Komoot gets ChatGPT app for route search

The outdoor app Komoot, which has belonged to the Italian company Bending Spoons since March 2025, is getting a ChatGPT app. With the AI integration, users will be able to plan their hiking and cycling trips using natural language.

Route search in natural language

According to Komoot, the ChatGPT app suggests a curated list of routes and points of interest after a written request from the user, thus offering cyclists, hikers, and runners a new way to "get inspired and explore nature". The new option should allow users to find new routes quickly and easily.

As Komoot explains, the ChatGPT app has access to the platform's library with over "7 million routes and 4 million highlights". For existing Komoot users, the new ChatGPT app should enable faster route finding and thus complements the existing Komoot functions.

"As people increasingly use ChatGPT for everything from everyday tasks to travel planning, the Komoot app brings Komoot directly into the workflows people are already using to get inspired and shape their plans," says project manager Felix Tarcomnicu. According to the company, the requirements for the desired route can be formulated in natural language. Specific parameters related to length, duration, region, or the desired sport are possible.

If a suitable route is found in the ChatGPT app, the information can be transferred directly to the Komoot app via the "Open in Komoot" function. There, it is possible to save, edit, or download a route for offline navigation. Navigation is carried out as before by the Komoot app itself.

Bending Spoons further develops outdoor app

Since the takeover in March last year, Bending Spoons first made massive personnel changes to the company, with the new owner laying off about three-quarters of the 150 employees, according to Wirtschaftswoche. Komoot co-founder Markus Hallermann saw the sale as necessary for the future prospects of the app: "What brought us here will not take us to the next level," he writes in the announcement.

Since then, the app has received a new design and an app for the Apple Watch with offline mode. Further planned features include a new route planner, a dark mode, and heatmaps that use public data from the Komoot community.

Bending Spoons is an Italian company that has acquired several well-known applications recently, including WeTransfer and Streamyard. Bending Spoons' portfolio also includes Evernote, Vimeo, and Meetup. Bending Spoons is notorious for its rigorous approach: after buying Evernote, the company laid off almost all employees. Bending Spoons has also terminated the employment of most of the staff in many other acquisitions. Most recently, the company bought internet veteran AOL in October – specifically, Bending Spoons acquired the website and the mail provider.

(afl)