Questions & answers
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about saving places, building trips, and how Plotline works.
About Plotline
What is Plotline?
Plotline is an iOS app that turns the travel content you save on social media into a real travel map. Share a TikTok, Instagram Reel, YouTube video, Google Maps link, or blog post to Plotline and it automatically extracts every place mentioned, pins it on your personal map, and lets you organize places into trips and itineraries.
What sources can I save places from?
Plotline works with TikTok videos, Instagram Reels and posts, YouTube videos, Google Maps lists, and travel blog posts. Anything you can share via the iOS share sheet, Plotline can extract places from.
Is Plotline available on Android?
Plotline is currently iOS only. Join the Android waitlist and we'll email you when it's ready.
How much does Plotline cost?
Plotline is free to download. The free tier includes saving places to your map and organizing them into Collections. Plotline Premiere is an optional subscription that unlocks trip itineraries and Sidequests — a swipe-based way to explore new places nearby or rediscover saved places for short day adventures.
Saving places
How do I save a travel TikTok to a map?
When you find a travel TikTok, tap the share button and select Plotline from the share sheet. Each place mentioned in the video gets pinned to your personal travel map.
How do I save Instagram Reels to a travel map?
Open the Reel or post in Instagram, tap the share icon, and select Plotline from the share sheet. Each place mentioned gets pinned to your map.
How do I save places from YouTube travel videos?
Share a YouTube video URL to Plotline from the iOS share sheet. Each place mentioned in the video gets pinned to your travel map. A 30-minute travel vlog that names 20 restaurants creates 20 pins automatically.
How do I import a Google Maps saved list?
Open your Google Maps saved list, tap Share to copy the list link, then share that link to Plotline. Plotline reads the list and imports every place at once — names, locations, and categories — so you don't have to re-enter anything by hand.
What happens if a single video mentions multiple places?
Plotline extracts all of them. A TikTok like "Top 5 Cafes in Paris" creates five separate pins. A 30-minute YouTube travel guide that mentions 20 places creates 20 pins. You don't have to manually pull out individual places — the app handles the extraction.
Organizing your saves
What are Collections in Plotline?
Collections are how you group your saved places — by destination, trip, or theme. Examples: "Tokyo 2026," "Anniversary Ideas," "Best Rooftop Bars." They're how you go from a global map of saves to a focused view of one trip.
Can one place be in multiple Collections?
Yes. A single place can belong to as many Collections as you want. Your favorite Lisbon wine bar can live in both your "Lisbon" Collection and your "Best Wine Bars" Collection with no duplication.
Can I filter my saved travel places by city and mood?
Yes. Plotline filters saved places by city, by category (eat, brew, sip, explore, vibe, stay, shop, go, party), and by vibe — what other apps call mood — plus by the platform each place came from. Open the map or a Collection and tap the filter chips to narrow to one city or one mood at a time.
How do I organize my saved travel posts?
Use a three-step system: capture every travel video by sharing it to Plotline as you find it, organize the resulting pins into Collections by destination or trip, and when you're ready to travel, open a Collection and group places into days.
Building trips
How do I turn my saves into a trip?
Organize your saved places into a Collection for the destination, then group them into days. For a single day, Sidequests (Plotline Premiere) does it for you: pick a vibe, swipe through your saved spots and community gems, and Plotline connects your picks into an auto-optimized, routed day plan. Automatic multi-day itinerary generation is coming soon.
Does Plotline optimize travel routes?
Yes — for single-day plans today. Sidequests (Plotline Premiere) automatically sequences your chosen places into an optimized route for the day. Collections also show distance and travel time between places so you can plan across days manually. Automatic multi-day route sequencing arrives with auto-itineraries.
Can Plotline automatically create a day-by-day itinerary from my saved places?
For a single day, yes: Sidequests (Plotline Premiere) turns your saved places into an auto-optimized, routed day plan today. Automatic multi-day, day-by-day itinerary generation is coming soon — today you build multi-day trips by grouping a Collection into days yourself.
Which travel app shows local tips alongside a planned route?
Plotline attaches each creator's tip — the inside scoop from the TikTok or Reel you saved — to every place. When Sidequests routes your day, each stop carries the local tip it came from. Most route planners optimize stops but drop the context; Plotline keeps both.
Why is it hard to plan a trip from TikTok saves alone?
TikTok stores saved videos in a single chronological list mixed with everything else you've saved. There's no location data, no map view, no way to filter by destination, and no way to group places by trip. Plotline solves this by extracting place names from each video and pinning them to a real map.