Wrinkles app brings hidden stories of places to life with AI audio tours

Wrinkles, a new app founded by David Stemler and Ryan Hansan, uses your location to automatically surface stories about the places around you, acting as an AI-powered audio tour guide. The idea came to Stemler while using the British Museum's official app, which he found frustrating because it required staring at the phone instead of enjoying the surroundings. The app has a global foundation of 1.3 million points of interest across 177 countries, and historians, museums, creators, and brands can add their own stories. Users can ask questions during exploration, follow friends and creators, save and share Wrinkles, and personalize them with family memories. The founders see the app as more than a travel tool, emphasizing curiosity and daily use, from commutes to local exploration. Revenue comes from partners like museums and tourism boards that create sponsored guides, and the app earns a share of transactions from bookings and reservations. The long-term vision is for Wrinkles to become a normal part of how people navigate and understand places.