The Outernet saved posts app launched by Danielle Egan and Athena Leong has a disarmingly simple premise: everything you bookmark and forget on TikTok or Instagram should, instead, end up on a map you actually use.
Outernet, which has been live for roughly two months and claims around 18,000 users, sits in an emerging category of apps that convert social-media saves into actionable to-do lists for real-world exploration. Competitors include Albo, Tabi, and Plotline. What separates Outernet, the founders argue, is not the product’s mechanics but the people who built it.
From Scavenger Hunts to Startup
Egan and Leong did not come to this problem as product managers sketching user journeys on whiteboards. They came as organisers of Pursuit, a citywide scavenger hunt in San Francisco that, according to Wired, launched in 2024, though the original article describes the game as having begun three years ago, a timeline the SF Chronicle and Wired’s own reporting does not support. The first finale drew 300 people; the most recent edition drew more than 2,000 participants solving clues across the city, according to the SF Chronicle.
Pursuit has no prize, no hidden treasure, no cash reward, Wired reports. The game is funded partly by FranciscoSan.org, a grant initiative backed by an anonymous benefactor who has committed $100,000 to making San Francisco more whimsical. The 2025 edition spans a full month and includes 11 separate missions, each completable independently, according to KQED.
Egan and Leong, alongside fellow organisers Theo Bleier and Riley Walz, were also behind Mehran’s Steakhouse, a fake New York fine-dining restaurant that existed for a single night in 2024 before dissolving back into the internet.
When the Pursuit team spoke with participants, they kept hearing the same thing: people were not there because they loved puzzle games. They just wanted an excuse to go outside. ‘We just realized that people really have an appetite for doing things, like going on adventures. This is the new trend,’ says Leong, whose background spans computer science, child development, and adventure game design. At 26, she told the SF Chronicle she wanted participants to ‘see different parts of the city and talk to people they don’t usually talk to.’
What the Outernet Saved Posts App Actually Does
The mechanics are intentionally frictionless. A user shares a post from TikTok or Instagram to Outernet via the standard share sheet, or pastes in a URL, or uploads a photo of a physical flyer. The app uses AI to extract the relevant details: date, time, location, description.
Events land in a chronological feed. Dateless activities and places you want to visit sit in separate tabs. Everything can be exported to Apple or Google Calendar, or pulled up in Outernet’s map view. The app also sends proactive nudges, pushing users to act on what they’ve saved rather than letting it gather dust.
As users visit places, they ‘stamp’ them, building a passport of completed experiences. Future versions may include milestone stamps and a shareable record of everywhere you’ve been. ‘We’re thinking of different ways of creating maybe some sort of like passport book where you can look at all the things [you’ve done] and maybe share that with friends and get some sort of sense of pride of that,’ Egan says.
Egan’s offline instincts inform the whole approach. Her previous day job was in product BizOps at LinkedIn. The thesis she carries into Outernet is becoming the ‘motivation engine for IRL’: removing the gap between wanting to do something and actually going. ‘I just love capturing attention in unexpected ways and delivering delightful things,’ she says.
Profitable at Two Months, Cautious About Capital
The app is already profitable on a premium subscription of $6.99 per month or $39.99 per year, which unlocks higher daily save limits. The company, incorporated in California, is at an early stage with around 18,000 total users.
Investor conversations are happening, but selectively. ‘We want to bring on investors (if we do) [who are] people who are really aligned with us,’ Leong says. ‘We’re whimsical, and we have to find investors that match.’
Outernet is invite-only and currently available on iOS, with an Android waitlist open. The company’s California incorporation is on file with the California Secretary of State.
The competitive question is whether converting social-media saves into real outings is a behaviour consumers will maintain once novelty fades, or whether the passport mechanic and proactive nudges can make the habit stick. Pursuit, at least, suggests there is genuine appetite: 1.5% of San Francisco’s population turned up to play a game with no reward at the end.
