Audio
Multilingual audio tour
NL, EN, DE, FR, ES, JP, ZH or more. Audio streams or preloaded for offline use. Player with fast rewind and chapter navigation.
Sector · Cultural institutions
Custom visitor app and audio tour. For museums, heritage sites and attractions.
An app that guides your visitor through the collection or site: multilingual, accessible, and in your own visual identity. We build custom visitor apps that go further than the off-the-shelf packages from Smartify or Bloomberg Connects, without leaving your curators dependent on a vendor. From audio tours to AR overlays, from ticket integration to crowd management, you choose the modules based on your collection and audience.
AudienceMuseums and heritage
AudienceZoos and botanical gardens
AudienceTheme parks and attractions
AudienceCities and tourist offices
The Dutch cultural sector in numbers.
~700
Registered museums in the Netherlands
~33M
Museum visits per year (NL)
~1,5M
Active Museumkaart holders
2025
European Accessibility Act in force
Source: Museum association statistics overview, CBS Statline, Museumkaart annual report.
A standard tour rarely fits your collection.
Many museums and attractions start with an off-the-shelf package: Smartify, Bloomberg Connects, Acoustiguide or a legacy Antenna app. For a first digital step that works well, but once your curators want to manage their own content, add AR overlays, integrate ticketing or run a children's route alongside the adult one, you hit the limits of the vendor.
Another problem: the visitor experience feels the same to your audience as at thirty other institutions. Your own house style, story and brand identity don't come across. For the Rijksmuseum or the Van Gogh Museum, a dedicated app therefore makes sense — for the mid-sized segment it long seemed out of reach. With today's stack (React Native, headless CMS, manageable beacons), custom is within closer reach than five years ago.
The third problem is deep integration. A commodity tour doesn't know your visitor. They are treated as a first-time visitor every time, with no memory of previous visits, no recognition of membership, and no link to your ticket or donation history. For a museum that relies on friends, members and repeat visits, that is a missed opportunity. Your own app can know your visitor, and can use that respectfully for curatorial communication or fundraising.
Our view: a custom visitor app with audio tour functionality becomes worthwhile once you have more than one of these needs: multilingual support for diverse audiences, indoor wayfinding, AR, children's versions, accessibility modes, ticket and membership integration, or a white-label solution for several locations. At that point, integration, your own branding and visitor insight outweigh the price of a standard package. See also our page on app development for the broader approach.
One app, many kinds of institution.
Each type of institution needs different features, different routes and different visitors. We show what we typically build for the four largest segments.
Museums and heritage
The classic starting point: an audio tour of a permanent display or temporary exhibition. Curators manage their own content, and visitors choose between the full tour, a children's version or a thematic selection. For indoor spaces we work with BLE beacons or QR codes, as GPS is rarely reliable inside a museum building.
For heritage organisations, such as castles, historic sites and religious buildings that attract tourists, we build routes with AR overlays that show how a space looked in the past. Multilingual from the first release, with accessibility built in to WCAG 2.2 AA.
For zoos and botanical gardens, we work with outdoor routes using GPS and geofencing, linked to feeding times, demonstrations and seasonal content. For theme parks and attractions, the focus is on queue times, route optimisation and play elements for young visitors. For cities and tourist information centres, we often deliver a white-label platform that lets several points of interest in one area be managed centrally.
- Audio tour in 5–7 languagesNL, EN, DE, FR, ES, JP, ZH — your audience chooses.
- BLE beacons for indoor positioningThe tour responds to location, even without a mobile network.
- AR layer over objectsARKit and ARCore for historical reconstruction.
- Own CMS for curatorsManage routes and content without vendor involvement.
The building blocks of a modern visitor app.
A custom app is a set of modules that we put together for each project. Not every institution needs everything. Together we choose what suits your collection, audience and operational reality.
Navigation
Wayfinding
Indoors with BLE beacons (iBeacon, Eddystone) or QR codes. Outdoors with GPS and geofencing. Routes adapt to crowds or closed rooms.
AR
Augmented Reality
ARKit for iOS and ARCore for Android. Reconstruction of historical spaces, anatomical layers over objects, or treasure hunts for children.
Ticket
Ticket integration
The visitor scans their ticket QR code and automatically gets the right tour. Integration with Recras, Pretix, CCV, your own ticketing system or a museum API.
Push
Location notifications
When entering a room, when a timed show starts, or near special objects. Fully opt-in and GDPR-compliant.
Offline
Offline mode
Audio, images and route data are downloaded on launch. Works in cellars, castles and buildings without coverage.
Access
Accessibility modes
Sign language video, subtitles, an audio-described tour for blind visitors, a dyslexia mode, and a calm mode for visitors with autism or sensory sensitivities.
Kids
Family and children's version
Its own audio track with cheerful voices, treasure hunts, badges and short explanations. Parents and children follow the same route with different content.
Shop
In-app merchandise and café
Visitors order coffee or a catalogue from the app, avoiding queues at the desk. Payment via iDEAL, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Crowd
Crowd management
Real-time insight into which rooms are busy, with alternative routes for your visitors. For your operations team, a dashboard showing crowd patterns.
Feedback
Visitor feedback and NPS
An in-app NPS question at the end of the tour, with a direct link to your Google Maps page for positive reviews.
CMS
Curator CMS
A headless CMS (Directus, Strapi or Contentful) so your curators can manage routes, objects, audio tracks and languages themselves, without a ticket to us or a vendor.
Analytics
Tour analytics
Popular routes, average time per object, drop-off points. Insight for the educator, not just for marketing.
Donation
Donations and membership
One-off donations or new memberships directly in the app via Mollie, Adyen or iDEAL. Integration with Museumkaart or your own membership administration.
AI
AI-augmented tour
A chatbot per object: 'ask me something about this painting'. Works on your own content, not a generic model. Transparent and compliant with the EU AI Act.
Built to the standards for publicly accessible institutions.
Accessibility and privacy are no longer nice-to-haves for cultural institutions. From sprint one, we work within the frameworks of WCAG, the EAA, the GDPR and the EU AI Act.
European Accessibility Act
Accessible from 2025
Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act has applied to public and commercial digital services, and an audio tour app falls within its scope. From the first sprint, we build EAA requirements into our design checks.
WCAG 2.2 Level AA
Universal access
Subtitles on every audio track, an audio-described tour for blind and partially sighted visitors, sign language video at key objects, a dyslexia-friendly mode, and navigation that works with VoiceOver and TalkBack.
GDPR
Privacy in geofencing and analytics
Indoor positioning data is privacy-sensitive. We deliver a DPIA, anonymise visitor movements wherever possible, and document retention and data subject rights, so your Data Protection Officer has what they need.
EU AI Act
Responsible AI in tours
For AI features, such as a chatbot per object, automatic translation or audio generation, we map out the risk classification. For most museum applications this falls under limited risk, with transparency obligations that we handle properly.
PSD2 and iDEAL
Donations and ticket payments
Secure in-app payments via Mollie or Adyen for donations, memberships, café orders or merchandise. iDEAL, Apple Pay, Google Pay and credit cards: your visitor chooses.
Seamlessly connected to your institution's ecosystem.
We integrate with the systems your till, membership, donations and CRM already run on. The app complements what works, rather than replacing it.
Museumkaart
Membership validationRecras
Ticket and reservation systemCCV / Pretix
Ticketing and box officeMollie / Adyen
Donations and paymentsFirebase
Push and analyticsSalesforce / HubSpot
CRM and mailingsDirectus / Strapi
Headless CMSYour own collection database
Adlib, TMS, AxiellThe curator manages the content, not the vendor.
A common complaint about off-the-shelf packages is that every content change has to go through a ticket with the vendor. For custom work, we deliver a headless CMS (Directus, Strapi or Contentful) in which your curator uploads new routes, objects and audio tracks independently. A temporary exhibition can go live within a few sprints of the initial release.
For institutions with their own collection database (Adlib, TMS, Axiell), we build a synchronisation layer so that object metadata has a single source of truth. For AI-augmented tours, such as a chatbot that answers questions per object, we work with custom LLM integrations built on top of your own content.
How we build custom visitor apps.
For the mobile app layer, we default to React Native. A single codebase builds the iOS and Android versions at the same time, with native performance for most museum features. Only where an AR feature, indoor positioning or an audio engine must run without compromise do we switch to native Swift or Kotlin for that component, while the rest remains cross-platform.
The content layer is always headless. Your curator works in Directus, Strapi or Contentful, depending on your IT preferences. Audio tracks are served via a CDN so that every visitor gets smooth playback even at peak times. Images and AR models are optimised so the app size stays manageable, as users are not keen on downloading a gigabyte.
For BLE beacons, we work with vendor-neutral hardware (Kontakt.io, Estimote or generic iBeacon modules), so there is no vendor lock-in. We handle placement, calibration and software management. For institutions that prefer QR codes, we provide a simple CMS that gives each room its own sticker.
For AI features in the tour, such as a chatbot per object, we use our own content layer: the language model draws its answers from texts approved by your curators, not from the open internet. That gives you transparency, meets the EU AI Act requirements for limited-risk systems, and prevents the model from making things up about your collection.
From first workshop to going live.
Building a visitor app needs its own rhythm: curators, educators, IT and visitor services all sit at the table. Five phases that run the same way for every institution.
01 · Workshop
Mapping the visitor journey
A day on site with curators, educators and visitor services. Which routes, which target groups, which accessibility requirements.
02 · Design
Content and flow
A route for each audience. Decision points on BLE versus QR, AR yes or no, languages, and membership integration.
03 · Build
Two-week sprints
Each sprint delivers one working flow. Educators test along the way and visitor feedback is gathered early. First flow live within a few weeks.
04 · Pilot
With real visitors
A small group tests on site. Drop-off points, audio connectivity and accessibility checks in practice.
05 · Maintenance
Ongoing development
Content updates with every temporary exhibition and maintenance with every OS update. A fixed monthly fee for support.
Answers for the curator going digital.
The questions we hear most often from directors, curators and education teams.
What is the difference from Smartify or Bloomberg Connects?
Smartify and Bloomberg Connects are shared platforms: your institution sits alongside many others under the same brand name, with the same interface and limited integration options. A custom visitor app carries your own brand, integrates deeply with your ticketing system, membership and CRM, and gives your curators full control over content. These are complementary choices. For institutions with a simple tour and no branding ambitions, an off-the-shelf package is perfectly suitable. For institutions that want to shape the visitor experience or combine several features, custom development is the logical step. Many larger museums, including the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk, the Van Gogh Museum and the Mauritshuis, have therefore chosen their own app, while some smaller institutions use Bloomberg Connects for low-threshold distribution. Both strategies have their place.
BLE beacons or GPS for indoor wayfinding?
GPS almost never works reliably inside a building, as walls, concrete and metal block the signal. For indoor positioning we use BLE beacons (iBeacon or Eddystone) or QR codes per object. BLE offers a smooth, automatic experience (the tour follows along as the visitor walks around), while QR is cheaper and simpler to manage. For outdoor routes, such as a city walk, nature park or historic district, we do use GPS and geofencing. For hybrid locations (a castle with an outdoor park), we combine both techniques in one app so the transition feels seamless to the visitor.
Is offline mode really necessary?
For museums, cellars, castles and historic heritage buildings, offline mode is not a luxury but a necessity, as WiFi and 4G often perform poorly there. We build the app so that audio tracks, images and route data are preloaded on installation or on arrival. For outdoor attractions with good coverage, a streaming approach may suffice, with audio caching on request.
What about WCAG and the European Accessibility Act?
Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act has required that digital services from public and commercial providers be accessible, and a visitor app falls under this. We build to WCAG 2.2 level AA and deliver subtitles as standard, sign language video for key objects, audio-described tours for blind and partially sighted visitors, a dyslexia mode and VoiceOver and TalkBack compatibility. For institutions that have already passed the legal deadline, we help with a phased upgrade.
How many languages can we support?
Technically there is no limit. We see that Dutch museums typically start with NL, EN and DE, and for international collections extend to FR, ES, JP and ZH. The largest cost is not the technology but producing the audio content: script, voice-over and mixing per language. We can put you in touch with audio production studios that work in this market, or work with your existing supplier. For institutions that want to add languages later, we deliver the CMS so that a new language version can be entered entirely by your own team, without a new app release.
Does our curator manage the content themselves?
Yes. We deliver a headless CMS (Directus, Strapi or Contentful) with an interface designed for non-technical curators. New routes, objects, audio tracks, AR overlays and translations are managed by your own team. The app retrieves them via an API. We remain available for structural extensions, but you run the day-to-day content yourselves.
When is AR worth it?
AR works brilliantly for reconstruction (what did this room look like in 1650?), for invisible layers (anatomy over an object, an X-ray over a painting) and for younger visitors. For a straightforward audio tour of contemporary art, AR usually adds little. We only recommend AR when it genuinely adds to the story, not as a technological gimmick. For heritage institutions where little of the original building or object survives, AR can make the difference between a static tour and an experience visitors remember for years.
How do you handle our existing collection database?
Many museums use Adlib, TMS, Axiell or their own collection management system as the source of truth for object data. We integrate with it through a synchronisation layer, so your curators keep working in the system they know, and changes propagate to the app. For new content that only lives in the visitor app (audio tracks, AR overlays, children's text), we use the app's own headless CMS, so your collection database isn't bloated with visitor-specific metadata.
What determines the cost of a visitor app?
The main factors are: the number of languages, whether AR features are included, whether we physically place and calibrate BLE beacons, how many routes and audiences there are, and which integrations (ticketing, membership, CRM, payment) are required. A company-wide app for a single museum with one route in two languages is a compact project; a white-label platform for a museum cooperative with multiple locations and advanced features is a larger one. After the initial workshop, we provide a concrete scope and price for the complete build.
Talk to us about your visitor app and audio tour.
A half-hour introductory conversation with a curator, director or education team. We listen, ask questions and offer an initial direction. No obligation. You can also read about our approach to mobile apps in the field.