Foursquare has launched a new Connected Apps platform which would allow developers to build new functionalities accessible from inside the official Foursquare app.

The company spoke about the possibilities with this new platform:

This opens up a ton of possibilities, all around interacting with people’s experiences while they’re having them. For instance, Eat This, Not That can suggest healthy dishes the moment someone checks in at a restaurant. Or The Weather Channel can tell people the forecast when they check in to a new city. Whatever you build, anyone in foursquare’s 20,000,000-strong community can connect it to their account and see your messages in their post-check-in screens. We’ll attribute all your app’s contributions, so other people can connect your app or click through to your site.

Foursquare highlighted some existing apps that make use of this technology:

Eat This, Not That – From Men’s Health Mag, Eat This, Not That tells you what dishes to order and what to avoid at restaurants when you check in
Untappd - Shows recommendations from friends and others on which beer to order, and easily check-in to beers from within foursquare
Sonar – Informs you of your connections to interesting people nearby
Soundtracking – Share and discover songs your friends have shared at a place
Snoball – Trigger charity donations when you check in, and tells you about friends’ donations
Foodspotting – Share and get recommendations on which dishes to order
GroupMe - Makes it easier to share your check-in with a group of friends on GroupMe
Blue Legends - Notifies you when you earn extra rewards for checking into Lufthansa venues
Instagram – Share your Instagram photos on foursquare, which friends can see and tap through to the Instagram app
Path – Share photos and text from Path, which tap through to the Path app
The Weather Channel – Get the weather forecast with your first check-in of the day and when you check in to a new city