A guide who walks beside you
Kraków · Przewodnik is a free phone app that leads you through the city like a living guide: it shows the way and, when you reach a stop, it starts telling the story by itself. Nothing to tap, the phone can stay in your pocket and the headphones in your ears.
Best on a phone. On a computer you will see the map and the texts; GPS and camera work only on a phone.
How it works
Pick a route
A map of the centre with seven routes. Each has a description, walking time and a list of stops.
Walk and listen
GPS points an arrow to the next stop. When you arrive, the narrator tells its story, and she comments on the houses you pass by herself, without tapping.
Look through the camera
Camera mode overlays the names of the buildings in front of you, using your position and compass, without sending the picture anywhere.
Seven routes
- 1The Royal RouteFrom the Barbican to Wawel in the footsteps of coronation processions. 9 stops, about 2 hours.
- 2KazimierzA town beside the town: synagogues, Plac Nowy, Corpus Christi church and Skałka. 5 stops.
- 3Podgórze and ZabłocieThe ghetto, Pankiewicz's pharmacy, Schindler's factory and the Krakus Mound. 7 stops.
- 4Planty and the UniversityA loop around the Old Town: the theatre, a convent on a castle, Collegium Maius. 7 stops.
- 5In the footsteps of Karol WojtyłaFrom the lecture hall to the basement flat in Dębniki where he survived the war. 7 stops.
- 6Salwator and the Kościuszko MoundA fortified convent, a wooden chapel, the cemetery of Lem and Wajda, the mound. 5 stops.
- 7Nowa HutaSocialism's ideal city: the Central Square, the empty plinth of Lenin, the Lord's Ark. 5 stops.
How to install
The app runs in your phone's browser; there is nothing to download from a store. To get an icon like a regular app:
Android (Chrome)
- Open the app with the button below.
- Tap the ⋮ menu in the top right corner.
- Choose "Add to Home screen" or "Install app".
iPhone (Safari)
- Open the app with the button below.
- Tap the share icon (the square with an arrow).
- Choose "Add to Home Screen".
Works without internet
After the first opening, the routes, texts and the map tiles you have seen stay on the phone. In the app's settings, the "Download" button saves all the narrator's recordings (about 27 MB) so she keeps talking without signal, for example underground or on Wawel Hill, where reception is weak.
Privacy
Your position, compass and camera picture never leave the phone. The app has no account, collects no data and shows no ads.
The narrator
All 92 stories are read by a natural female voice. If the phone has no signal and the recordings have not been downloaded, the texts are read by the phone's built-in speech synthesis.
A guide who walks beside you
Best on a phone. On a computer you will see the map and the texts; GPS and camera work only on a phone.