In the US? Peplos now has New York, Boston, Washington and San Francisco →

The iPhone beta is open

The Cyprus you haven’t seen yet

Peplos is a map game for people who live in Cyprus. The island is covered in fog, and it opens up wherever you walk and drive. Under the fog are ruins, viewpoints and stories nobody posts about in the groups.

Free · 2 minutes · through TestFlight, Apple’s app for beta versions

For Android we are preparing a closed test on Google Play. Leave your email and we will invite you among the first.

Get the iPhone betaInvite me to the Android test

Point your iPhone camera at the code

This page opens on your phone with the install button.

On Android? Join the test
  1. Get TestFlight. Tap the button, then go to the App Store from Apple’s page. TestFlight is Apple’s free app for beta versions.
  2. Come back here and tap the button again. In TestFlight, accept the invitation and install Peplos.
  3. Open Peplos and allow location: without it the fog will not clear.

Needs an iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later. Opened this in Telegram or WhatsApp? Open the page in Safari so it is easy to come back.

Sound familiar?

  • Every weekend: the same beaches, the same cafés.
  • The groups keep recommending the same ten places.
  • You drive past ruins and have no idea what they were.

Peplos turns an ordinary walk or drive into a search, and tells you what you are looking at.

A Saturday with Peplos

Here is what it looks like.

  1. Map of western Cyprus under the fog with the Set off button

    1Tap “Set off”

    The island is under fog. Tap “Set off” and walk or drive: wherever you have been, the fog clears. The phone can stay in your pocket.

  2. Hidden place card: what to look for and an expert’s hint

    2Open a circle

    An expert hints at what to look for. Stuck? “I give up” shows the exact spot, and “By car to the circle” plans a drive with places on the way.

  3. Panagia tou Moutoulla Church card with the story read aloud

    3Listen to the story

    Get close and the place opens, and a voice tells its story. Some places also show then and now: what they looked like centuries ago.

  4. Map with a road trip drawn on it and “You’ve arrived”

    4See where you have been

    “You’ve arrived”: the find counts and your score grows. Where you went, the fog is gone and your path stays on the map.

At home, try the demo: “Profile” → “Demo walk”, and your hero walks around Paphos on their own. What’s where on the screen: a guide

Your own route in one tap

Choose where you are going, say Troodos. Peplos shows places no more than 15 minutes off the road. Mark where you want to stop and you see right away how many kilometres and how much time the trip takes. One tap, and Google Maps guides you through your stops.

  1. Road trip: 103.5 km, about 1 h 58 min, places on the way ticked

    1Choose where you are going: see the distance and time

  2. Three stops, about 16 min extra, and the “Google Maps — with all stops” button

    2Tick your stops: see how much the detour adds

  3. Google Maps guiding through three stops: 110 km

    3Tap, and Google Maps takes you through them

On foot it works the same way: Peplos builds a tour of 2–10 places nearby, as a loop or one way, with the climb and a difficulty colour. Share a trip or a tour with a link.

All places on the way from Paphos to Troodos →

Screenshots from the Peplos app. Place photos: Wikimedia Commons, authors credited in the place cards.

Who it is for

Maa-Palaeokastro around 1200 BC. This is how Peplos shows the place.
AI-generated reconstructionMaa-Palaeokastro around 1200 BC. This is how Peplos shows the place.

What is inside

And 11 more places hide under the fog in Cyprus: they are not on this site, you find them only in the game.

Stories by historians, architects and art historians, read aloud in English and Russian. A bonus: the French Riviera, 52 places and 12 trails.

New: the first US cities — New York, Boston, Washington and San Francisco, 51 places and 9 walking routes →

Questions

What is TestFlight? Is it safe?

TestFlight is Apple’s app for beta versions. Apple reviews a beta before it lets people install it. You delete Peplos like any other app.

How much does it cost?

It is free. There are no ads in the app.

Does the app track where I go?

Your path is recorded only between “Set off” and “End the journey”. Without an account, everything you found and everywhere you walked stays on your phone. Details in the privacy policy.

Do I need to sign up?

No. An account keeps your finds and fog when you change phones.

Can I try it without leaving home?

Yes: “Profile” → “Demo walk”, and your hero walks around Paphos on their own. You can also read the places in collections ahead of time.

What about Android?

We are preparing a closed test on Google Play. Leave your email at the bottom of the page and we will invite you.

Ready to start looking?

Free · 2 minutes · through TestFlight, Apple’s app for beta versions

Get the iPhone betaInvite me to the Android test

Point your iPhone camera at the code

This page opens on your phone with the install button.

On Android? Join the test

On Android?

Peplos for Android is coming to a closed test on Google Play soon. Leave the email of your Google account (Gmail) and we will invite you among the first. We only write about Peplos.