A road-trip companion for the whole car.
Four backseat games on iOS, and a trip that logs itself in the background while you play.
Games & trip log
See the games
Beta invitesGoing out now
Field guide
Collect the whole country.
The family road-trip companion that turns the long miles into games kids actually ask to play.
one plate at a time
Offline-first
The keepsake book
No ads, no tracking
Plate survey · All 50 + DC
The collection map
0/51
Plates stamped
CO
Colorful
Tap a plate to scout it.
A demo of the plate hunt. The app logs the whole trip.
try one
At a glance
What Switchback actually is.
The app, what we promise, and the book at the end.
Your trip never becomes someone’s data.
No accounts, no ads, no tracking. You pay at most once.
The non-negotiables
Read the promises
Something to pull off the shelf in ten years.
The route, photos and plates from your trip, laid out in a printed book. Coming after the beta.
After the beta
See the book
Why it exists
Hour seven, still playing.
Somewhere between “are we there yet” and hour seven, a long drive starts to wear on everyone. Switchback makes the miles the game: spotting plates, hunting for signs, racing to fill the photo board. The backseat gets quieter because the kids are busy playing instead of fighting.
Sometimes the kids even ask for the long way, because there’s a state they still need. While you play, the app logs the trip, so nobody has to keep notes.
“Dad, I need Wyoming. We have to take the long way.”
What you do
Four games for the long way.
Nothing to set up and no rules to shout over the engine noise. Open a game and start playing.
License-Plate Hunt
Spot a plate, tap the state, and watch it stamp onto the map. There are fifty-one to find, which is a good excuse to take the scenic route.
The headline eventPhoto Bingo
A board of things to spot out the window: a red barn, a water tower, a cow. Snap a photo to mark the square and race for a line.
First to bingo winsSign & Scavenger
Hunt for road signs, landmarks and roadside oddities: the giant dinosaur, the “Welcome to” sign, mile zero.
Eyes up, kidsRoad Trivia
Questions about the region you’re driving through, so the kids pick up some geography along the way.
Local knowledge
The payoff
The trip becomes a book you hold.
When you get home, Switchback lays out the trip as a printed keepsake book: the route, the photos, the plates you caught and who won what. It’s real paper your kids can hold and pull off the shelf, instead of another folder of photos nobody opens.
The keepsake book is optional and comes after the beta. The trip is yours either way.
Pricing
Free in beta. Yours to keep.
The beta is free. Pricing is still being decided, and founding families stay free for good. The keepsake book at the end is optional.
Right now
Free
The games and the journal
- Four backseat games & the trip log
- Each kid on their own device
- Offline, on your device
- Export your data anytime
Founding families
Free for good
Join in the beta, never pay for the app.
- Everything in the app
- Pricing for everyone else is still being decided
- If there is ever a price, you pay it once
The keepsake book
$29+
Your trip, in print
- Order only if you want one
- Made from your trip log, after the beta
No subscription, ever. Promise.
The promises
Your trip belongs to your family.
You pay us at most once, and never with your data or your attention.
When your devices sync, everything is end-to-end encrypted. Only your family holds the key, so no one else can read it, including us.
Offline-first
The whole app works with no signal.
End-to-end encrypted
Photos and routes are locked on the phone before they sync.
No accounts
No sign-up, no email wall. Sign in with Apple is optional, only to recover trips on a new phone.
No ads
Not one. Nothing competing for your kids’ eyes.
No tracking
No analytics or tracking SDKs in the app.
You own your data
Export any trip as plain files. Delete everything, anytime.
Beta invites are going out
Be a founding family.
Your next long drive is coming. Founding families ride free for good. Leave your Apple ID email and we’ll send you an invite, then send us feedback from Settings in the app.
Invites go out in waves. We’ll email you when yours is ready.