New App Turns Your Daily Walk Into a History Lesson

Your morning commute just became a lot more interesting.

Wrinkles, a new app available on iOS and Android, uses your location to automatically share the hidden history of places around you. Walk past a building and hear its secrets. Cross a street and learn its forgotten story. All without touching your phone.

David Stemler got the idea while visiting the British Museum in London. He spent the entire visit staring at his phone, matching numbers on walls to lists on the app instead of actually looking at the exhibits. At the airport, he called his childhood friend Ryan Hansan and asked a simple question: if his phone knew exactly where he was, shouldn't the places in front of him be able to speak?

The two friends, who have been traveling together since their teenage years, got to work. Hansan previously founded a meal delivery service and a shared commercial kitchen for food startups. Stemler brought years of advertising experience. Together, they built a global foundation of 1.3 million points of interest across 177 countries.

The app works like having a knowledgeable friend in your pocket. As you explore, you can ask questions about what you're seeing. Learning about the Trevi Fountain? Ask where the water actually comes from and get an instant answer.

But Wrinkles isn't just for tourists. Families can attach their own memories, photos, and videos to specific places. Imagine preserving the story of your childhood home, your first date location, or your grandmother's favorite park for future generations.

The Ripple Effect

Museums, universities, and tourism boards are already using Wrinkles to create location-based experiences without building expensive custom apps. Creators can build sponsored guides. Local businesses can share their stories and book reservations directly through the app.

The best part? Hansan and Stemler are committed to keeping Wrinkles free for users. Revenue comes from partnerships with organizations that want to share their stories, not from monthly subscription fees.

The founders see this as more than a travel tool. They built it for the curious person who walks the same streets every day but never knew the stories hiding in plain sight. For the parent at the zoo with their kids. For the commuter who wants to rediscover their own hometown.

Sometimes the most interesting stories are right in front of us, just waiting to be heard.