re.photos

Gedankenspieler

About this app

A hundred years ago, someone stood here and pressed the shutter. The world moved on. Now you're standing in the same place, ready to take the photo again.

re.photos is a worldwide community archive of before-and-after photo pairs – historical photographs placed side by side with their present-day counterparts, taken from the very same spot. Slide between the two and watch a street, a square, or a coastline change across decades or centuries.

EXPLORE
Browse thousands of comparisons contributed by people around the world. Move the slider and the past becomes the present, then the present becomes the past again. Open the map to see where each pair was made – and find ones near you.

CAPTURE
The hardest part of rephotography is lining up the modern shot with the historical one. The live camera guide does it with you in real time: small arrows nudge you left, right, up, down, closer, farther, until the framing matches. Press the shutter and the app finishes the alignment for you. Already taken the perfect shot? Pick it from your library and let the app do the rest.

CONTRIBUTE
The archive includes a growing list of "image templates" – historical photos still waiting for someone to come back and take the new one. Find one near you, head out, and add the present-day match. Or upload a complete pair of your own. Everything you publish appears on re.photos for the world to see.

BEHIND THE APP
re.photos began as a research project at the University of Osnabrück. Today it's carried by an independent team that genuinely loves the mission of capturing and showing how places change over time. This app was made possible by the generous support of the Sievert Foundation.

Available in English, German, and French.