Out now on the App Store · Google Play soon
The map starts empty.
You fill it in.
Built by an Aussie chippy in the backseat of his Chevy. This is the only travelling companion you'll need.
Free to use · No subscription · No paywall · For people 17 and over
Just an Aussie chippy, who spends more weekends in his van than in his own bed. Logging everything with a paper map, a pen, and my own private pins, I knew there had to be a better way. So I built it. Welcome to Vella.
Shizee · Founder
Where we stand
No catch.
Here's what that means.
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No ads.
Nothing in the app is an ad, and nothing is ranked to sell you something.
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No subscriptions.
Vella is free to use. There is no plan, no tier and no trial that runs out.
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No paywalls.
Nothing in the app is locked behind a payment.
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No algorithm.
Your feed is the people you follow, newest first. Nothing decides what you see to keep you scrolling.
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No AI slop.
Posts are written by people and challenges are put together by hand. Nothing in your feed is generated.
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Your data is not for sale.
Vella never sells your data, collects only what the app needs to work, and doesn't track you across other apps or websites.
Atlas
100,000+ places
already there.
Atlas comes preloaded with more than 100,000 places across Australia, hand-cleaned and sorted into 64 types. Free camps, lookouts, waterfalls, surf breaks, national park sites, dump points, even the fuel station on the long stretch of nothing. You're not starting from scratch.
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Free camps
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Lookouts & waterfalls
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Surf & swim
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National park sites
Journey
Every road you drive
ends up traced.
Your personal Atlas, your Journey, starts empty and fills as you go. Every place you visit gets marked as a gold dot, every road you drive gets traced by hand. Slowly, with every trip, you end up with a real record of where you've actually been. Your personal Atlas, different from everyone else's.
Private by default · share what you want
Challenges
Reasons
to actually go somewhere.
Reasons that drop you into real places. The reason to hike 3 mountains in a day, or chase 3 different waves over a weekend. Track your streak, earn badges, or just set your own challenges with friends.
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VELLA
Surfing
Routes we've put together by hand, all over Australia. Easy, medium and hard.
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SURF COAST SURF CLUB
Saturday surf meet
Made by Crest holders. Grassroots organisers and brand partners running missions in their patch. Surf meets, weekly hikes, community clean-ups.
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SMC
Family road trip
Build your own, public or private. Group trips, family missions, mate dares.
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SILENT
5,000 km
The ones running in the background. Drive far enough, visit enough places, keep a streak going and a badge fires. No signup, no setup. The silent race.
The Crest
Community, not a leaderboard.
Hosting a surf meet every Saturday morning? A weekly hike with the local crew? A community clean-up? You'll get a Crest. Vella promotes the grass-roots organisers and small foundations who actually show up for their patch, not the loudest accounts on a leaderboard.
Want to host or partner with us? support@vellaapp.com.au
Get the app
Out now.
On the App Store.
Free on iPhone now, in time for the Christmas run. Australia first, for travellers who actually travel.
On Android? Google Play is next. Leave your email and we will tell you the day Vella is there.
Free to use · No subscription · No paywall · For people 17 and over