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Mohammedia – Fez has introduced a new digital doorway into its centuries-old streets with the launch of Medinapp, a mobile application designed to guide users through Morocco’s medinas using gaming mechanics, interactive challenges, and verified cultural content.
The platform is the latest project from Medinact, a young startup born in Fez and focused on merging heritage and technology.
Initially developed in the Fez medina, the app has already expanded to Meknès, Rabat, Essaouira, and the wider Errachidia region, with the long-term ambition of covering every historic city in the country.
A national initiative to make heritage more accessible
Medinapp was selected for the national incubation and funding program led by the Moroccan Society for Tourism Engineering (SMIT), which supports projects in leisure-focused gaming.
Within this program, the application serves as the representative initiative for the Fez-Meknès region, backed by technical support from The Game Changer incubator.
The app aims to reshape how residents, tourists, students, and culture lovers navigate Morocco’s medinas.
Users can explore through geolocated inventories of key sites, discover “hidden treasures,” and unlock verified historical notes curated by cultural experts.
The platform includes audio guides, thematic circuits, and gamified experiences — from badges and challenges to treasure hunts designed uniquely for each medina.
These tools are meant to bring younger audiences closer to national heritage while strengthening Morocco’s tourism offering through innovation.
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The launch of Medinapp comes at a moment when Moroccan institutions are placing renewed emphasis on preserving and promoting intangible heritage.
On November 14, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication began the formal process to register “the art of zellige from Fez and Tetouan” on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Both initiatives signal a broader cultural strategy that blends conservation with modernization.
Behind Medinapp are three co-founders from the same family: Meriam Ghandi, an architect devoted to heritage; Yassine Ghandi, a consultant specializing in art and culture; and Ibrahim Ghandi, a digital expert in cultural history.
Together, they aim to use technology not as a replacement for tradition, but as a bridge connecting today’s users to centuries of Moroccan craftsmanship, stories, and memory.
