Hair in the wind, smiles on the lips and glasses on the nose, Solène films in front of a bluish waterfall, in Laos. “There, I am in Kuang if it is a waterfall, it is very impressive,” the young woman shouts in her video, while her voice is half covered by the water throat.
Solène takes, as usual, some photos, ends her visit and returns to the youth shelter. She gets her phone, Polarsteps address. For several minutes, select the best photos of the day and wrote a small summary of its activities. In a few minutes, the summary of your trip is online in the application.
40 round trips on Mars
Like Solène, more and more Internet users use Polarsteps to say their online trip. In total, the application claims 14 million Internet users worldwide. “In 2024, our users went through 20 billion kilometers in 365 days, the equivalent of 40 round trips on the planet Mars,” Smiles Claire Jones, CEO of Polarsteps, interviewed by Tech & Co.
France is also the second largest market in the platform with 3 million users. It is also the country with the strongest growth: +290 % in 2024 compared to the previous year, in terms of monthly users.
The principle is simple: when using a photo or video and text, it is possible to document each stage of your trip. The set is reconstituted in the form of an interactive map, along with a chronological frieze. Once along the way, the application automatically follows the traveler’s route thanks to Wifi, the telephone network or a GPS tracer.
“Practical pus that a paper notebook”
It all started from a sailboat trip through the Atlantic. The founder, Niet Bokkers, wanted to give news to his loved ones and remember his trip. And that is why Tom has downloaded the application.
“All my friends went at the same time on a trip, after the end of our mastery,” recalls Tech & Co. “They are the ones who advised me the application.” Initially intrigued, the one that went to South America for six months quickly adopted the platform. “It is much more practical than a paper notebook. When you have a moment on a bus or at the airport, you can easily notice your day,” he adds.
“I tend to lose everything,” says Clara, 24, in Tech & Co., should be said that the law student is regular on airplane trips, train or boat. Last year, he went to Thailand, Portugal, Denmark, Morocco and Japan. “There, at least, all my notebooks and travel stories are in the same place. (…) And when I want to reread my trips or show them to my family, it is easy.”
An opinion shared by Laure. He discovered the platform in a travel blog, while preparing his road trip in Asia. “I write all my days there,” he said, questioned by Tech & Co. If he downloaded Polarsteps to “keep up with his family and friends,” the one who has also gone for almost 5 months also shares his trip with other travelers gathered on the trip.
“Even our grandparents manage to continue”
“It’s like a blog where you are the trips of others (…) as soon as you share a step, I will read it,” says Laure. “If I go to a country in which people have already been, I can read their Polarsteps and inspire myself in directions or its destinations and vice versa.”
The link with their loved ones or other friends of fortune is precisely what motivates many travelers to download the platform. “Before Polarsteps, to keep their loved ones informed of their adventures, I had to create a blog or send individual messages. Thanks to the application, everyone can share their trip in real time,” explains the CEO of the application.
“I did not want to particularly follow my parents on Instagram,” joke for Tech & Co Noémie, in Nepal for two months. “Polarsteps, allowed me to give them news easily, without knowing everything about my personal life.”
And then, it is very easy to use. “We have shared our Polarsteps link with our grandparents, to our uncles who are not especially on social networks,” recalls Valérian, interviewed by Tech & Co. The year 26 -years just returned 7 months of travel to Latin America with his girlfriend.
A more intimate network
It should be said that opinions are unanimous: Polarsteps is distinguished from conventional platforms. “It is not the same use as Instagram or Tiktok, notes for Tech & Co. Last year, the economist went for a month in Japan. On a friend’s advice, then he decides to try the adventure of the digital Edge Journal.
At that time, it passed between 10 and 15 minutes in the application. “In Polarsteps, we share a trip with their loved ones or their parents. It is more authentic and intimate,” he continues. Then he tells his galleys, his surprises or the proven culinary specialties.
The same observation for Liora. “I really appreciate the intimacy of the Thrillers. I really chose who I sent the link of my trip,” he insists with Tech & Co
A virtual memory … and paper
“It is a written trace that I would see quite frequently, especially when I return to a trip,” confirms Laure, which has fun occasionally, reread the first days of his trip in Asia.
The service is free and the startup is remunerated thanks to the sale of products such as custom photo albums, from 36 to 156 euros. It is precisely this characteristic of the sale of memory photo albums, which today is the main source of income of the platform.
“We made a strong decision from the beginning: without advertising and without exploitation of personal data,” adds Claire Jones. Since 2023, the 300 travel guides have been another source of income. In 2024, the startup generated 10 million billing.
Clara has just print some of her “great” trips. “I offered the notebooks to my parents, they were crazy about joy,” he slipped. Valérian is printing his. In the program? No less than 54 publications in 204 days to print. “We are accustomed to making photo books in the family. It allows you to do something with all these hundreds and hundreds of photos and transform it into memory,” he concludes.
Source: BFM TV
