Brightkite 2.0 For The iPhone Now On The App Store

Brightkite was one of the early players in the location-based social networking game, which is a space that is growing rapidly. Originally a TechStars startup, Brightkite was bought in April by Limbo and has been flying a bit under the radar as a fresh crop of location-based services have popped up including the new favorite, Foursquare.

A few weeks ago, the startup launched Brightkite 2.0 for the web, which was chock full of new and noteworthy features. Today, the much-awaited Brightkite 2.0 for the iPhone, which is free, hit the app store.

The app contains much of the same functionality has the new version of the web site. One of the main changes is the new friend model in the app. Brightkite friendships has been redesigned to let people “subscribe” to your public posts by becoming a fan, but only you decide who’s a friend. While fans have limited access, Friends get more access and privileges to your posts. Brightkite says it’s a way of taking the pressure of users who don’t want to deny an acquaintance access to see their posts.

The new version has also upgraded privacy settings and sharing options, to share with just friends or everyone. You can also share posts to Twitter and Facebook invididually and can post with out location included. And the app contains much of the new streaming filters that are included on the web, which allow customization of the people, locations, and type of posts you want to see. Other features include stats, which lets you see the number of views on your posts, popularity of a post, visitors to a place, and more. You can also rate other users’ posts with a thumbs up or thumbs down.