ETAPPE — PRESS KIT (version 1.5.2, as of 4 November 2026)
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ONE-LINE PITCH
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Etappe is a native travel planner for every kind of trip, for iPhone, iPad, Mac
and Apple Watch, that keeps all the threads together and tracks the deadlines
trips fail on — passport validity at the end of the trip, the tapeworm-treatment
window for dogs, vehicle inspection dates — with no account and no tracking.

FACT SHEET
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App Store name:  Etappe – Travel Companion
Platforms:       iPhone and iPad (iOS/iPadOS 17 or later);
                 Apple Watch (watchOS 10 or later, comes with the iPhone app);
                 Mac with Apple silicon and Apple Vision Pro (the iPad app)
Languages:       English, French, German (the app follows the device language)
Price:           free to download, fully usable for 14 days;
                 then a one-time in-app purchase of €9.99, or the local price
                 Apple derives from it — no subscription;
                 one purchase covers the whole family via Family Sharing
Availability:    on every App Store
Version:         1.5.2 (25 October 2026); first release 27 August 2026
App Store:       https://apps.apple.com/de/app/id6781766492
Website:         https://etappe.app/en/
Manual:          https://etappe.app/en/manual/
Privacy:         no account, no tracking, no ads; data stays on the device and,
                 if the user wishes, in their private iCloud — Etappe runs no
                 server for user data
Contact:         Jan O. Portugall, info@etappe.app

NEW IN 1.5
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- Apple Watch: "Today" with the day of the trip, the day's theme, what's next,
  the day's appointments and the time at home; "Calendar" with the next two
  weeks of the current or next trip. The data comes from the iPhone.
- Trips checked by Etappe: under New trip → "Load from Etappe" the app lists
  routes that Etappe has checked for plausibility and personal data, with
  filters for country, duration and dog-friendly. A trip is only added on tap
  and then carries the "Checked" seal; checked files that were changed
  afterwards are not imported.
- "Send to Etappe" in the share menu: submit your own route as a template,
  with consent and, if you like, a credit ("Route by …").

ADDED SINCE LAUNCH
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- Trips across time zones (1.3): appointments in local time, legs with start
  and destination zone and their real duration, the time at home on the Today
  screen
- Restricted breeds (1.3.5): choose the dog's breed; Etappe checks every
  country of the trip, including transit countries, and warns about entry bans
  or conditions
- More precise deworming (1.3.5): where the border crossing comes from is
  visible; when a trip is moved, border crossing and treatment can move with it
- Rabies waiting period (1.1.1): 21 days after a first vaccination, with the
  day from which the animal may enter
- Little helpers (1.4), without a trip and without a connection: deworming
  treatment calculator, currency converter with ECB rates, hiking calculator
  based on the German Alpine Club formula, and a phrasebook with 155 phrases in
  18 languages, read aloud offline
- Offline mode (1.4): "Save data" stops all internet requests, "Fully offline"
  also switches off iCloud sync
- Trip as file (1.4): to travel companions with all appointments and bookings,
  or as a template without personal details, where the recipient picks the
  start date
- Towing combination (1.5.1): towing vehicle plus trailer or caravan per trip,
  with the dimensions of the combination and its own fuel consumption
- Costs in any currency (1.5.2): accommodation, legs and activities in the
  booking currency; deposit and balance with an alert before the due date
- All documents of a trip in one place (1.1.1), packing-list templates
  "Camping" and "Groceries" (1.4), pro mode without explanatory texts (1.4)

FEATURES AT A GLANCE
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- Plan trips in stages: legs, stops, accommodation, activities
- Sketch: put a trip in order before any date is fixed, then turn it into dates
- Research list: collect tips, turn them into bookings or activities later
- Alerts with deadline maths: passports checked against the last day of the
  trip, including the destination's minimum validity; ETA and visa; rabies
  vaccination; the tapeworm-treatment window for dogs (24 to 120 hours before
  the border crossing); restricted breeds; vehicle inspection dates and
  vignettes
- Entry checklist for each trip, with a section for pets
- Calendar with overnight bars and a timeline day view; a theme for each day
- Map with route and stops; place search via Apple Maps; GPX import, also for
  legs, with the real timestamps from the file; record a leg as you drive
- Hikes with elevation profile and walking-time estimate
- Travel journal with photos; note weather and mood for each day
- Packing lists from templates, assigned per person, as PDF
- Budget with a traffic light; base currency of your choice; ECB exchange
  rates fetched on request, never automatically
- Exports: itinerary, journal and packing list as PDF, ICS calendar,
  trip as file, backup
- No account, no login — start straight away
- Works offline; the country data lives on the device. Internet is used for
  map images, place search, the time zone of a place, the country-data
  download, exchange rates and the checked trips — offline mode switches
  all of that off
- Native app (SwiftUI)

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE WRITING
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- The country data covers 46 countries, with entry and pet
  rules. It is written for travellers setting out from Europe.
- Embassies, emergency numbers and travel advice come from a German, Austrian
  or Swiss perspective. Any country can be set as the home country; for all
  others the app shows the German view, says so, and lets you adjust it.
- The restricted-breed rules come without guarantee and are not legal advice.
- "Checked" means plausible and free of personal data. Etappe gives no
  guarantee for opening hours or prices in a checked trip. The catalogue is
  growing; we deliberately don't give a number.
- A few terms still appear in German in the English and French versions,
  for example "Personalausweis" (ID card) and "TÜV" (vehicle inspection).
- Etappe does not book, recommend or navigate. For driving it opens the
  Maps app. Binding are always the rules published by the authorities.

DEVELOPER STORY
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Etappe grew out of our own travels: weeks-long trips with a camper van and
dogs, where no app kept the plan the way we wanted — and none of them thought
about the deadlines. Crossing a border with a dog means counting hours: for
Great Britain, the tapeworm treatment has to be recorded no earlier than 120
and no later than 24 hours before arrival. Doing that sum in your head while
rebooking a ferry is the moment Etappe was born.

QUOTES
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"A trip rarely fails because of the route. It fails because of the passport
that runs out three days too early."

"Etappe doesn't check whether your passport is valid today. It checks whether
it will still be valid on the last day of your trip."

"I didn't want an app that suggests hotels. I wanted one that thinks along
when I drive up to the border with my dog."

BOILERPLATE
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Etappe is an independently developed travel planner for iPhone, iPad, Mac and
Apple Watch that keeps all the threads of a trip together: a road trip in the
camper, the car to the sea or the mountains, a package holiday or a cruise.
Besides planning legs,
accommodation and activities, the app watches the deadlines trips fail on: the
validity of ID documents at the end of the trip, vaccinations and the
tapeworm-treatment window for travelling dogs, and the papers and vignettes of
the vehicle. Etappe is built around privacy: no user account, no tracking, no
server for user data. All data stays on the device and, if the user wishes,
syncs through their private iCloud. Developed in Germany.

IMAGES
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etappe-icon-1024.png      — app icon, 1024 × 1024
screenshots-iphone/       — 9 App Store images in English, 1320 × 2868 (iPhone 6.9")
screenshots-ipad/         — 9 App Store images in English, 2048 × 2732 (iPad 13")
screenshots-apple-watch/  — 2 App Store images in English, 422 × 514 (Apple Watch Ultra)
features/                 — 11 shots from the English manual (iPhone, 644 × 1400):
                            little helpers, offline mode, trip as file,
                            restricted breeds, time zones
All images show made-up sample data. Screenshots of the checked trips, plain
screenshots without text, other formats and cut-out device shots on request.

CONTACT
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Jan O. Portugall — info@etappe.app — https://etappe.app/en/
