It really is hard to believe that Pin Drop first landed in the App Store back in April 2011! What a ride it's been since. As an OG of the App Store map world we've seen a lot of changes...
- Google Maps is now a thing (it was just the base map for Apple Maps)
- 'That' Apple Maps app that marked a golf course as an airfield (and much more)
- Autonomous driving
- Waze made driving social
- Gowalla came, went and came back again
- Foursquare came and kind of went too...
- What3words started as an app that charged you £5 to reserve your w3w to what it is today
What a crazy 12 years it's been. What's crazy is some of our original users are still committed users today. Without that level of support and enthusiasm we certainly wouldn't still be around so, for that, we salute you!
Pin Drop did actually take a 7 year hiatus. Sort of like a very extended yoga retreat in the Santa Clara mountains. It was from 2014 when the app had to shut down its online version for one that worked offline. I remember looking at Google Analytics years later (having forgotten it was still there) and was shocked to see just how many people were using the app day in, day out.
When we first chatted about the idea of rebooting Pin Drop a lot had changed. We were in the depths of a global pandemic, much of the app code was 7+ years old and it was once OS update away from disappearing forever (with everyone's data). So, during one of many lockdowns we dusted off the old code, untangled old designs and set about putting Pin Drop on the path that had been envisaged years earlier.
We're here today about a year after that original reboot and it's mind-blowing to see how not only the product has improved, but how you, the people who've shaped and loved this little app over the years are still here, Pin Dropping like crazy.
Thank you one and all! We're excited at what we have planned for you all and can't wait to see where the next 12 years might take us. There's definitely no more hiatus' planned!
