Updates

This week brings 2 new cities to the Open World App, both by the sea!

🌉 San Francisco, known for its Gold Rush, Summer of Love, and modern tech age, has a super interesting history of periodic booms, destruction, and then bold reinvention.

🏗 And Hamburg, for centuries one of the most important trading ports, has long been a proud independent city-state, and the signs of its power and wealth are still there today.

In the app you can find 100s of secrets for both, with over 30 quests each, to help Lindy uncover how history shaped their identity still today! 🕵‍♀️

With the virtual Fast-Travel added last week, that’s super easy to do from anywhere! 🛋✨

And for 14 days, both cities also cost 1 ticket less to unlock.

See who else is exploring

Earlier this week another app update also rolled out that makes the cities list more interesting: it now shows you how many other users already unlocked each city.

More social features coming in the next months.

A related reminder: request cities inside the app, so I know which ones to add next! 🙏

Open World on Instagram

Finally, the videos on the Open World Instagram are also more fun now. Follow us there if you want to see the most popular stories from the app!

Otherwise I’ll see you again next week with improvements to the stories & quests.

Happy exploring! 🧡

Peter

Open World just got another major update! This time to the 3D map, making it way more Open-World-like 🗺📌

Fog-of-war

Neighbourhoods are now covered by a fog-of-war! 😶‍🌫

You have to reveal each area first to see its map, the exact location of secrets, and which ones will help you with your active Quests.

Besides being way more fun and less overwhelming, this shows you where you’ve been, and helps you plan where to go next! 🕵‍♀️

But then how do you reveal a neighbourhood? That’s easy: just collect a few secret stories in the area!

Fast-Travel Points

And to make that easier, there are now Fast-Travel Points scattered all over each city!

Well, not “scattered” exactly, because they are based on real-world metro stops. Which, IRL or virtually, are really the best starting points to explore a city! 🚇

Just tap on a Fast-Travel Point and it teleports you there! ✨ A new point unlocks for every Quest level you complete.

Try it out and tell me what you think! 🙏 More cities are coming soon.

Happy exploring!

Peter

If you’ve used the Open World app the past weekend, you already noticed something: the Quests have been entirely redesigned! ✨

Quests are now “Research Tasks” Lindy gives you, to check up on in the city. Usually on a topic that was instrumental in shaping that city’s identity:

Level up with tags

Every secret story you collect has up to 3 tags (the round icons). And once you collect 5 of the same tag you can now use them to complete a level of the associated quest!

Which unlocks a “Conclusion” from Lindy, revealing a cool story of how the places you’ve found fit the bigger picture 🕵‍♀️

For instance in Rotterdam, the “Modernist” quest leads to how the city today was not just a product of rebuilding after the war, but a deliberate revolution by a younger generation of city planners 👀

BUT you have to choose which quests to level up, because collected secrets can only be used once!

What’s next

This is the beginning of bigger changes to the app, that I’ve already teased in the last email.

Soon there will be more unlockable mechanics: a “fog of war” on the map, a general player level, badges & social leaderboards, and a narrative “main quest” from Lindy.

Every secret you collect now gives you an advantage later 😉

Until then, happy exploring!

Peter

This weekend brings 2 new cities to the Open World app: Potsdam and Frankfurt.

Potsdam (near Berlin) was long the seat of Prussian kings, carefully planned as a balance with nature. It has the oldest Filmstudio in the world, and many universities!

And in Frankfurt (am Main), you can follow the transformation to finance capital after being nearly completely destroyed after WW2:

Hope you have fun exploring them: IRL or virtually! Check out a preview with the neighbourhood map & example stories inside the app.

And pls tell me / Lindy which cities to add next!! (tap on them in the cities list)

Social media

I spent more time on social media this week, and the videos started really interesting discussions.

Particularly about Utrecht’s Dom Tower, resistance bombings in Amsterdam, and a building Hitler hated in Berlin:

Follow Open World on Instagram to see secret stories like this in your feed!

What’s next

Next week I’ll start on bigger changes: Making it more fun to complete quests, a level system, and a leaderboard to see who found the most secrets in each city!

Until then, happy exploring!

Peter

Exciting news, the big 2.0 update for the Open World app is finally here!

A reminder: the Open World app lets you collect historical secrets in cities worldwide, and plan where to go.

The new update changes A LOT of things:

• You can now explore virtually
• Supports more cities: including Berlin, London, Vienna, Budapest
• Quickly collect postcards instead of tapping through chats
• Quests are completely redone and more interesting
• 100s of usability improvements

If you’re going somewhere for summer vacation, now is the best time to get back in!

Install the app here if you haven’t already.

I personally just used Open World for a trip to Budapest, and found SO MANY (100s) of nice spots I wouldn’t have without it. Hope you have the same experience!

And if there’s any issue, pls let me know!

Happy travels!

Peter

Lots of small improvements over the past weeks:

• Improved the map screen, the explore screen, and the lock screen live activity
• Nearby and maps screens
• Quest tracking
• Live activity and watch app
• Fixed the Watch app
• Fixed a long-standing issue with the live activity’s background location access
• Fixed a crash in Look Around mode
• Fixed virtual exploring
• Fixed notifications
• Updated the icon for iOS 26 and improved the tutorial
• New 3D map performance options
• Reduced the app’s install size
• Added a welcome discount 🎁

Quests are here! 🕵‍♀️ You can now explore thematic quests in each city.

The app is now available for 10 cities in The Netherlands!!

Also fixed many issues including iOS 26 icons, duplicate messages, app crashes, and the map not updating properly.

You can now ask questions to Lindy about the places you discover! 💬

The first big update to the Open World app is now live!

It’s focused on making the 3D Map more useful, and allowing you to pin stories:

Previously, the Map showed every single story location, which looked cool but made the map near unusable.

Instead, you can now select specific neighbourhoods. It then shows you that neighbourhood’s history and its hidden stories.

If you find a story that you want to check out later, pin it! 📌 It will then always appear prominently on your Map and on the Nearby screen.

So essentially, YOU build up your personal map of places to explore in the city.

Also: browsing the list of stories from home is more fun now! The descriptions are improved to give you an idea of what the story will be about (vs how to find it).

So in summary:

1. Browse neighbourhoods at home to find interesting spots to go to.
2. Pin hidden stories that you definitely want to check out.
3. Then take a walk there to explore history.

What’s next

For the next update, I’ll likely focus on expanding the story conversations.

But as before: tell me anything that’s on your mind, and I’ll address it asap!

Thanks & have a great weekend!

Peter

On June 4 2025 the app launched on iOS! It’s come a long way since…