The challenge
Exploring a new city on foot should not mean piecing together directions from five different sources or working through a wall of prerecorded audio. I wanted the app to offer a knowledgeable, structured route in a simpler self-guided tour: pick a city, follow the map, and learn about each stop along the way.
The solution
Walking Tour Guides has been live in the App Store Travel category as Walking Tour Guides by Wandity since August 2024. It covers 20+ cities across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East, including Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Bangkok, San Francisco, Montreal, and Doha. Each tour has an interactive map, GPS walking directions between stops, and a picture gallery for every point of interest. Travelers can preview each city for free and unlock the full tour with an in-app purchase.
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What the app includes
Interactive city maps
Each tour appears as a route on an interactive map. Every point of interest is marked, and GPS walking directions connect one stop to the next so travelers can follow the route without losing their place.
Picture galleries
Every stop has a photo gallery, giving travelers more context for what they are about to see or have just visited.
Free preview and paid unlock
Each city guide starts with a free preview of its first stops. RevenueCat manages the in-app purchase that unlocks the full tour, using the same flow on iOS and Android.
A catalog of 20+ cities
The app ships tours for cities across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East, with each city guide packaged and versioned independently so new cities can be added without touching the others.
Architecture
Frontend: React Native on Expo, with Expo Router handling navigation between the city catalog, map, and point-of-interest screens.
Backend: A backend API serves city and point-of-interest content to the client.
Monetization: RevenueCat handles the free-preview-to-paid-unlock purchase flow across iOS and Android.
Walking Tour Guides has been live on the App Store since August 2024 and is currently at version 1.2.1. It is also the shipped foundation for Promenario, an AI-native travel companion now in development.