The Pladia 2025 wrap-up: Milestones, memories, and what’s next

If you blinked, you might have missed 2025.

It’s a cliché to say the year flew by, but looking back at the calendar over the past twelve months here at Pladia, it feels like a whirlwind. It was a year defined by incredible focus, exciting builds, and, most importantly, deepening our connection with all of you.

Before we close the laptop lids for the holidays, we wanted to take a breath and look at the highlight reel.

When we started this year, our goal was centered around building a strong and scalable foundation for the next chapter of Pladia. Looking back, if we had to theme 2025, we’d call it The Year of Building.

Here is a look at the milestones that defined our year.

Delivering on our promises: The product updates

We shipped a lot of code this year. Our team worked tirelessly to not just add bells and whistles, but to fundamentally improve how customers and their visitors use Pladia every day.

One of the biggest milestones of the year was the launch of Extend, which expands Pladia beyond traditional mobile guides and into richer venue storytelling. It represents a major step toward supporting a more unified visitor experience across labels, exhibits, and digital touchpoints, and we are already seeing creative use cases emerge from early pilots.

We also made major strides in enhancing the on-site visitor journey, which culminated in the release of:

• Pathways: Which allows venues to design guided beacon-less step-by-step navigation routes that adapts to each venue and enables confident visitor exploration.
• Audio Access+: Which removed friction from accessing audio and created a smoother, more inclusive experience for visitors of all ages.
• Tours: Which gives venues a powerful, flexible way to shape visitor journeys by delivering curated, narrative-led paths directly to visitors’ own devices.
• Image Recognition: Gives visitors instant access to content simply by pointing their camera at an object to create a smoother connection for the visitor and the collection.

2025 by the numbers

Our customers and their visitors continue to show us what is possible when great content meets thoughtful technology. A few standout moments:

Visitors are listening more than ever.

Phone to Ear has driven a forty percent lift in listeners. Nearly half of all listening since launch comes from people who would not have engaged with audio otherwise. This shows how simple and intuitive access can open the door for entirely new visitor behaviors.

Engagement runs deeper with audio.

Visitors who played audio at least once recorded sessions more than three times longer than the average. This reinforces the role that storytelling plays in shaping meaningful time on site.

Feedback that stayed with us.

One of our favorite notes of the year came from a visitor who said, “So beautifully made. I would love to work with whoever made this.” They ended their review with a ten out of ten rating which was a reminder of why we build for both quality and ease of use.

Behind the scenes at Pladia HQ

The platform grew this year and our team grew along with it. To support the roadmap we set out at the beginning of the year, we focused on strengthening our operations, expanding our capabilities, and bringing in the people who would help us deliver on our vision.

We welcomed new Pladians across the various teams. Each person brought fresh perspective, energy, and skill that helped move Pladia forward and support the growing interest in our products.

We also launched Pladia’s official partner program and welcomed new partners into our community. These partners will help shape better visitor experiences for the organizations we serve.

Out in the world, Pladia showed up more than ever. We attended and exhibited at nine conferences and events in the United States and Australia. Meeting so many cultural, academic, and experience focused organizations in person helped us understand what the sector needs today and what it is aspiring to build next.

We also celebrated an important moment together with Pladia winning a Good Design Australia Award. Recognition like this matters because it reflects the care and craft that our team puts into every part of the platform.

These moments offline are essential. Meeting customers face-to-face, connecting with partners, collaborating as a team, and celebrating our progress are the interactions that fuel the work we do online. They remind us of the people and purpose behind the technology and they continue to shape the Pladia we are building together.

Looking ahead to 2026

We are incredibly proud of what we accomplished in 2025, yet this is only the beginning. The momentum carrying us into 2026 feels stronger than ever and our team is already hard at work on the next set of features, partnerships, and product improvements that will continue to elevate the visitor experience.

You will also start to hear more about a new capability we have been building quietly in the background. We will be sharing more through our quarterly newsletter, including new releases, partner and customer spotlights, and updates on what is coming next. We hope you will follow along as we continue to grow and shape the future of Pladia together.

A final thank you

At the heart of everything we do is the simple belief that a platform is defined by the people who use it. The true highlight of our year has been seeing what you create with Pladia and how you bring your stories to life through Empower, Event Sync, and Extend.

Whether you have been with us for years or you are just getting started, thank you for welcoming us into your venue, campus, gallery, or event. Your creativity, curiosity, and trust inspire us to keep building and improving every day.

We are excited for what we will create together in 2026.

Start building today at www.pladia.io