All four apps narrate real places for you to walk through. The difference is what you have to do before you start walking.
GPSmyCity, VoiceMap, and Detour are all self-guided walking tour apps. All three work the same basic way: you browse a catalog, pick one specific pre-recorded tour for a specific city, pay for it, and follow its fixed route. The tour only covers the streets it was written for, and if you're somewhere none of them has published a route, you get nothing.
Backyard skips that entirely. There's no catalog to browse and no tour to pick. Wherever you actually are, Backyard automatically narrates real, fact-checked history and hidden stories about that exact spot, in one of five moods you choose once, not per city. Walk somewhere none of these apps have ever written a tour for, and Backyard still works.
| Backyard | GPSmyCity | VoiceMap | Detour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | Automatic, wherever you are | Pick a fixed route first | Pick a fixed route first | Pick a fixed route first |
| Works outside a pre-mapped tour | Yes | No | No | No |
| Pricing | Free, optional subscription | $2–5 per tour | $4–10 per tour | ~$5 per tour |
| Narration style options | 5 moods, same street, different stories | One fixed script per tour | One fixed script per tour | One fixed script per tour |
| Live real-world events tied to narration | Yes | No | No | No |
| Museum collection tours | Yes | No | No | No |
| Discover routes other users made | Yes | No | No | No |
| Catalog breadth | Anywhere on Earth | 1,800+ cities | 600+ destinations | 30+ cities |
Competitor details as publicly listed by each app; verify current pricing and coverage on their own sites before comparing.
No catalog to browse, no city to pick in advance, no per-tour fee. Backyard works the moment you start walking, anywhere on Earth, in whichever of its five moods matches the story you want to hear. GPSmyCity, VoiceMap, and Detour all ask you to plan first; Backyard doesn't ask you to plan at all.