You bring up a great point...but the problem with that is we would have to ask the creators for permission on each one of their routes. Either that, or we partner up with them and they post those routes or any other routes they want. Copying their itinerary would open us up to legal trouble because of copyright issues. We already plan on incorporating travel creators with different styles as part of our UGC marketing plan. That will include promotional videos as well as UGC on the app itself. Thank you for your input!
You're right on both counts, and I apologize. The U.S only thing should be visible for visitors to see, not a blockade they hit after trying to install. I also should have mentioned that in the post itself. Updating the site today. On the demo itself, we're currently in the process of creating a short walkthrough video of the app to display on the website alongside the screenshots. Adding it to this week's list. I appreciate the directness.
Thank you for everyone for giving your inputs, we really appreciate it! Just an FYI since I saw a lot of people asking, GridTravel is only available in the U.S at the moment. We have plans to expand to other markets as the app grows! Thanks again!
Yes, users can download routes and use navigation fully offline once a route's saved. Great for low-service areas, or just not burning data while walking around a new city. The explore page still needs a connection, but the actual trip-day experience — following a saved route, navigation, waypoints, notes, all works offline. Good question!
Custom points was something we considered but hadn't implemented yet. That'll be coming in a future update so keep an eye out! We had a similar issue with the search bar when we were using our custom search key api. Made the switch to Apple's search and that issue got resolved (at least on our end). Thank you for pointing that out as well, we'll start looking into it. Appreciate all your input!
At the moment, it's manual creation. You build the route by placing waypoints and adding notes, tips, and a cover photo (if you prefer). So you can create the route whenever you'd like. Live recording is something we considered but planned to do later down the line. Hope this answered your question!
Thanks! Yeah that's the idea. Biggest problem we are encountering in the initial stages is just the UGC with users or lack thereof but it hasn't even been 48 hours since launch lol. Seeding major cities at the moment and as the user base grows, the hope is UGC grows as well.
Those screenshots were on my list to update so thank you for the reminder!
UGC: Our first phase definitely looks closer to what you're describing than the long term goal. We're seeding the major US cities ourselves, then bringing on influencers in those same cities to create routes from their own lifestyle/brand and cross-post on socials — the seeded routes give them a baseline for the format we're going for. UGC from regular users is the longer-term bet, not what we were expecting within our first week of launch.
Your "generate the routes based on their travel blogs, link back" idea is one I hadn't considered, but it's something to think about. Appreciate your input!
We are planning on launching an android version in the near future, just don't have a specific timeline yet. Looking to see how the response is from the iOS users. On the business side: influencer-created itineraries is something we're already leaning into as mentioned above (number 3). As for the other angle for monetization, we've gone back and forth on it. The thing that makes us hesitant is incentive alignment i.e once route creators earn commission on bookings, there's pressure to route people toward bookable places (hotels, paid attractions, restaurants on partner platforms) rather than the local hidden-gem stuff that's the actual value of the app. Not ruling it out—there are versions of it (transparent disclosure, opt-in by creator, separate trips vs routes surface) that might work. Just want to make sure it's done right. Appreciate your input!
Hey man, congrats on the project! And to answer your question, the app is geared towards exploration in your city as well as others. So whether you're planning on going into downtown to explore new places or planning a trip to Tennessee, you're covered both ways! Thanks for the info on the sponsorships, that's my first time hearing about it. The more you know lol.
Thanks! Just out of curiosity, what country do you reside in? We're iOS only for now (planning to come to android in the near future) and the App Store availability is set up market-by-market, so it'd be useful for us to know where the demand is.