It looks like Google+ is adding a feature that will allow users to “check-in” via the Google+ mobile application in order to receive a time-sensitive deal or discount. This feature is mentioned in Google Places’s help documentation, but has not yet been made available to business owners using the Google Places service.

Google check-ins have a confusing history, it has to be said.

To be clear, the ability to check in via Google+ is not new.

Google’s location-based social service Google Latitude launched checkins in February, prior to the launch of Google+. And when Google+ arrived on mobile, it offered a check-in feature of its own, seemingly based on Latitude, which pulls up a list of nearby Google Places.