Press Resources
Discover, track, and explore San Francisco’s public stairways—one climb at a time.
SF Stairway Spotter helps visitors and locals discover San Francisco on foot. The app brings together stairway photographs and details with a personal checklist, verified visits, badges, and optional community features like friends and a leaderboard.
From celebrated mosaic steps to overlooked neighborhood shortcuts, park stairways, and gardens, the collection gives people new reasons to explore beyond the city’s familiar landmarks.
At a glance
- Planned launch: October 2026, timed for San Francisco’s Stairway Month, pending App Store approval.
- Platforms: iOS first, with Android planned next.
- Explore online: Browse the web map.
- Website: sfstairwayspotter.com.
- Press contact: info@urbanhikersf.com.
About the app
Anyone can browse the map, photographs, and stairway details without an account. With a free account, people can keep a private checklist of spotted stairways and connect with friends.
While physically at a stairway, users can verify their visit to earn progress toward badges and participate in optional community features. The leaderboard counts unique verified stairways; stairway mayorships recognize repeat visits during a rolling 30-day period.
The app makes the stairways themselves a destination—whether someone is discovering a new neighborhood or taking a different route through a familiar one.
From a pandemic project to an app
In 2020, urban hiking guide and author Alexandra Kenin set out to visit and photograph San Francisco’s public stairways. She began by digitizing the stairway index from Stairway Walks in San Francisco, then expanded the collection through her own explorations.
Alexandra shared her discoveries through a Google My Map, which has received more than 260,000 views. That interest inspired a more mobile-friendly, interactive experience: an app that helps people find stairways and track their own adventures.
SF Stairway Spotter reflects six years of on-foot exploration, with the collection continuing to grow as Alexandra discovers additional stairways. She used Codex by OpenAI to help turn that fieldwork into an app, with little prior coding experience.
About Alexandra Kenin
Alexandra Kenin is an urban hiking guide, author, and founder of Urban Hiker SF. Originally from Wyckoff, New Jersey, she has called San Francisco home since 2007.
After leaving Google in 2012, Alexandra turned her love of exploring the city on foot into an urban hiking tour company. She and her team have since guided thousands of people from dozens of countries.
She is the author of three Bay Area hiking guidebooks: Urban Trails: San Francisco, Urban Trails: East Bay, and Urban Trails: Peninsula & South Bay.
Planned launch pricing
The planned free offering includes map browsing, stairway photographs and details, an unlimited private spotted checklist, friend connections, and the first 10 unique verified stairways.
A paid upgrade is planned to unlock unlimited verified visits, repeat-visit tracking, the full badge collection, mayorships, and leaderboard participation.
Planned pricing is a one-time payment of $6.99 during Stairway Month and $9.99 afterward. These plans describe the intended public launch offering; paid limits are not currently enforced in the beta.
Story ideas
- A new way to celebrate Stairway Month: An invitation for visitors and locals to explore San Francisco on foot during October and beyond.
- A pandemic project becomes an app: How years of photographing stairways—and a map viewed more than 260,000 times—grew into an interactive exploration tool.
- San Francisco beyond its famous landmarks: Neighborhood shortcuts, public art, gardens, and unexpected views connected by the city’s stairways.
- A hiking guide becomes an app creator: How a local author used AI-assisted development to turn her knowledge of San Francisco into a mobile app.
Images and downloads
Download app icon, logos & screenshots (ZIP)
The press kit includes four original iPhone screenshots, updated app icons, purple and white logos in PNG and SVG formats, press information, captions, and usage notes.
For stairway photographs or additional images, contact info@urbanhikersf.com with a brief description of your story and what you need. Please confirm image permissions and credit information before publication.
Interviews and press inquiries
Alexandra is available for interviews and app demonstrations. Guided stairway visits for journalists may also be arranged, depending on availability and the needs of the story.
Contact: info@urbanhikersf.com
Paid private and corporate group stairway walks are also available through Urban Hiker SF.
Updated September 17, 2026. Launch timing and pricing are planned and subject to change.