Embertrail

An illustrated walking journey

Your steps,
a world away.

Embertrail turns everyday walking into a year-long journey across a painted world. Your traveler walks when you do, from a quiet village to frozen passes, flooded halls and golden woods, and home again.

Explore the Android previewSee the route

Android preview · access being prepared

The Embertrail home screen at Skarrow's Gate: a pixel traveler stands before a snowy stone gate, above a glowing ring showing steps today, journey miles and journey steps.
Real Android build · Skarrow's Gate

6,000steps make a full day

2,190,000steps there and home again

85named places on the route

208original paintings to walk through

A painted map of the whole route: farmland in the south, a forest coast, a river and lake town, snowy mountains, golden woods, burning grassland and a frozen crown in the far north.
The whole road, from Thistledown to the far north

Walk · discover · return

One long road, a little at a time.

Every step you take moves your traveler along a single authored route. At about 6,000 steps a day, the round trip takes roughly a year. The scenery changes as you go, and each place you reach stays in your Journal.

  1. Thistledownthe start
  2. Eaves Camp18,000 steps
  3. Fordmere Town228,000
  4. Candlemere Town492,000
  5. Skarrow's Gate648,000
  6. The Dripping Vault834,000
  7. Goldfall942,000
  8. Amberholt Village1,014,000
  9. The Gullspit1,476,000
  10. Home to Thistledown2,190,000

Places on the path

Every view is an original painting, and you reach each one only by walking.

An underground lake beneath dripping stone spires, lit by lanterns along carved halls.
The Dripping Vault834,000 steps
A sunlit path through golden autumn woods toward waterfalls and pale spires.
Goldfall942,000 steps
A ruined stone arch on a wet coastal causeway, with breaking waves and island ruins beyond.
The Gullspit1,476,000 steps

What walks with you

Small rewards for ordinary walks.

A ring that warms as you walk

The home ring fills toward 6,000 steps a day. While you're walking it glows ember orange, and it cools back to gold when you stop.

Companions to earn

Steps beyond your first 6,000 each day become Companion Steps. Every 24,000 earns a new friend: a dog, rabbit, cat, raccoon, horse, raven, pixie and, eventually, a baby dragon.

Fellow travelers

People you meet on the road join you for a while. Bram, Fennick, Halla and Sefa each walk part of the way, and their stories move forward as you do.

A traveler of your own

Choose your traveler's look and colors, then earn new outfits along the route. Your traveler walks while you walk and rests when you rest.

Journal and postcards

Look back at the places you've reached and keep postcards from the trail. Save or share a card only when you choose.

On your wrist and home screen

An optional Wear OS companion and watch face show today's steps, and home-screen widgets keep the trail in view.

Room to rest

The trail can wait.

Take a long walk, a short one, or the day off. There's no streak to protect and no race to win. Your journey is right where you left it.

  • Your personal journey is saved on your device.
  • Only real, measured steps move you forward. Nothing is estimated or added.
  • Music mute and Reduced Motion are available.
  • The path is fictional. No GPS location is requested.

The next first step

Come to the trail.

Embertrail is opening first as an invited Android preview. Read the setup guide before changing an existing installation.

Android preview guide

Android preview · access being prepared

Requires Android 14 or newer. Health Connect step access is optional for the demonstration, but real walking needs a step source. A Wear OS watch is optional.

Android comes first. An iPhone version is being explored, with no release date yet.

Before you begin

A few things to know.

Do phone and watch steps get added together?

No. Embertrail never adds separate daily totals together. With the watch connection set up, Health Connect combines phone and watch records and settles overlapping periods using your source priority, so a walk is counted once. Reports can arrive late, and physical accuracy checks are still in progress.

What are Companion Steps?

Your first 6,000 steps each day fill the daily ring. Steps beyond that count as Companion Steps, and every 24,000 Companion Steps earns your next companion.

Do preview steps earn real progress?

No. The demonstration is separate from your real journey, Journal places, companions and earned looks.

What happens if I miss a day?

Nothing is lost. Your journey keeps its place, and there's no penalty for resting. Later corrections from your step source can adjust recent counts.

Is my journey backed up in the cloud?

No. There's no automatic cloud restore. Backup & restore in Help or Privacy saves a portable journey file you can review before restoring. Keep that file outside the app before changing phones or uninstalling. Postcards are keepsakes, not backups.

Can I walk with friends?

A shared journey is in development and switched off in the current preview. Your personal journey works on its own.