Wrinkles app uses AI to reveal the hidden stories behind the places around you

Wrinkles, a new AI-powered app available on iOS and Android, uses your location to automatically surface stories about the places around you, turning your surroundings into an interactive audio tour guide. The app, founded by longtime friends David Stemler and Ryan Hansan, aims to let users explore the world without constantly staring at their phones, revealing the hidden history, secrets, and local lore of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods.

How Wrinkles works

Wrinkles taps into a global database of 1.3 million points of interest across 177 countries, known as “Wrinkles.” As you move through a city, the app plays audio stories related to what you’re seeing. Users can also ask questions about a specific site, like “Where does this water actually come from?” while viewing the Trevi Fountain, making the experience feel like a traditional guided tour. The app also allows historians, museums, creators, and brands to contribute their own stories, enriching the map with local knowledge.

Beyond travel: personal and community storytelling

While Wrinkles is positioned as a travel tool, the founders emphasize that it’s equally valuable for everyday curiosity. “The common thread isn’t travel — it’s curiosity,” Hansan told Bitcoin World. Users can attach family memories, photos, videos, and recordings to specific places, creating a personal legacy tied to a childhood home or a first date spot. Families can collaborate on these histories, preserving memories for future generations. The app also includes social features, allowing users to follow friends, creators, and organizations, and to save or share Wrinkles in custom maps and guides.

Why it matters

Wrinkles addresses a common pain point in travel: the disconnect between digital guides and physical surroundings. By using location awareness, it offers a hands-free way to learn about the world, which could appeal to both spontaneous travelers and locals wanting to rediscover their own cities. The freemium model, with revenue from museums, tourism boards, and businesses, suggests a sustainable path that doesn’t rely on user subscriptions, potentially keeping the app accessible to a wide audience.

Future vision

Stemler and Hansan see Wrinkles becoming a standard part of how people navigate places, whether exploring a college campus, planning a trip, or gaining deeper insight into a city. The startup’s global foundation of stories and partnerships indicates a long-term ambition to be a leading platform for location-based storytelling. As the app evolves, its success will depend on the quality and diversity of its content, as well as user trust in the accuracy and authenticity of the stories told.

Conclusion

Wrinkles is a novel entry in the location-based app space, merging AI, storytelling, and personal memory. By focusing on curiosity and hands-free exploration, it offers a refreshing alternative to traditional audio guides. As it grows, Wrinkles could reshape how we interact with our surroundings, making every walk a chance to uncover the layers of history beneath our feet.

FAQs

Q1: What is Wrinkles?
Wrinkles is an AI-powered mobile app that uses your location to play audio stories about the places around you, acting like a personalized tour guide.

Q2: How does Wrinkles get its content?
Wrinkles has a foundational database of 1.3 million points of interest, and also allows historians, museums, creators, and brands to add their own stories and experiences to the map.

Q3: Is Wrinkles free to use?
Yes, the founders say they are committed to keeping the app free for users. Revenue comes from partners like museums and tourism boards, as well as transaction fees from bookings and reservations.