Comparison

Swarm vs Saudia

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Swarm

Log your visits to places, create a personal map of your life, and discover new spots. This app helps you track your journeys, save favorites, and share experiences with friends.

Highlights
  • One-tap check-ins
  • Discover places near you
  • Bookmark and save favorite spots
  • Personal life timeline and map
  • Build travel journals and memories
  • Social map with friends' check-ins
  • Earn badges and explore milestones
Features
Read full description

Check in anywhere. Find amazing places. Save favorites to revisit later — and see your life on a map. Swarm by Foursquare is the original check-in and travel app that turns your daily journeys into a personal location history, social map, and travel journal you’ll actually love using. CHECK IN FAST • One-tap check-ins at any place you visit. • Add photos and friends to capture moments and memories. • Stay private or share publicly — your check-ins, your choice. SEARCH & DISCOVER PLACES • Find coffee shops, restaurants, parks, and hidden gems near you using powerful place search. • Explore cities through Foursquare’s verified maps and local guides. • Turn your check-ins into a travel log of every city you explore. BOOKMARK & SAVE PLACES • Bookmark favorite restaurants, cafes, and landmarks for later. • Build custom lists like “Weekend Spots,” “Tokyo Trip,” or “Best Pizza.” • Your saved places become a personal travel planner and city guide. YOUR LIFE TIMELINE • Each check-in adds to your personal timeline of places you’ve been. • Scroll through days, weeks, or years to relive memories. • Search your location history and see your journey on a map. TRAVEL JOURNAL & MEMORIES • Automatically build a visual record of every trip and adventure. • Add notes and photos to remember every moment. • Share your travels and inspire friends to explore. SOCIAL MAP WITH FRIENDS • See friends’ check-ins live on a shared social map. • Comment, react, and plan meetups in real time. • Discover new cities and travel spots together. EXPLORING MILESTONES • Earn badges for daily check-ins, new cities, and new places. • Celebrate milestones and track your most-visited spots. • Keep your streak alive and make every day count. SMART NOTIFICATIONS • Get reminders to check in when you arrive somewhere new. • See when friends are nearby and plan spontaneous meetups. • Stay connected without constant manual tracking. POWERED BY FOURSQUARE • Every place comes from Foursquare’s verified global POI database. • Accurate locations, categories, and maps trusted by millions worldwide. • The same data that powers Uber, Apple, and Airbnb — now in your pocket. Start your check-in journey today and discover every place that shapes your world. A Note on Battery We’ve spent *years* developing the location technology that powers Foursquare Swarm, making it extremely power efficient. But, as with all apps of this type, continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life

About

Saudia

This travel app allows users to book flights, manage trips, and check in for flights seamlessly. It also provides access to loyalty program information and allows for the purchase of ancillaries like extra baggage and seat upgrades.

Highlights
  • Book flights and purchase ancillaries
  • Online check-in and digital boarding passes
  • Manage bookings and change seats
  • ALFURSAN member dashboard
  • Store passenger details and bookings offline
  • Book hotels and rent cars
Features
Read full description

The Saudia mobile app offers travelers a sleek and superior experience to Book, Manage Trips, Check-In and more. ALFURSAN members have access to a dashboard with key account information at their fingertips – making the app the ultimate traveler companion. FEATURES BOOKING FLIGHTS & PURCHASING ANCILLARIES - Book your flights quickly and seamlessly. - All of your passengers' details are stored on your phone. - Purchase extras such as Extra Legroom Seats, WiFi, Fast Track and Extra Baggage. - Pay with Visa, Master Card, American Express, MADA or SADAD. CHECK-IN - Check-in online and obtain your boarding pass. You have the option to view the digital boarding pass directly in the App or receive it via SMS or email as a digital copy. - Check-in all your passengers while on the move up to 60-minutes before departure time. - Boarding passes are stored on your phone offline. - Enhance your trip with ease, now you can book a hotel, rent a car, and more - all in one convenient place! ALFURSAN Dashboard - ALFURSAN fast enrollment after completing passengers' details during flight booking. - Retrieve and update your own ALFURSAN profile. - Retrieve your miles and rewards. - Retrieve your flight history. MY BOOKINGS & MORE - Retrieve your bookings made outside the app easily and store them on your phone offline. - From changing seats to adding baggage, you can now manage everything in one place! - Streamline your journey using simplified rebooking flow and easily purchase add-ons. - Make an offer to upgrade your cabin through booking management.

Screenshots

Swarm4 screens
Saudia4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Saudia at 4.7 against Swarm's 4.2. Saudia also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Saudia holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Saudia has 60K ratings behind it against 8.1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of Swarm's written reviews are positive against 39% of Saudia's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Swarm ships an update every 2 weeks, Saudia monthly. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Swarm versus Saudia: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSwarmSaudia
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (8.1K ratings)4.7 (60K ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.2% of reviews — better38.6% of reviews
Number of ratings8.1K60K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size397 MB486 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperFoursquare Labs, Inc.SAUDI AIRLINES AIR TRANSPORT COMPANY OF A SINGLE-PERSON COMPANY

Customer experience

Swarm

All ratings8,066 ratings
Positive78.7%
Neutral4.4%
Negative16.9%
Written reviews892 reviews
Positive40.2%
Neutral11.4%
Negative48.3%

Saudia

All ratings59,826 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.2%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews611 reviews
Positive38.6%
Neutral7.0%
Negative54.3%

User reviews

Swarm

From 8.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Useful for tracking travel history
  • 🤝 Good for connecting with friends
  • 📍 Helpful for remembering visited places
  • ⭐ Fun and engaging gaming aspects

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
  • 🔍 Inaccurate location detection
  • 💰 Useless coins with no purpose
  • 🔄 Confusing UI changes and lack of consistency

Saudia

From 60K App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Smooth and easy to use app
  • 🕰️ Convenient for booking and managing flights
  • 🤝 Helpful and friendly staff
  • 🍽️ Good in-flight experience with quality food and service

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and glitchy app with frequent crashes
  • ⏱️ Slow and unresponsive performance
  • 🤖 Lack of human touch in customer service
  • 💳 Issues with payment processing and seat selection
  • 🧳 Problems with baggage handling and lost luggage

Bugs and requests

Swarm

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent app crashes
  • Inability to add new places
  • Syncing and login issues
  • Apple Watch app not functioning

Requested features

4 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Better integration with social media
  • More useful rewards for check-ins
  • Improved search and location browsing

Saudia

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inability to log in to Alfursan account
  • Boarding pass not working with Apple Wallet
  • Seat selection not working properly
  • Booking process getting stuck or not completing

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add multi-destination booking option
  • Integrate Apple Pay and other digital wallets
  • Improve Alfursan loyalty program integration
  • Enhance mobile app functionality to match website

In-app purchases

None

Swarm

No in-app purchases

None

Saudia

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Swarm free?
Swarm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Saudia free?
Saudia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Swarm or Saudia?
Saudia is rated higher. Swarm averages 4.2 out of 5 from 8.1K ratings, while Saudia averages 4.7 from 60K ratings.
Do Swarm or Saudia have ads?
Swarm shows ads; Saudia does not.
Which is updated more often, Swarm or Saudia?
Swarm ships an update every 2 weeks, and Saudia monthly. Most recently, Swarm was updated on October 30, 2026 and Saudia on October 30, 2026.

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