The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has launched the Venkatadri app to help pilgrims navigate Tirumala, locate essential facilities and access emergency assistance through a single digital platform. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launched the application virtually on Monday.
Developed by the TTD, the Venkatadri app includes an AI-powered voice assistant that provides guidance around the clock. Pilgrims can use voice commands to locate facilities such as drinking-water points, hospitals, medical centres and darshan entry points.
The application maps more than 350 locations across 25 facility categories. These include parking areas, public toilets, bus stops, luggage centres, free footwear-deposit centres, food outlets, canteens, room-allotment counters, pilgrim help desks, TTD offices and sub-enquiry offices.
The map also covers Kalyana Kattas, police stations, vigilance offices, temple surroundings, shopping complexes and the Matrusri Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Complex. The range of locations is intended to give pilgrims access to operational information within the Tirumala complex rather than requiring them to search for individual facilities separately.
A key feature is offline navigation, which allows the application to function in areas with weak or no internet connectivity. The app also provides bus routes and timings, while its “Mark My Spot” feature lets users save their parking location or another important place and navigate back to it.
The app provides one-touch access to emergency contacts, the police and the TTD helpline. This places assistance information alongside navigation and facility details, allowing users to reach key services through the same platform.
Venkatadri is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English. The TTD said the application is intended to make pilgrims’ journeys around Tirumala more convenient and contribute to a comfortable and peaceful darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy.
The launch also addresses a basic access challenge in digital public services: not every visitor may have a smartphone or reliable connectivity. To cover pilgrims without smartphones, the TTD is developing kiosk access, although the supplied announcement did not specify the number, locations or deployment timeline for these kiosks.
The application was demonstrated to Naidu by TTD Additional Executive Officer Ch Venkaiah Chowdary and NRI philanthropist JP from the United States. The Chief Minister later congratulated the TTD for developing the pilgrim-focused application.
The TTD’s next stated step is to develop kiosk access for pilgrims without smartphones. Further details on the kiosk rollout and the app’s operational performance were not provided in the announcement.
