App Review: Questo

For me, weekends usually mean a whole lot of chores, taking my daughter to practice/a tournament/to see her friends, and, if everything goes according to plan, a nice, long walk. But those long walks look a little different when I’m out of town. When my daughter and I decided to get away on a girls’ long weekend to Nashville, I didn’t get to hit the trail for a couple of hours, but we did get plenty of steps as we explored the city—and we did so with some help from the Questo app.

While researching fun things to do on our getaway, I found a number of different tours—including some self-guided walking tours. My daughter and I chose “The Nashville Sound Heist: A Ken Clever Mystery” from Questo because it sounded like a fun mix of a walking tour and an escape room—a good way to get some steps, explore the city, and learn a little bit in the process.

I purchased the tour from an external site, which then prompted me to download the app and get everything set up. I was glad that I was able to do all of that from the relative comfort of my hotel couch because it did take a little bit of finagling to get everything connected and set up. But once the quest was loaded in my app, we were good to go.

The Questo app allows for multiple players with multiple phones to participate in these quests—but since my daughter and I were going to be exploring together (and we had no interest in competing or racing or splitting up in any way), we chose to work together. We were directed to a starting address, where we were given the first of our clues. Our adventure was set up as a mystery: legendary guitarist Chet Atkins’s guitar was stolen, and we were paired up with globe-trotting detective Ken Clever to find the thief and return the guitar. The adventure took us through downtown Nashville: past the Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena, and Ryman Auditorium, and through the rowdy crowds on Broadway. We followed the map provided in the app (though we sometimes got a little turned around) from one stop to the next, often solving riddles along the way. There weren’t quite as many challenges as I expected—and while some were pretty simple, others were rather complicated—but they added a little extra adventure to our tour. And while there were times when the app kicked us out of our tour, it was simple to jump back in where we’d left off.

While the app suggested that our tour would take two hours, it was closer to an hour—even with a short detour to take some selfies overlooking the city. And even though I forgot to start tracking our mileage until after we’d set out for our second clue, we still clocked 1.7 miles on our quest.

Once you have the app, you can search for additional adventures in your area—so you can go on quests in your hometown or wherever your travels take you. You can earn points and collect gems that can be used to pay for future quests. There are also GeoPuzzles, which seem to be additional games that you can play from anywhere (though, admittedly, I haven’t found any information on how they work).

Our Questo quest was a fun way to explore the city without spending hours on a bus with a bunch of fellow tourists. It allowed us to walk around at our own pace and learn a little in the process. We enjoyed our adventure—and though this isn’t an app that I’d use on a regular basis, we may just search for more when we’re traveling in the future.

Pros:
– Allows you to explore cities and learn about different landmarks in the process
– Affordable way to take a tour
– Lets you go at your own pace—even suggesting side trips and stops along the way
– Helps you get your steps while visiting a new city (or learning more about your own!)
– Makes the usual city tour more fun by adding in puzzles
– Numerous tours available in cities around the world

Cons:
– Challenges vary by tour. Ours ranged from super-easy to confusing
– Probably won’t give you the steps you’d get on a long walk—but still a fun way to get your steps

You can find Questo in your app store – or learn more at QuestoApp.com.