Open Project

Making travel photography a
remarkable experience

Creator · viewfinderapp.com · App Store · 2017 – present

San Francisco on the map: photo pins on the best spots, a gold dot on each famous spot and a violet one on each hidden gem

Battery Spencer: the hero photo, the photos taken there and the first tips

Conditions at Battery Spencer: sunrise, sunset, moonrise, the tides, drone rules, visibility, the Milky Way and the forecast by the hour

Find the most beautiful photo spots near you

Over 6,000 spots in 641 destinations, with tips from professionals and influencers.

Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, low and high tide, drone rules, visibility and the Milky Way at a spot

The forecast by the hour: cloud cover, wind and temperature

Know when the light is right

Sunrise, sunset, the moon, the tides, drone rules and the weather by the hour, in the spot’s own time zone.

Tips that save the shot

Read, like, or leave a tip for the next photographer.

A tip about summer fog at the Golden Gate

A tip about the postcard view of the bridge tower

See every angle before you go

Every spot collects the photos taken there, best first, credited to the photographer.

Built to be your travel book

Open the iPhone Duo and Viewfinder spreads across both pages: the map on one side, the spots and guides on the other. Fold it closed and the whole app is on the outside screen.

Viewfinder on the open iPhone Duo: Iceland on the map across the screen, its spots and guides on a glass card on the left

The closed iPhone Duo: Iceland on the outside screen

Room to plan the whole trip

On iPad the map fills the screen and your spots, guides and tips sit on a panel beside it. Browse a city while you pick the shots you want to make.

Viewfinder on iPad: the Grand Canyon, Page and Monument Valley guide on a panel, its route on the map

Opening through the lens

The logo takes a picture and the app opens through its lens. It waits for the map’s first photos to load, so you never see empty pins.

Validated with a marketing page

Before building the app, I validated the idea with a marketing page. One tweet brought hundreds of signups on day one.

The viewfinderapp.com marketing page: Battery Spencer in the phone over the San Francisco map with photo pins around it, the features, the map of popular spots and hidden gems around Kyoto and Osaka, and a spot's perspectives

Photos and maps first

Full-screen maps, edge-to-edge photos, controls floating on glass.

Destinations

Iceland on the map, a photo pin on each of its best spots

Spots map

Filters

The spots and guides of Daly City over the map, with the Popular, Hidden gems and Nature chips

Spots list

Kirkjufell in Iceland: the hero photo, its photos and tips, marked Popular

Spot details

The photos taken at the Golden Gate, edge to edge

Spot photos

Photo viewer

Conditions

Tips

A guide on the map: Japan highlights, Tokyo Tower first of nine stops

Guides

An alert in Tokyo: a new photo spot nearby, Shibuya Crossing, 250 feet away, with the time to sunrise

Nearby alerts

Search

The map pulled back to the whole world, a photo pin on each destination

World map

Profile

Settings

Map by Apple Maps. Pin photos by Joshua Sortino and, from Wikimedia Commons, Ryan Schwark (CC0), Rhododendrites, Frank Schulenburg, Christopher Michel, EponineBunnyKickQueen and John Robin (CC BY-SA), Joe Parks and Daniel Ramirez (CC BY).