Following last year’s initial announcement of its development, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley has now launched BeeBot: an AI-powered iPhone social app that talks to you about what’s happening nearby. In his blog post unveiling the app, Crowley described BeeBot as a “personalized radio DJ” that delivers location-based audio updates through your headphones, informing you about what your friends are up to, local news, and events happening around you as you move through your day.
“Audio updates should be short and sweet—just a few sentences here and there—tailored to your interests and social graph, designed to both inspire and inform,” Crowley wrote in the announcement. “The vibe we’re going for is more ‘Foursquare meets Gossip Girl’ than ‘Wikipedia in your ear.’”
Although branded as “BeeBot for AirPods,” Crowley clarified that the app works with any wired or wireless headphones or Bluetooth-enabled audio devices, including speakers, car stereos, and wearable tech like Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. The app stays active in the background and automatically turns on when you put on your headphones, then powers off when you take them out. BeeBot lowers the volume of whatever music you're playing to speak over it and can automatically pause and resume podcasts when it has something to say—but it won’t interrupt phone calls or video chats.
That said, interruptions won’t happen often. Crowley noted users might receive just a few updates per day from BeeBot—“but not 10 times a day”—to avoid being overly intrusive. These updates are pulled from a range of sources, including real-time location and status posts from other BeeBot users, and are filtered using “keywords” you provide about your interests to suggest nearby spots and events worth checking out.
Crowley emphasized that the app is “still in beta,” with its news content leaning more toward gossip than hard journalism. At this stage, BeeBot offers the best experience in walkable U.S. cities and isn’t optimized for scenarios like driving, biking, or riding the subway. Currently available only to iOS users in the United States, Crowley added that a CarPlay-compatible version is under development.
