Steering is here, and Walkspy works in your currency

Today we are turning live walks into a two-way conversation.

Up to now, watching a live walk was a watch-only thing. You could chat, but the walker was on rails: they walked their route and you went along for the ride. The Walk Requests feature we shipped earlier this week let you ask in advance, but only in advance. The thing that has been missing is the live moment, when you are watching, and you want the walker to do a small thing for you right now. That is what Steering does.

What Steering looks like

When a walker is broadcasting and has Steering on, the live walk page shows a new panel below the video. It has a row of quick cue buttons (turn around, go left, go right, do a 360, slow down, look up, look down, and a few more) and a "drop a pin" toggle. Tap a cue and the walker gets it within a second or two. Drop a pin and the walker sees a destination on their map. You can attach a free-text note to either.

You can attach a bounty too. The presets are picked to match the walker's currency, so a walker in Tokyo sees ¥100, ¥250, ¥500, ¥1000 and a walker in San Francisco sees $1, $2, $5, $10. If the walker has set a minimum bounty, anything above that comes through; everything below stays out of their queue. Free cues always come through.

The bit that makes this fun: anyone watching can add to the pool on a posted task. If you really want the walker to step into that bookshop and tell you what is in the front window, you can post the cue with a small bounty, and the next watcher who agrees taps "+$1" to make it more attractive. The walker sees tasks ordered by pool size, so the most-funded task floats to the top of the queue.

Walker discretion is paramount

The walker always taps to accept or decline. They can decline anything for any reason without penalty. They can cancel a task they have already accepted. In every one of those cases the pool refunds automatically. There is no rating system, no streak penalty, no nudge to keep accepting. The walker is in charge of their walk.

We also wrote down what is and is not allowed in the new Steering Terms page. The short version: storefronts, public squares, parks, transit stops, and similar public scenes are fine. Following or surveilling a specific individual, their home, their workplace, or their family is not. Walkers should decline anything that feels wrong and use the report path when something crosses a line.

Money flows the simple way

When you post a paid task or add to a pool, your card is authorized for the amount. Nothing is actually charged until the walker marks the task done and a short approval window passes without dispute. If the walker declines, lets it expire, or cancels, the authorization is voided and you are not charged.

WalkSpy keeps 20 percent of every settled task to cover payments and infrastructure; the rest goes to the walker through their payout account. This is the same cut we already use for direct payouts elsewhere on the site.

Recorded walks remember their tasks

Every Steering task that gets completed during a walk now shows up as a small marker on the recorded walk's map. Hover or tap to see what the cue was, who asked, and what was in the pool. We project the markers onto the smoothed route, so they sit on the path you actually walked rather than floating in the GPS noise.

Multi-currency, everywhere

Steering pushed us to do something we have been meaning to do anyway: WalkSpy now works in your currency, not just dollars. Walk Requests, walk offers, bids, tips, and Steering tasks all carry the right currency. Walkers in Japan post in yen and get paid in yen. Watchers in London see prices in pounds where the listing is in pounds. We support sixteen currencies today, covering the places Stripe Connect serves best, and we will add more as we go.

Try it

Pick any live walk and look for the Steering panel. If the walker has not enabled Steering for this walk, you will see a small note explaining that. If they have, send them a free cue and see what happens. Tip a few dollars (or yen, or pounds) on a posted task. Drop a pin on a place you want them to go.

If you walk, open your start-walk settings and turn on "Accept steering tasks" before you go live. You can also flip it on partway through if you decide to start receiving them mid-walk. Set a minimum bounty if you want, leave it at zero if you do not. Nothing about Steering is mandatory; it is a way to share more of what you are seeing with people who are watching, and to be paid for it when they appreciate the help.