Removal guide · Foursquare
Foursquare doesn't run a consumer-facing profile page like the people-search brokers - the data it sells is your device-level location history, keyed to your Mobile Advertising Identifier (MAID) rather than your name. The self-serve form at app.foursquare.com/data-requests only opts you out. You paste your MAID and tick two checkboxes, which tells Foursquare to stop selling or sharing your data and to limit how it uses your location, but it doesn't delete the history Foursquare already holds. To ask for that, email privacy@foursquare.com or open the privacy service desk and request deletion of the data tied to your advertising ID. The form takes about 5 minutes (mostly finding the MAID on the device), and CCPA rules give Foursquare up to 15 business days to act on the opt-out and 45 days, extendable once to 90, for a deletion request. If you have a personal Foursquare account (City Guide, Swarm, or Developer), there's a separate in-app deletion flow in section 04.
Before you remove your data: See the Foursquare data broker profile for ownership, contact details, litigation history, and the full data-product breakdown.
Quick facts
Single-page web form at app.foursquare.com/data-requests
~5 minutes
15 business days (CCPA opt-out deadline)
Apple IDFA or Android Advertising ID
No
Per-device
This covers Foursquare only. The opt-out covers the MAID you submit, not the other location-data brokers in the ad ecosystem (Cuebiq, PlaceIQ, the Near Intelligence successors, etc.). For comprehensive opt-out you need to submit a request to each broker that has your device's MAID, or use the OS-level controls in section 05 to limit who can collect the identifier in the first place.
If you've ever reset your advertising ID: Foursquare's stored history is keyed to the MAID that was live at collection time. Submitting your current MAID covers data tied to it today, but historical visits collected under a previously reset MAID may remain associated with the older identifier. The privacy email path (section 07) is the only reliable way to ask Foursquare to delete records tied to historical MAIDs you can no longer surface.
Outside the US? The app.foursquare.com/data-requests form only takes opt-out and limit-use requests, so EU / UK residents exercising GDPR rights of access, erasure or objection should email privacy@foursquare.com or use the privacy service desk.
Prereqs
The form needs your Mobile Advertising Identifier. The page itself notes that "if you do not provide us with this required information, we are unable to process your request." So step zero is finding the right value on the device whose data you want removed.
On Android, copy your Advertising ID. Open the Settings app, tap Google, then Ads. The screen shows "Your advertising ID" as a long UUID string such as aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee. Copy the value, and do not reset or delete it until you submit the opt-out. Section 05 explains how to delete the ID after submission.
On iOS, contact Foursquare if you can't obtain your IDFA. Apple does not show the Identifier for Advertisers in Settings, and turning off app tracking zeroes the value Foursquare keys your location records to, so leave your tracking settings as they are until the request is in. Email privacy@foursquare.com and ask Foursquare to stop selling and sharing your data, to limit its use of your location, and to delete the location data tied to your device and account. Do not install another app or grant tracking permission only to read the identifier. Section 05 covers turning tracking off afterwards.
Pick the device you actually use. The opt-out is per-device. If you've used several phones over the years and want full coverage, plan on submitting one request per device (with each one's current MAID).
(Optional) An email inbox you can check. The form does not require an email field directly, but if you need to follow up via privacy@foursquare.com (the escalation path in section 07), have a real inbox ready.
The opt-out form
Open app.foursquare.com/data-requests. On Android, copy the Advertising ID from Settings as described in section 02. On iOS, use the IDFA only if you already have it. Otherwise, use the email process in section 02. Paste the ID into the form, tick both opt-out checkboxes, and press Submit.
Account deletion
If you have a personal Foursquare account (from Swarm, the shut-down City Guide app, or a Developer account), the account deletion controls are separate from the MAID-based opt-out above. The MAID flow covers the device-level location data collected through SDK and apps; the account-deletion flow removes the personal profile (check-ins, mayorships, account details). To fully exit Foursquare you'll typically want both.
City Guide and Swarm share the same Foursquare account. One "Delete My Account" action deletes your profile across both consumer apps. The Developer account is a separate object and uses the Privacy Settings path.
Account deletion doesn't cover the SDK / Movement data. Even after deleting your personal Foursquare account, location data collected from third-party apps that embedded the Movement SDK (formerly Pilgrim SDK) may still be tied to your device's MAID. The section 03 form is the right tool for that data; don't skip it just because you closed the City Guide / Swarm account.
Device controls
The opt-out you submitted in section 03 stops Foursquare selling or sharing the data tied to your current MAID, but it doesn't delete the history Foursquare already holds. That takes a separate request to privacy@foursquare.com or the privacy service desk. To prevent new collection (from Foursquare and from every other location-data broker that buys from the same partner-app SDK ecosystem), the controls live at the OS level rather than at any single broker.
Confirm it worked
Troubleshooting
The form rejects your MAID format. The expected format is a UUID (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx). Strip any whitespace and re-paste. If your iOS IDFA comes back as all zeros, that means app tracking is already turned off on the iPhone (Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Tracking) and Foursquare can't tie ad-network data to your device - in that case use privacy@foursquare.com to ask for a manual review referencing the apps you've used.
You're not sure if Submit worked. The page doesn't issue a confirmation number or email. The submission goes through silently if no error appears. If you want documentation, re-submit via privacy@foursquare.com naming the date and the MAID you provided.
Form fields aren't loading on your device. The page still sits inside the old City Guide web shell, which keeps its branding even though City Guide shut down, and depends on JavaScript - try a desktop browser if the mobile view is misbehaving, or disable strict tracker-blocking briefly while submitting.
You don't see any downstream effect after 15 business days. Email privacy@foursquare.com referencing your submission date and the MAID, and request a status update citing the CCPA / CPRA deadline.
You suspect partner apps are still sending your location. You can't identify every app that includes the Movement SDK. Tighten location permissions as described in section 05, and install only apps from publishers you trust with location data.
The Delete My Account flow fails for your consumer account. Email privacy@foursquare.com from the account email address and ask for manual deletion.
Stay off
Re-run the opt-out annually. MAIDs sometimes rotate; new partner apps come online; you may have switched phones. An annual re-submission is the maintenance cycle.
Foursquare is one of several. The location-data broker ecosystem also includes Cuebiq, Precisely PlaceIQ, Veraset, Gravy Analytics (subject to a 2024 FTC enforcement action), and the successor operations of Near Intelligence (defunct 2023) and X-Mode / Outlogic (also subject to FTC enforcement 2024). Opt-outs at those companies are separate.
Tighten location permissions across all apps (section 05). The MAID itself is moot if no app on your device can collect precise location in the first place.
Industry-wide settings help. The NAI no longer runs a one-click opt-out; its How to Opt Out page points to browser, phone and TV settings instead. Those complement the Foursquare-specific opt-out rather than replacing it, since they apply to interest-based advertising in general, not to your stored location records.
Consider the upstream apps you install. Apps that legitimately don't need always-on location (weather, social, shopping) but request it are the most common collection vector. Deny by default and grant only when needed.
Redact scans 120+ data broker sites from your device, finds where your details are listed, and submits the removal requests for you. If a broker relists you, it files again.
September 10, 2026