What it does

Three ways to walk

One small app, three distinct modes. One genuinely useful, one a joke, one a game.

Mode 01

Loop

The real one. Tell Wanderer where you are and how far you want to go, in miles, kilometers, or steps, and it builds a walking loop on real streets that returns you to your door.

Every tap generates a genuinely different route, never the same path twice
Avoid-repeat routing so you do not retread the same road
Compact, Balanced, or Sprawling feel to control how far the loop ranges

Wanderer showing a generated loop on the map with distance and step count

Mode 02

Surprise

The joke. Wanderer picks a random direction, sends you that far out with no destination and no plan, and cheerfully informs you that getting home is now your problem.

One tap, one random bearing, zero intention
No destination, no judgment, just go
Built to make people laugh, not to be practical

Wanderer welcome screen explaining the free setup step

Mode 03

Shape

The game. Pick a heart, a star, or a cat, and Wanderer draws it over the map as a trail of points to chase. The streets will not match it exactly, and that is the whole point.

Eight shapes to walk, including a cat that will not look like a cat
Strava-art style, scored on how close your real path gets
Clearly framed as a game, not turn-by-turn directions

Wanderer shape mode with a grid of shapes to walk including a heart, star, and cat

How it works

From open to walking in three taps

No account, no app store, no setup beyond a free routing key you add once.

Set your start

Use your location or type any address. Wanderer never stores it anywhere but your own phone.

Choose your distance

Miles, kilometers, or a step goal. Quick chips for the common ones, or type your own.

Get your route

A real loop drawn on the map, with distance, step estimate, and a button to open it in Maps.

Under the hood

One file. No backend. No tracking.

Wanderer is a single HTML file you save to your home screen like a native app. It talks to a free routing service for real walking paths, and everything else lives on your device.

Single-file build Leaflet maps OpenRouteService OpenStreetMap data Netlify No database

The whole thing took an afternoon. There is no server, so there is nothing to breach and nothing to spam. The routing key lives in a settings panel on each person's phone, which means the link is safe to share publicly and every user gets their own free routing quota. It is a small app, built the way I think small apps should be built: useful first, charming second, and honest about what it can and cannot do.