Detour Blog

Detour is a platform for location-based audio experiences, available in the iOS App Store and coming to Android in June. We make our own premium outdoor tours in San Francisco, New York, and other cities. We also provide tools that let anyone create their own tours.

Latest

Detour: The Next Chapter

As of today, Bose is the new owner of the Detour software and tour content, while the team and I have moved to Descript. Bose is a huge fan…

Andrew Mason

Apr 20, 2018

Detour is free until Labor Day

With our recent expansion to 17 cities and 150 tours, it’s never been easier to try Detour. Now, we’re making it even easier: Until Labor…

Andrew Mason

Jun 30, 2017

Spontaneous Immersion

One of the reasons we decided to build Detour is that it fits into the two major trends driving consumer behavior in travel: spontaneity…

Andrew Mason

Jun 14, 2017

Free Detours this Weekend (6/2)

To celebrate our launch of 120 new tours, we’re making one tour in each of our seventeen cities free between now and Sunday. Download the…

Andrew Mason

Jun 2, 2017

Detour Everywhere: Our Biggest Release Ever

Today we are incredibly excited to share what we’ve been working on for the last 9 months: Detour Everywhere!

Andrew Mason

May 23, 2017

Introducing Detour BYOD for Museums

For years, museums have been anticipating a future where audio tour rental devices would be replaced by visitors’ own smartphones. The…

Andrew Mason

May 11, 2017

New: Finish your Detour from Home

Ever run out of time before you could finish walking your Detour? Or want to listen a second time? With our new Remote Playback feature…

Andrew Mason

Feb 17, 2017

13 reasons your museum should switch to Detour Platform in 2017

If you’re a museum or cultural institution looking for the best way to create and distribute an audio tour, there’s never been a better…

Andrew Mason

Jan 9, 2017

Guess who’s in Apple’s 10 best apps of 2016?

We’re honored to be named by Apple one of the best 10 apps of 2016!

Andrew Mason

Dec 7, 2016

Use Detour to make your own audio tour

This May, we launched Detour Platform with SFMOMA as our first partner. We followed that in November with our partnership with Airbnb.

Andrew Mason

Dec 5, 2016

Introducing Airbnb Audio Walks

We’re excited to announce that we’re partnering with Airbnb to create a new kind of neighborhood exploration experience: Airbnb Audio…

Andrew Mason

Nov 17, 2016

Recommend Local Narrators for our Airbnb Audio Walks!

Airbnb, in partnership with Detour, is launching a project to create immersive audio walks that document the rich and diverse people and…

Andrew Mason

Nov 17, 2016

We’re live in NYC, LA, and Chicago — plus a big new feature

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of 11 Detours in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Tours launching today include a walk over the…

Andrew Mason

Sep 1, 2016

The best headphones are the ones you have with you

Detour is designed for use with headphones, so we’re watching the impending removal of the iPhone’s headphone jack with great interest.

Andrew Mason

Aug 16, 2016

A new approach to museum audio tours, by the numbers

Andrew Mason

Jul 27, 2016

Detour 2.4 now in the iOS App Store

Just in time for the 4th of July, Detour 2.4 is a small peek at bigger changes coming, and a huge step towards making the app more reliable…

Andrew Mason

Jul 4, 2016

Detour for Android Now Available!

Also, we’re hiring!

Juliet Hinely

Jun 21, 2016

The Mission Detour Available Now

Produced in partnership with KQED

Juliet Hinely

Jun 8, 2016

Detour 2.3: What’s New

There’s a new version of Detour in the App Store. Here’s what’s new:

Andrew Mason

May 18, 2016

Introducing Detour Platform and our first partner, SFMOMA

Today we’re announcing Detour Platform, our suite of location-based audio creation tools for third parties. Our first partner is SFMOMA…

Andrew Mason

May 3, 2016

Architecture with Rick Evans

Our newest Detour, Architecture with Rick Evans is now available.

Juliet Hinely

Mar 21, 2015

Making Soundwalk Tenderloin with John Perry Barlow

Ever wonder what goes into the making of a Detour? Soundwalk Collective has been making brilliant audio walks for over a decade, and we…

Juliet Hinely

Mar 14, 2015

Engineering at Detour

originally published August 30th, 2014

Andrew Mason

Apr 18, 2016

Call for Pitches: NYC, LA & Chicago

Deadlines NYC & Chicago: 4/8/2016 LA: 4/30/2016

Juliet Hinely

Apr 4, 2016

New Features: Free Trial, Instant Start, & Offline Mode

Detour 2.1 is now available in the app store, with three great new features.

Juliet Hinely

Jan 25, 2016

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