Historypin

Discover windows into the past by seeing and interacting with the history all around you.

The official Historypin app reveals photos near your current location and allows you to view them layered over the modern scene in front of you. You can also explore Collections of some of the best old photos from around the world, wherever you are.

You can add your own piece of history and pin it to the map, too, by using your phone to digitise an old photo, capture a modern moment of historic importance, or take a modern replica of a photo on the app.

And if you shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture, your phone will bring up some of the best photos from all over the globe.

Historypin was created by the not-for-profit company We Are What We Do, in partnership with Google.

The app is free to download.

Key features:

* Explore the Historypin map - the Historypin map has 1000s of images and stories pinned to it and the app allows you to browse this by date and location, using your location to find the nearest content, or exploring remotely.
    * Explore the streets - holding your phone up to the street, the app uses your camera view to display nearby images. By selecting the image, it can be overlaid onto the modern view to create an historical comparison, which you can toggle or fade between.
* Read stories and recollections - all stories shared can be accessed through the app.
* Capture a modern moment of history - images taken with the app are immediately pinned to the Historypin map, with any captions and stories you add. Images can also be added from your phone’s albums.
* Digitise an old photo  -  take photos of old pictures as an easy alternative to scanning them, then add photo details and pin them directly to the Historypin map.
* Take modern equivalents of old classics - when exploring historic content, you can snap exact contemporary replicas
* Browse Collections from anywhere - you can explore selected Collections from Historypin.com
* Shake history up - a simple shake of the app brings up a random piece of content from anywhere in the world

Note: We have done our best to make this an enjoyable app to use. It is only as good as the hardware, GPS, and data signal.