The dot that wanders.
Tall buildings bounce GPS signals. Most map apps draw every bad reading, so your position jumps across the street and the arrow points the wrong way. You walk two blocks before you notice.
COMING SOON · NEW YORK FIRST
The way
ahead.
Walking and transit guidance that stays steady when GPS doesn’t. From the right entrance to the right exit. On your phone, or just your wrist.
See what’s differentTHE JOURNEY / NYC
01 / WHY WE’RE BUILDING THISA VISITOR’S-EYE VIEW
Lost, with a map
in your hand.
“On my trips to New York, I followed the most popular map apps and still walked blocks in the wrong direction — more than once. The dot jumped across the street. The arrow swung while I stood still. I spent the trip second-guessing every corner instead of enjoying the city.”
A watch that lists, but doesn’t guide.
On the wrist, guidance thins out once a trip involves a train. You’re left reading steps, and if you don’t know the city, the phone comes back out at every corner.
Underground, you’re on your own.
Between stations, signal comes and goes. Too often you’re counting stops yourself, or watching the app give up on finding you.
The station is a maze.
Big stations have many entrances, long platforms, and exits on every corner. Directions to the station don’t tell you which stairs go uptown or which ones lead out to your street.
02 / HOW MODALITY FIXES ITWALK. RIDE. ARRIVE.
One calm journey,
street to station
to street.
Modality is built around the moments where other apps leave you guessing. It keeps your position steady along your route, guides you through the station, counts down your stops underground, and adapts when the plan changes.
Every part works on your phone alone. Add a watch, and the phone can stay in your pocket.
In development. The screens and film on this page show our vision for the finished experience.
MODALITY MAPS / INTERFACE CONCEPT
FIX 01 / A STEADY POSITION
Stay on
your path.
Modality combines GPS, your direction, and your steps, and holds your marker to the sidewalk you’re actually on. One stray reading won’t send you across the street, or send you the wrong way.
Following the sidewalk. Filtering the noise.
FIX 02 / FACING FORWARD
The next turn.
In front of you.
The smooth, following view you know from driving, made for walking. The map turns with your progress and keeps the route ahead in view, so you stop rotating the map in your head. Turn the wrong way, and you’ll know within seconds.
Forward-facing guidance, from the first step.
FIX 03 / ON BOARD
Your stop,
coming into view.
Once you board, the street map gives way to your journey. Stops count down and your get-off instruction stays close. The trip is saved before you go underground, so guidance keeps going when the signal drops. No error screens in the tunnel.
Prince St → 8 St–NYU → Union Square.
Illustrative trip · time compressed in this preview.
FIX 04 / THE LAST HUNDRED FEETENTRANCE · PLATFORM · EXIT
Through the station,
not just to it.
A big station can be the hardest part of a trip. Modality guides you through it: the entrance for your direction, which end of the platform to wait at, and which way the street is when you come back up.
- EnterUse the east-side stairs on Broadway for uptown trains.
- BoardRide near the back for the quickest way out at 14 St.
- ExitTake the stairs to Union Sq East. The park is ahead and to your left.
Illustrative guidance. Station details come from MTA open data, desk survey, and on-site checks, with corrections in two taps.
AT PRINCE ST · UPTOWN
Board near the back
Closest to the Union Sq East exit
W · Uptown≈ 2 min · Scheduled
FIX 05 / PHONE IN YOUR POCKET
Guided by
a tap on the wrist.
On most watches, guidance fades once your trip reaches the station. Modality guides the whole trip one job at a time: the next turn, the distance to it, and a distinct tap you learn in thirty seconds. Turn left, turn right, board, get off at the next stop, wrong way. You can walk Manhattan with your phone in your pocket.
- Turn
- Board
- Get off next
- Wrong way
Planned for Apple Watch and Wear OS. The first iPhone test release comes before the watch app.
FIX 06 / A TRIP THAT KEEPS UPLIKE CAR NAVIGATION, FOR TRANSIT
Plans change.
Your guidance does too.
Missed a train? Walking slower than planned? Line running local? Modality picks the next workable departure before you miss it and tells you once, calmly, without pushing you to run for a train you can no longer catch.
TRIP UPDATED
Take the 10:24 C instead.
ETA updated · 10:51
03 / MORE THAN A ROUTEBUILT FOR VISITORS AND NEW YORKERS
The details
that matter.
Honest prices.
The fare on every option, summed across subway, bus, rail, and ferry. Modality also keeps count toward your weekly fare cap, on your device, and tells you when a ride is free.
Step-free that means it.
Step-free trips account for elevators that are out of service right now, not just the ones on the map.
Advice when it counts.
When the subway is running slow, or a crosstown bus or bike share is the better bet, Modality says so before you start. Never mid-turn.
Honest about what it knows.
Live times say “Live.” Schedules say “Scheduled.” When the signal is weak, Modality gives you a landmark instead of a confident wrong arrow.
Guidance without looking.
Distinct taps and optional spoken turns let you navigate without staring at a screen, which also helps riders who are blind or have low vision.
Your city. Your privacy.
Your saved places, walking pace, travel patterns, and fare-cap progress stay on your device. Core navigation is free, always.
04 / HOW WE’RE DIFFERENTCAPABILITY BY CAPABILITY
Built for the moments
other apps miss.
When you need…Typical map appsModality Maps
A position you can trust between tall buildingsThe dot can jump between readings. The fix is to hold up your camera and scan nearby buildings.Holds your marker to your route using GPS, direction, and steps. The phone can stay at your side.
A whole trip with the phone in your pocketWrist taps for walking turns. Train legs are mostly text to read.One tap language for turns, boarding, getting off, transfers, and wrong-way warnings
Help inside the stationDirections to the station, with exit tips in some appsEntrance for your direction, platform end, exit to your street, and entrance hours, kept current by rider corrections
A trip that survives the tunnelDepends on the app and the signalSaved before boarding. The stop countdown keeps going without a connection.
“Typical map apps” summarizes our own testing in New York in 2026 and the apps’ public documentation as of October 2026. Individual apps differ and change. Modality capabilities describe the product in development.
05 / BUILT, NOT JUST IMAGINEDWHERE WE ARE
Real code.
Real streets.
- One navigation coreA single guidance engine shared by iPhone, Apple Watch, Android, and Wear OS, so every surface gives the same instruction.
- Walked in New YorkField-tested on Manhattan and Brooklyn walks and subway rides, plus a private test city at home.
- Replayed on every changeRecorded real-world walks are replayed against every engine change, so a fixed problem stays fixed.
- Our own mapA New York street map and walking network built from OpenStreetMap, with routing that uses the same paths you see.
Not yet available to testers. No launch date announced.
WHO’S BUILDING IT
Joshua Brackin
I spent 12 years at Apple and three as Chief Technology Officer of Merlin 3D Studio. Today I build software through Nimblor, my company in Dallas–Fort Worth. On my trips to New York, the apps I relied on kept sending me the wrong way. Modality is the navigator I wished I’d had: one that keeps you oriented, guides you through the station, and lets you look up at the city.
06 / FIRST STOP40.7128° N / 74.0060° W
BUILT FOR CITIES THAT MOVE TOGETHER
New York.
To begin with.
We’re starting where a single trip can mean a walk, a train, and a whole new neighborhood. Then we plan to bring Modality to more cities built around public transit.
ON OUR HORIZON
Chicago · London · Tokyo
Future ambition. No launch dates announced.A NOTE WHEN WE’RE READY
New Yorker?
Come along.
Leave your email and we’ll let you know when the NYC iPhone TestFlight opens. We’re still building. No launch date, and no invitation to test just yet.