A newly launched location-based audio guide app called Wrinkles is aiming to change how people interact with the world around them. Available on both iOS and Android, the app uses real-time GPS data to narrate the history, secrets, and local lore of surrounding landmarks without forcing users to stare at their screens. Founded by childhood friends David Stemler, a veteran advertising executive, and Ryan Hansan, an experienced entrepreneur behind ScratchDC and TasteLab, the app seeks to foster curiosity in everyday environments, whether users are traveling abroad or walking their daily commute.

The inspiration for the app came when Stemler visited the British Museum and realized that traditional digital guides detached visitors from their physical surroundings by forcing them to look down at their screens. Seeking a hands-free, heads-up experience, he partnered with Hansan to build a platform that now boasts 1.3 million points of interest across 177 countries. Beyond pre-loaded historical facts, Wrinkles allows museums, local historians, and everyday users to contribute their own stories, photos, and family memories to specific coordinates, creating a collaborative digital tapestry of human history.

To enhance engagement, the app features an interactive AI assistant that answers follow-up questions about specific sites in real-time. It also incorporates social elements, enabling users to share custom maps and follow friends or creators. While the app remains entirely free for consumers, its business model targets the supply side. Museums, hotels, and tourism boards can leverage the platform to host location-based experiences, while local businesses can promote sponsored guides and offer direct booking links, generating transaction-based revenue for the startup.

Key Takeaways

• Wrinkles is a hands-free, AI-powered audio guide app designed to share local history and stories based on a user's real-time location.
• The platform features over 1.3 million points of interest globally and allows users, historians, and brands to upload personal memories and custom guides.
• The app is free for users, generating revenue through partnerships with tourism boards, hotels, and museums, as well as transaction fees from local bookings.

Editor’s Analysis & Impact

The launch of Wrinkles highlights a growing shift in the travel and tourism tech sector toward “heads-up” augmented reality experiences. By prioritizing audio over screen-based interaction, the app addresses a major pain point of modern tourism: screen fatigue. From a business perspective, Wrinkles’ B2B monetization strategy is highly clever. Instead of charging users a subscription fee—which often limits adoption—the company is positioning itself as a cost-effective alternative for museums, universities, and hospitality brands that want to offer digital tours without the high cost of developing proprietary apps. If Wrinkles can successfully scale its user base and maintain high-quality, moderated user-generated content, it could disrupt traditional tourism services and establish a new standard for interactive, localized storytelling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does Wrinkles work without requiring users to look at their phones?
A: Wrinkles uses the GPS on your smartphone to detect your exact location and automatically plays audio stories about the landmarks, streets, and buildings around you, allowing for a completely hands-free exploration experience.

Q: Is the Wrinkles app free to use?
A: Yes, the app is completely free for users. The company generates revenue by partnering with businesses, museums, and tourism boards that pay to host location-based experiences or promote their services on the platform.

Q: Can users add their own stories to the app?
A: Absolutely. Wrinkles features a collaborative map where users can attach personal memories, photos, videos, and audio recordings to specific locations, making it a tool for preserving family histories and local lore.