UK-based start-ups Total Hotspots and Rummble have teamed up to create a wi-fi hotspot locator application for the iPhone. The 'Total Hotspots' application includes social features that enable users to quickly add, rate, review, tag or photograph hotspots before sharing feedback with others.
Using the app, iPhone users can search the Total Hotspots database of over 170,000 paid and free-to-access wi-fi locations, to find the best hotspots available. Search results are not restricted to those within short signal range, and users can also search for hotspots near any address, landmark or city.
We wanted to make our premium database accessible to iPhone users, helping them to source connections while mobile, from anywhere in the world, says Total Hotspots CEO, Alex Housley. By working with Rummble, we were able to tap into its existing location based service platform and roll-out an application that delivers exactly what we were after, far quicker than if we were to develop the application ourselves.
Rummble's trust profile algorithm, which has been developed and refined over the past four years, attaches a personalised rating for each location, based on comments from users, their social network and the wider community. Within seconds, it's easy to filter hotspots based on this feedback, and rank the results by providing an estimation of how likely a user is to like them. Users can then add additional search filters such as sorting by free connections, sourcing those located within a cafe or looking solely at a preferred service provider. Any information recorded via the application is accessible from both the Total Hotspots and Rummble web sites, which users can log on to with a single account before sharing with friends in other social networks.
Total Hotspots is available for download from the Apple AppStore for 2.99. The app became the fourth most downloaded utility application in the Apple AppStore within 48 hours of first becoming available.