iOS & Android · Free to download

Find the spots
no other
map has.

Google Maps has the trail. Photerra has the bend where the view opens up — every pin a real photo at the exact coordinate a traveler stood. Plan a trip around them, and book it, without leaving the app.

Download the app See how it works
2,000+ real traveler spots
8 cities, hundreds of spots each
iOS · Android free to download
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A spot shared by the community
— spots in view
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A live preview of Photerra's map. See all cities →

Where these spots come from

The best spots don't have an address.

The bench where the light is perfect at 6pm. The cove past the parking lot. The mural on the side of the laundromat. None of them are business listings — so the apps built on business listings can't show them to you. Photerra pins them by the exact coordinate someone stood at.

Everyone else

The same recycled map.

Google Maps, the AI planners, the big travel sites — all drawing from the same pile of business listings and reviews. That's why they hand you the same ten places.

Photerra

A map made by travelers.

One real photo at a time, pinned to the exact latitude and longitude it was taken — places that were never in any database until someone who was actually there put them on the map.

See how Photerra compares
Built to be trusted

No ads. No slop. No selling you out.

The places you find here are real, the ranking is honest, and what's yours stays yours. Not a settings toggle — it's how Photerra is built.

  • Real photos, not AI slop

    Every spot is a real picture a real person took — never AI-generated.

  • No ads, no sponsored spots

    Nobody pays to rank. What you see is what travelers actually loved.

  • We never sell your data

    Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to anyone.

  • We don't track where you go

    Your location shows what's nearby in the moment, then it's forgotten.

  • You're always the owner

    Edit or delete any spot, or your whole account, whenever you want. You're never locked in.

  • Quiet Mode

    Share spots without anyone being able to trace your movements.

Read our full privacy promise →

A trip in four taps

Meet Alex — a San Francisco weekend, planned in minutes.

She has 12 tabs open across Google Maps, Instagram, blogs, and three group chats — and every one shows her the same 30 places. She wants the ones that aren't on any of them, not another top-10 list.

  1. 01

    She opens Photerra

    Instead of five place-entries, the map shows hundreds of specific spots — each one pinned to the coordinate where a traveler stood and pointed a camera at something worth standing there for.

    Photerra home mosaic feed
  2. 02

    She saves the spots she likes

    A tap adds any photo to her trip — each one geotagged to the exact spot it was taken, so she can find it again when she's standing there.

    A saved spot on Photerra
  3. 03

    Her trip builds itself on the map

    Photerra turns her saved spots into a day-by-day route. Or she describes the trip — "a weekend of quiet viewpoints and good coffee" — and the AI builds it from spots real travelers shared. Not Google Places. Not a top-10 list.

    A day-by-day trip itinerary
  4. 04

    She books in the same flow

    OpenTable, Resy, Skyscanner, Booking.com, Uber, Maps — one tap from any spot or itinerary. No app-switching, no copying addresses, no losing her place.

    One-tap booking from any spot

In ten minutes, Alex has a real plan.

One visual map instead of twelve tabs. A trip built from real photos, not generic lists. Something she can book, share, and tweak on the go.

10 min to a plan she'd actually take
What you can do with it

When the map is real, the rest just works.

Search it by the light. Let the AI plan from it. Build a trip with friends and book without leaving. Every one of these is better because the spots underneath are real — not a scraped directory.

See before you go

You're looking at the real thing.

Tap any pin and it's the actual photo a traveler took standing right there — not a stock image, not a star rating. You know what a spot really is before you ever leave.

Expanded spot view
AI trip planner

Describe a trip. Photerra builds it.

"A weekend of quiet viewpoints in Portland." "Three days of good light and long walks in Lisbon." The AI pulls from photo-spots real travelers captured, so what you get back reflects where people actually went.

AI trip planner
Dense hubs

Hundreds of spots per city.

230+ in San Francisco. 220+ in Portland. 240+ in San Diego. We go deep in a few cities before we go wide — so the map is useful the day you open it.

Map view of SF
Day-by-day

Save it. Plan it. Go.

Drag spots into days. Auto-optimize routes. Collaborate with your group in real time.

Trip planner
Book in the same flow

One tap to book or navigate.

OpenTable, Resy, Booking.com, Airbnb, Hostelworld, Hipcamp, Skyscanner, Viator, GetYourGuide, Uber, Lyft — restaurants, stays, flights, activities, and rides, all in-app.

OpenTable Booking.com Airbnb Skyscanner Viator GetYourGuide Uber
Bulk upload

Your camera roll becomes the map.

Add 5, 50, or 500 photos at once. Each lands at the coordinate where you took it. No forms, no manual entry — the photo is the entry.

Search by the light

Golden hour, on the map.

Every spot is a real photo, so it knows when it was taken. Filter for morning, golden hour, or evening — and find the places worth being at exactly the right time.

Where we are now →

Eight cities, hundreds of spots each.

A map is only useful when it's dense — so we go deep before we go wide. These are the cities and parks where travelers have already built that depth.

Want your city next? Tell us where you'd like to explore →

Frequently asked

The quick version.

Is Photerra free?

Yes. The app is free to download and all the core features — browsing the map, saving spots, building trips, inviting friends — are free. We make money on the affiliate side when you book a flight, hotel, restaurant, or campsite through the app. You're never charged for a spot.

Do I need an account to use it?

You can browse the pre-seeded map without an account. To save spots, build trips, upload your own photos, or plan with friends, you'll need a free account — email or Apple/Google sign-in.

Which cities are live?

San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia, Hawaii (select islands), Yosemite & Sequoia National Parks, and Mexico City — each seeded with hundreds of real traveler spots. See all cities →

What if my city isn't one of the eight?

You can still use the app — upload your own spots, build trips anywhere, and the AI planner works globally. The eight seeded cities are just where there's already a dense community layer to discover from. If enough travelers in your city start posting, it becomes the next hub.

Does it work offline?

You can download trips for offline use before you leave — the full itinerary, maps, and saved spots stay available without data. Fresh discovery and booking need a connection.

How does the AI trip planner work?

Tell it where you're going and what you want ("quiet viewpoints," "good light for photos," "where locals gather"). It builds a day-by-day itinerary from real traveler spots — not generic lists. Refine with prompts or edit by hand.

Can I plan trips with friends?

Yes. Trips are collaborative — invite friends and everyone can add, reorder, or comment on spots. Photerra auto-calculates routing, distances, and travel times across days.

What happens to the photos I upload?

Only the photos you choose to post become spots — the rest of your camera roll is never touched. A photo you post is pinned to the coordinate where you took it, and an AI sorts what's in it (a viewpoint, a quiet spot, good light) so other travelers can find it. You're always the owner: edit or remove any spot, or your whole account, anytime.

Put your best spots
on the map.

Every spot you share becomes part of a map no business directory can build. Help map it — start with your own camera roll.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

No ads. No sponsored results. No account required to browse.

The Photerra home mosaic feed