The best app for exploring San Francisco just launched today

Detour is an app designed for people who like two things: stories and exploring.

The app offers location-based audio tours, guiding listeners through San Francisco. The audio tours include stories of past events that occurred in the specific area, narrated by an expert who will talk quietly in your ear in the same vein as NPR's "This American Life."

Detour lets listeners choose the pace of the story, so there's no rushing to be at a certain spot at a specific time. Instead, you're free to explore and look around, and the app also links up and syncs the stories with others nearby if you want your friends to join you.

Detour is launching with seven tours of San Francisco. The seven tours focus on popular topics and locations like the Fisherman's Wharf, the Tenderloin, and the favorite bars and haunts of the authors of the Beat Generation.

The plan is for Detour to launch a new tour every month. For now, you can purchase individual tours for $4.99 or a year-long subscription to all tours for $19.99.

If you're in San Francisco, you can download Detour today for iPhone (an Android version is coming) or sign up to be notified when your city becomes available.