Facebook updated its mobile app Thursday with a recommendations feature Thursday that aims to help users learn more about the places they're at.

Whether you're at a local bar or popular vacation spot, the new feature, called Place Tips, will appear in your News Feed and let you look at photos posted by your friends in the past of that location, according to PC Magazine.

These posts will appear on the banner as a series of cards showing a variety of information, including posts on the place's Facebook page, popular menu items and upcoming events.

The addition of detailed and personalized information about locations puts Facebook in competition with Yelp, Foursquare, and other services looking to improve their users' experiences with recommendations, CNET reported.

Facebook is making place tips optional so that they will only pop up if you give the site permission to access your location, and the company says it won't share your location publicly.

Place tips are currently only available for iPhone users and is being tested in New York City, where Facebook said it will use cellular networks, Wi-Fi and GPS to determine users' locations, PC Magazine reported. Testing spots will include Central Park Brooklyn Bridge, JFK Airport, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty.

Facebook will also test the feature in NYC Bluetooth hotspots, including Dominque Ansel Bakery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Strand Book Store, the burger joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel, Brooklyn Bowl, Pianos, the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop and Veselka.