Polarsteps, the leading travel tracking and sharing platform, today announced its biggest update yet — three transformative features that revolutionize how users plan, track, and relive their adventures. The summer release combines artificial intelligence, enhanced design, and social-ready videos to deliver a more personalized and engaging travel experience.

AI-powered itineraries built around your unique travel history

The centerpiece of the update is Polarsteps' new AI itinerary builder — a tool that lets you generate a multi-destination travel plan tailored to your style, directly on the map. 

It’s built on a decade of trip data shared by millions of Polarsteps travelers. This rich data set — millions of lines of text input by travelers in their Steps — allows Polarsteps to create a unique proposition: instant travel itineraries tailored specifically for each user. 

When a user opts in to share their past trip data, Polarsteps AI analyses their traveler profile to understand the kind of travel they love, the places that inspired them, and their habits and needs as an adventurer (whether that’s traveling with children, solo adventuring, or seeking high-adrenaline experiences). By combining Claude’s AI with Polarsteps’ original content (written by a team of human travel editors) and the user’s travel history, the result is a complete, editable itinerary ready to turn into a travel plan — for a week-long road trip or an epic round-the-world gap year.

Unlike chatbot-style AI planners that rely on long text exchanges and clunky interfaces, this new feature is built right into Polarsteps’ map-centric user experience. You see your route unfold visually — adding, adjusting, and exploring destinations through an intuitive, interactive interface that mirrors how travelers think and move through the world. 

The result is something few planners can offer: an itinerary that feels like it was made just for you — because it was.

"We're redefining how people plan their trips," says Maxi Neustadt, co-founder and CTO. "As you track your trips with us, we learn your travel preferences. Leveraging that knowledge and the power of GenAI, we can automatically build an itinerary that is perfectly matched to your unique travel style."

Complete visual redesign puts memories front and center

Polarsteps has also introduced a bold new look. The updated design features larger photo displays, a sleeker layout, and a refreshed visual experience that highlights your personal travel story.

Photos, Steps, and travel stats are now more prominently displayed, creating an immersive experience where your memories are always in focus. The app remains easy to navigate, while offering a more polished, storytelling-first presentation.

Trip Reel turns your adventures into cinematic keepsakes

The third major addition, Trip Reel, brings your journey to life in motion. It automatically transforms your photos, videos, and visited places into short, cinematic reels — perfect for sharing with friends or saving as a memento.

“With Trip Reel, we’re responding to a growing trend in travel — particularly in younger demographics — for people sharing their travel adventures with others in short video form,” says Clare Jones, Polarsteps CEO. “This isn’t about influencers with perfect trips but about people sharing the reality of their adventures with their close communities — able to relive and share their travel experiences in all their ups and downs.”

Trip Reel launches initially on iOS, with the Android release planned for the coming months.

Strengthening Polarsteps’ place in travel tech

The summer 2025 release reinforces Polarsteps at the forefront of travel technology —  combining AI, a uniquely map-first interface, and user-centered design to offer a fresh take on planning and documenting travel. 

This update signals the company’s evolution from a trip tracker to an all-in-one travel companion — helping people plan smarter, travel better, and share more meaningfully.

The updates are available now on the Polarsteps app.

About Polarsteps

Polarsteps, the Amsterdam-based scale-up founded in 2015, is an essential trip companion for over 15 million explorers worldwide. As an end-to-end app, it empowers travelers to plan, track, and relive their journeys in a uniquely smart and visually beautiful way. With a dedicated team of more than 80 international talents, the company has bold ambitions to ignite the spirit of adventure in modern explorers, at every stage of the journey. The big mission? To lead a global shift towards more authentic, meaningful, and responsible travel.