I'm so excited to announce that WritePath version 1.0 has just arrived in the Apple App Store. 

For many years, I was an avid user of the check-in app Swarm (aka Foursquare). That was an app that really rewarded use over a long period of time—it was so fun being able to see what places I frequented, to fill out a map of the world, and to be notified when I returned to places I hadn't been to in a long time. For me, it enhanced the experience of going out and exploring. It was a little companion that gave me a high five when I went to new places, or achieved other quirky little milestones with the places I loved. I had over 15 years of check-in history on that app—truly amazing.

However, over the years there was a bit of a gulf between how I used Swarm, and what Swarm was built for. Swarm was built to be a social app. You could follow your friends, and see when your friends checked into the same places you did. You could claim "mayorships" of places, and sometimes that meant you could claim perks at those businesses. All really fun features! But over time, as my friends left Swarm and businesses stopped participating, those perks became a lot less compelling. And what did become more compelling was a desire for more privacy. This location data was some of my most sensitive data, and I began to feel uncomfortable giving that data to a social media company. But I also loved having that record, and I loved those little nudges to go out and explore.

In 2025 when I became a stay-at-home parent, I had some time and incentive to develop a side project. I chose to develop an alternative to Swarm that retained the things I loved about Swarm, but with a fundamental shift of focus away from social features toward personal journaling. And I wanted it to be built in a way that focused on privacy, and with transparent pricing, so people could feel confident they are the customers, not the product.  

Over a year later, I'm excited to present version 1.0. I'll be honest—I'm quite new to all of this, so I don't have the design or development chops of the talented folks at Swarm (yet!). But as an avid user of the app myself, the app has achieved a lot of what I had initially hoped.

WritePath has many of the features that I loved about Swarm. As a user, you can either log entries manually, or you can turn on background location tracking so that WritePath will suggest places it thinks you visited throughout the day. You can edit those entries if the location suggestions got it wrong. You can look at a map and see all the places you've visited, and how many times you've visited them. You can receive notifications celebrating when you hit different milestones—like visiting a coffee shop for the 10th time, or visiting O'Hare Airport for the first time in 3 years. 

But WritePath also goes beyond Swarm to shift the focus toward personal journaling. You can add, remove, or edit entries at will (WritePath has little reason to be concerned about "cheating"). You can write quick notes or journal at length for each entry. The photos and videos you took during the time period of each entry are automatically displayed to you by default (though those are editable as well!). You can import calendar entries to make the timeline of your day more accurate and robust. And you can sync with iPad and Mac versions, making it even easier to use WritePath as a full journaling app.

And... if you are a current Swarm user who's interested in switching, import from Swarm is already built in and available for free!

WritePath is currently only available on Apple devices. The free tier has all the features described above, with the constraint that entries suggested by background location tracking and calendar suggestions need to be approved or rejected within 24 hours. The premium tier removes that restriction. WritePath hosts its data using iCloud, which confers a ton of privacy benefits right out of the box. You can learn more about our stance on privacy in our Privacy Policy. 

Ultimately, my hope is that WritePath will become as beloved to some of you as Swarm was to me for many years: an app that rewards you for going out and exploring the world, and that helps you celebrate both the big adventures and the small, mundane routines of your life. I plan to use this blog to discuss releases, and perhaps give some insights into my thinking as I design and develop this app. I'm continuing to develop in earnest, so I'm always open to feature ideas and feedback at daniel@anthuriumcreative.com.

- Daniel

I'm so excited to announce that WritePath version 1.0 has just arrived in the Apple App Store. 

For many years, I was an avid user of the check-in app Swarm (aka Foursquare). That was an app that really rewarded use over a long period of time—it was so fun being able to see what places I frequented, to fill out a map of the world, and to be notified when I returned to places I hadn't been to in a long time. For me, it enhanced the experience of going out and exploring. It was a little companion that gave me a high five when I went to new places, or achieved other quirky little milestones with the places I loved. I had over 15 years of check-in history on that app—truly amazing.

However, over the years there was a bit of a gulf between how I used Swarm, and what Swarm was built for. Swarm was built to be a social app. You could follow your friends, and see when your friends checked into the same places you did. You could claim "mayorships" of places, and sometimes that meant you could claim perks at those businesses. All really fun features! But over time, as my friends left Swarm and businesses stopped participating, those perks became a lot less compelling. And what did become more compelling was a desire for more privacy. This location data was some of my most sensitive data, and I began to feel uncomfortable giving that data to a social media company. But I also loved having that record, and I loved those little nudges to go out and explore.

In 2025 when I became a stay-at-home parent, I had some time and incentive to develop a side project. I chose to develop an alternative to Swarm that retained the things I loved about Swarm, but with a fundamental shift of focus away from social features toward personal journaling. And I wanted it to be built in a way that focused on privacy, and with transparent pricing, so people could feel confident they are the customers, not the product.  

Over a year later, I'm excited to present version 1.0. I'll be honest—I'm quite new to all of this, so I don't have the design or development chops of the talented folks at Swarm (yet!). But as an avid user of the app myself, the app has achieved a lot of what I had initially hoped.

WritePath has many of the features that I loved about Swarm. As a user, you can either log entries manually, or you can turn on background location tracking so that WritePath will suggest places it thinks you visited throughout the day. You can edit those entries if the location suggestions got it wrong. You can look at a map and see all the places you've visited, and how many times you've visited them. You can receive notifications celebrating when you hit different milestones—like visiting a coffee shop for the 10th time, or visiting O'Hare Airport for the first time in 3 years. 

But WritePath also goes beyond Swarm to shift the focus toward personal journaling. You can add, remove, or edit entries at will (WritePath has little reason to be concerned about "cheating"). You can write quick notes or journal at length for each entry. The photos and videos you took during the time period of each entry are automatically displayed to you by default (though those are editable as well!). You can import calendar entries to make the timeline of your day more accurate and robust. And you can sync with iPad and Mac versions, making it even easier to use WritePath as a full journaling app.

And... if you are a current Swarm user who's interested in switching, import from Swarm is already built in and available for free!

WritePath is currently only available on Apple devices. The free tier has all the features described above, with the constraint that entries suggested by background location tracking and calendar suggestions need to be approved or rejected within 24 hours. The premium tier removes that restriction. WritePath hosts its data using iCloud, which confers a ton of privacy benefits right out of the box. You can learn more about our stance on privacy in our Privacy Policy. 

Ultimately, my hope is that WritePath will become as beloved to some of you as Swarm was to me for many years: an app that rewards you for going out and exploring the world, and that helps you celebrate both the big adventures and the small, mundane routines of your life. I plan to use this blog to discuss releases, and perhaps give some insights into my thinking as I design and develop this app. I'm continuing to develop in earnest, so I'm always open to feature ideas and feedback at daniel@anthuriumcreative.com.

- Daniel