This app pushed Audiotour.pl into it's mobile era. During my time away from the company, the codebase devolved into an unmaintainable mess. I transformed this fragile, hard-to-manage audio guide app into a flexible platform that’s customizable, reliable, and a pleasure for both tourists and cultural institutions alike. It is now live on 40+ separate App Store listings.

The audio-guide market is small and, honestly, pretty simple: play audio, support a few languages, show a picture now and then. Automatic playback is nice; if not viable, most visitors are happy typing in numbers they see by exhibits.

With our main device supplier’s prices skyrocketing, I found myself thinking: their system seems to be just a bunch of BLE beacons and a simple algorithm deciding what to play next. How hard can it be?

A month later, we had a Java POC on Android. A single MacBook purchase after that, the same app ran on iPhone.

The first build was basic, but it covered ~90% of competitors’ features and beat their in-house specs. Even entry-level Android phones handled more formats, had sharper screens, and generally out-classed dedicated hardware.

We launched two free GPS-based tours to start: one for Paris and one for my home city, Kraków.

Our first commercial release soon followed at the Castle-Museum in Łańcut. Powered by 30+ beacons, it guided visitors start-to-finish with zero taps required. It was snappier than the dedicated system, and content prep dropped to simple JSON edits instead of arcane WinForms era tooling. It felt like this was where the whole industry would be headed.

Not long after, I parted ways with the company for four years. When I returned, the product I’d built was in rough shape. Often changing contractors working under incompetent team lead resulted in massive tech debt and hundreds of monthly crashes on both Android and iOS.

Since then - teamed up with a new hire (hi, Jakub!) - we’ve pulled both platforms back into shape. The apps are steadier (iOS now averages ~0.1 monthly crashes across updated apps), look better, and are markedly improved in accessibility and internationalization. We fully support right-to-left layouts (with full Hebrew localization available now, and Arabic coming next) and are making strong progress toward WCAG 2.2 compliance.

This single white-label shell now runs in 40+ institutions and cities across Poland and parts of Germany and Slovakia (totaling well over 140 releases since it was first introduced). If you’ve used an audio-guide app in Poland, there’s a good chance I had a hand in it. If not, you can check out some of the clients I’ve had the honour of working with:

• Muzeum Narodowe w Lublinie
• Castle Rabsztyn
• City of Zamość
• Castle-Museum in Łańcut
• UNESCO Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry
• Museum of Military Technology GRYF
• Museum of Polish Military in Warsaw
• Penal Labour Camp Treblinka I and Extermination Camp Treblinka II

...and more.