THE MAP GETS YOU TO THE BOULDER. THE TOPO GETS YOU TO THE CLIMB.
BitLost is a map and private logbook for Swiss bouldering.
It helps you find the area, the sector and the right block without spending forty minutes walking through a forest, confidently approaching the wrong piece of rock.
It is also an independent, end-to-end digital product project. I took it from a small climbing irritation to a working native iOS app: concept, product definition, UX, UI, information structure, content, build direction, testing and the mildly administrative work required to stop an idea becoming six ideas in a trench coat.
MY ROLE
Product concept · UX and interaction design · UI and visual system · Information architecture · Content and data structure · AI-assisted development direction · Testing and iteration
Built independently as part of my transition from physical-product design into digital product work.
01 / A MAP. DELIBERATELY NOT A TOPO.
BitLost was designed around a boundary.
It gets you to the area, the sector and the right boulder. It does not pretend that a blue dot on a phone can replace the guidebook, local knowledge, or the person who spent years putting up the climb in the first place.
The map gets you to the block.
The topo gets you to the climb.
This was not a limitation added later. It was the central product decision.
By doing less, BitLost stays useful: it reduces the frustrating part of finding a boulder without turning the phone into another piece of climbing equipment with a charging problem.
Bring the topo. Buy the topo. Respect the topo.
02 / HOW IT WORKS
THE MAP STAYS.
THE REST SLIDES UP.
Choose an area, understand the terrain, find the block, then put the phone away before it becomes another piece of climbing equipment with a charging problem.
01 / 06
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01
CHOOSE YOUR AREA
Pick the place you are heading to. No account required. No ceremonial onboarding ritual.
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02
READ THE TERRAIN
Browse sectors and blocks on official swisstopo maps. Switch between topo and aerial imagery when the approach begins to look suspiciously optimistic.
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03
SEARCH OR BROWSE
Find climbs by name, grade, sector or block. Or browse until something looks suitably unreasonable.
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04
FIND THE BLOCK
BitLost takes you to the boulder, not the exact line. The distinction is deliberate.
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05
LOG THE SEND
Record style, attempts, date and notes. Private, local and free from inspirational captions.
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06
KEEP THE USEFUL BITS
Save favourites, revisit projects and keep a quiet record of what happened.
03 / THE BORING PART THAT MAKES IT USEFUL.
BitLost is native iOS software, built around official swisstopo mapping and a bundled local dataset. The block positions were field-surveyed; favourites and ascent logs remain on the phone; after map tiles are cached, it remains useful without a signal.
No backend. No analytics. No ads. Nothing quietly watching you walk in circles around a forest.
The app’s architecture, privacy model and block-level approach are all intentional product decisions, not omissions.
04 / A LOGBOOK WITH NO AUDIENCE.
A logbook should remember things. It should not demand an audience.
BitLost keeps sends, attempts, dates, notes and favourites on the device. No account. No feed. No leaderboard. No pressure to turn a 6B into a personal branding exercise.
Just a record of the climbs you did, the climbs you nearly did, and the ones that briefly suggested indoor climbing might be enough.