Outernet app turns saved posts into plans for getting out
Outernet lets iPhone users turn social posts, links and screenshots into organized event and place lists, with reminders and map views.
By Theo Nakamura · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
The Outernet app saved posts feature is built for a familiar problem: discovering a restaurant, event or local activity online, then losing track of it. The startup, founded by Danielle Egan and Athena Leong, is pitching an iPhone app that gathers those discoveries into plans for offline activities, according to TechCrunch.
For users, the practical appeal is consolidation. Rather than keeping separate saves inside TikTok or Instagram, browser bookmarks and screenshots, Outernet offers one place to collect prospective outings. Apple’s App Store lists the app as free with in-app purchases, designed only for iPhone, and developed by Outernet Explorer Inc.
How does the Outernet app turn saved posts into plans?
A user can send a TikTok or Instagram post to Outernet through the source app’s share menu, TechCrunch reported. The app also accepts pasted social-media and website links, plus uploaded photos or screenshots, such as a picture of an event flyer.
Outernet then uses artificial intelligence, or AI, to identify details associated with the item, including an event’s date, time and location, according to TechCrunch. Dated events appear in chronological order. Undated activities and places are organized in separate sections, and users can view saved items on a map or add events to Apple Calendar or Google Calendar.
The company describes the service as a way to save and organize things to do. Its App Store listing says the app researches, summarizes and organizes information submitted through links, screenshots and pictures. Those are developer claims, rather than independently measured evidence that the app improves planning or gets people outside.
What features are available now?
- Save places, events and activities from shared posts, links, photos and screenshots.
- Organize dated events in a time-based feed and keep locations and undated ideas in separate sections.
- Use map views and send events to Apple or Google calendars, according to TechCrunch.
- Receive reminders or prompts about saved plans.
- Mark completed outings with stamps, which the App Store listing says users collect as they finish saved adventures.
The “stamps” feature is the app’s follow-through layer: after visiting a saved place or completing an activity, a user records it as done. TechCrunch reported that the founders have also discussed a more developed, shareable passport-style record and additional game-like incentives. Those ideas were described as future product considerations, not confirmed current features.
TechCrunch identified Albo, Tabi and Plotline as other apps that help people organize saved places and activities. Outernet’s stated angle is the founders’ experience creating offline social events, including a citywide San Francisco scavenger hunt and a group gathering called a “sit club.”
The product’s scope remains limited in the available information. Apple’s listing identifies it as an iPhone app, and the reporting does not establish Android availability, geographic coverage, user numbers, funding or privacy practices. For someone deciding whether to try it, the confirmed proposition is narrower: it is a mobile tool for converting online discoveries into an organized list of potential real-world plans.
This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.
