UF students develop app 'FOMO' for drink specials

If you’ve ever felt like you’ve been missing out on what’s happening around Gainesville, a group of UF students may have developed an app to help.

 FOMO, which stands for Fear of Missing Out, is an app that promotes drink specials and helps to create more revenue for bars struggling during their slow times.

Users receive push notifications on bar deals or events going on at both Midtown and downtown venues, allowing bar-hoppers to find the best drink deals while enjoying their nights on the town.

FOMO lists bar specials on the day of or the day before the drink deals, intended for those to use when they are already out. The app does not show anything a week in advance unless it is an event.

“When you go out, you don’t decide a week ahead of time where you’re going to go; it’s the night of,” said James Berger, one of the app’s creators.

Berger, along with friends Jimmy Parenteau, Cindy Matar and Ryan Conway, started FOMO in Gainesville in 2016. The app has since expanded to Tampa and Athens, Georgia.

The UF students also have plans to expand the app to Auburn, Alabama, and the University of South Carolina in the next few months.

This Labor Day weekend, new app users will get to experience these deals in action, when FOMO collaborates with The Rowdy Reptile bar.

On Sunday, starting at 8 p.m., those who visit the Midtown bar and show the app on their phones will receive free beer, with a limited number of bands given out.