then you’ll need to either sign up or log in with Facebook.
You can choose if you’re an individual or a business as well, this will change the experience you have with the app, but we’re going to choose individual for the purposes of this review.
You can go ahead and get started with the app then, but like we said right now it’s only more active in parts of India. Vizag being one of those places. Here, I’m searching for a particular place, but in the future you should just be able to use the GPS on your device.
You can then fine tune how closely or how far you want to hear about things.
Taking a look at things that are happening near you, you’ll se a sort of feed of posts including pictures and such.
Let’s take for instance, this book sale, if I touch the pin icon towards the top-right of that post I can even see exactly where it is!
This feature alone is pretty neat, as it allows people who might not have lived their long find their way and also promote something that those using the Internet might not have seen. After all, a lot of local events are still promoted with nothing more than a few throwaway leaflets.
Speaking of promotion, local businesses and stores should be able to use Localwire in order to further promote themselves.
Posting your own notice or comment is super-easy as well, and it’s nice to attach a photo and a location, too.
As well as all this, you can create a profile for your local friends and neighbors to take a look at.
At its heart, the concept of Localwire is one that I can really get behind. Being able to connect with people near you, rather than on Facebook or Twitter is a great idea it’s just a shame that right now it’s only good for users in a few Indian cities. Hopefully this changes sooner rather than later though, as I would like to share information about local stores and coffee shops nearby rather than having to repeat myself to friends and family. The app itself looks okay and the overall interface is easy to use and straightforward however, it does feel a little bare again probably as it’s not active outside of India, yet.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Localwire runs nice and smoothly, and there were no issues where performance was concerned for me.
- Theme (4/5) – A decent-looking app, I had no complaints with how you get from place to another and the feed is easily navigated, too.
- Features (4/5) – Right now, this is an excellent concept that needs to expand and promote itself to get more people involved, after all the more people are using the service, the more people using the service, the better it’ll become.
- Overall (4/5) – A solid app that’s only held back by its small amount of users, Localwire is an excellent idea that needs to be taken much, much further before it’s easily recommended to others.
Pros
- Offers a more personal and more obvious way to connect to people nearby than Facebook and Twitter.
- Makes finding something that’s going on in your area nice and simple with quick and easy map locations.
- Completely free to use, even for business looking to promote themselves and special offers.
- Nice way of sharing local knowledge to those who will find it most valuable, like a local meeting at a town hall or a special sale or whatever.
Cons
- Only active users in parts of India as of writing.
- Way to hook into Facebook and Twitter might help get the service more users quickly.
What Localwire needs is a group of people outside of India, wherever that may be, to spread the word about the app there, and for it to move across the globe like this. Otherwise, the app might sadly become marginalized, which would be a terrible shame as it’s a great concept. Over time, I’m sure Localwire will get better, but right now it’s a classic case of an idea with few using it. I hope this changes soon, as Localwire is one of the first apps I’ve come across in a while to just “get” what people want out of a local social network.