Locationscout is a sort of Swiss Army knife for all kinds of useful photo information. It comes in a variety of flavors: iOS, Android, and a full-featured web app.
What Does It Do?
When you open the app, you'll see a selection of countries and places to explore.
If an image catches your eye, you can tap on it, get location data, and info on the best photo spots from photographers who have been there. There's a detailed map that shows where each photo was taken, and a button so you can navigate directly to it.
The map shows the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset, along with current and forecasted weather, and some recommendations on things like crowds and parking.
Another button is marked "feeds." It shows you a real-time feed of new images coming into the app, with all the location data attached. You're welcome to attach "likes" to photos and share that with the photographer.
You also get tutorials and videos on everything from retouching landscapes to luminosity masks. The articles and videos are aimed at beginners and experienced photographers. I looked at several, and they are well put together with solid info. These extras are only on the web app, I guess assuming they are best consumed at home rather than on a small screen.
The web app will let you upload your own photos to share with others, and you're expected to add location data and whatever else you know about the place that would be helpful to other photographers.
All in all, this is a great little app that's filled with useful info for photographers. The web is great for planning, while the mobile apps are really useful when you are on your way to a location and when you get there.
The app has almost 200,000 users, so there's a wealth of information. The app was created by Manuel Becker, a Germany-based photographer with a passion for taking pictures and the technical knowledge to put the app together. It's a wonderful blend of local knowledge from photographers and a community of people who want to share great photo locations with you.
I found the most useful thing to do with Locationscout is to click on a photo in an accessible region, learn about it before I go, and set off on my journey.
The app is free, and there is also a premium version that adds an "around me" button that shows you local photo spots you may have missed, and a navigation button that will take you to where the photo was taken. I'm in Southern Arizona, and it found some photo spots I'd missed and will now explore.
The routes shown will likely be partly driving and then perhaps some walking, as contributors are encouraged to mark the exact locations of their photos. On the iOS app, Locationscout uses Apple Maps; on the Android app, it uses Google Maps.
There is a monthly plan for buying the app, but the best pricing for the app is a year-long subscription at $59.99. I think it's reasonable for all the info you are getting and the ease of use. You can find it on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The web version is at this link.
What I Like
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It's a beautifully designed app/web page that will get you using it quickly
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There are lots of users, so there are a lot of locations to look at and lust after
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The extra articles and videos are a great bonus, and they are mostly pro-level in quality
What I'd Like to See
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You can't upload photos from the mobile apps, which I think would be a big plus. The author says it's coming.
Locationscout is a great idea. There are lots of photo apps around, but Locationscout combines weather, navigation, local knowledge, photos from other users, and articles and tutorials. Highly recommended.
Heartbroken - I had this exact idea about 10 years ago but didn't have the app development skills to make it happen.
We should have teamed up. I started working on this around 11 years ago ;-) Feel free to give it a try and let me know what you would have done differently if you want to.
@ Mel
Really? It'd just an add generator. Did you try it? I did. Unninstalled after 30 seconds.
Have a nice life.
Hey Gogu, I’m genuinely sorry that your first impression of the app was so frustrating. I'm honestly unsure why you think this way, because the entire content with over 242.000 entries is available and even daily maintained for free. I’d love to show you how to get started and make the most of it for free.
I’m actually building this platform on my own, and my goal has always been to create something truly helpful for photographers and travelers. I’m not trying to force anyone into Premium - it’s just there to support the project and keep it sustainable.
Since I'm a solo developer, rating 11 years of my daily work in just 30 seconds and giving it a 1-star rating in the Play Store feels quite rough for me, but I really appreciate your honesty and I would love to learn what exactly I need to communicate better and why if not everything is 100% free is automatically such a bad rating, which unfortunately has quite a bad impact on my overall rating in the Play Store for such a niche app.
Thanks again for your feedback. Even the critical voices help me improve and make the app better for everyone.
Cheers,
Manuel
Yes, I used it for hours and saw no ads. Either on the iOS app or the web. And I am havibg a nice life. Thanks.
I just use Google Earth. It's free really simple to use and you can go to 3-D version of Google Earth and you'll find all the most amazing spots. Then you can just pinpoint them on the map and send that location to your phone and you have GPS coordinates to get there really simple and it's all free. Don't want to be negative or anything but spending money on this kind of stuff is just simply not needed.
Thanks for your comment, Nev! Totally get where you're coming from. Google Earth is an amazing tool and I’ve used it myself many times.
What I’m building here is meant to complement that experience, especially for people who want to discover beautiful places specifically from a photographer’s perspective. The spots in the app aren’t just randomly pinned and most of them are carefully curated by a passionate community, often with photos, tips, best times to visit, and real insights that help you find those hidden gems you might not spot in satellite view.
And just to clarify: you don’t need to spend anything to use the app. All the content is freely available - Premium just unlocks some extras for those who want to support the project (I’m developing it solo, so that means a lot!).
Thanks again for sharing your perspective – and if you’re ever curious, I’d love for you to give it another look. Feel free to check out locationscout.net/spots, where I hand-picked and featured over 900 of the most beautiful spots that should give you great travel inspiration in a very visual way.
All the best to you,
Manuel
I tried it, typed in a few locations, struck out. I finally just picked "London" (which is different than "London bridge" or "London Underground" -- what the heck?) and selected "London hotel Rooftop" only to find it's got one picture... of Chicago...
Hey Martin, thank you for the feedback. There are different locations for London so that you can decide yourself what exactly you want to photograph. The idea is that every spot is tagged with locations (and themes) about what you see in the photo. If you are on Tour Montparnasse in Paris, it's important that the Eiffel Tower is tagged because it's one of the best spots to photograph this landmark, although it's not even nearby. If you just want to see spots of London, I would recommend starting here: locationscout.net/locations/246-london (1209 photos in 354 spots)
Time to revisit.
I downloaded the App when recommended by Thomas Heaton a few years back and discovered there was NOTHING in the State of Oregon little elsewhere in the US.
Thank you for your feedback Dean! I think the reason is that the entire content is user-generated which means that people are often sharing spots from areas that are traveled a lot. The USA has 10.654 photos in 4398 spots (locationscout.net/usa), so it's actually quite a lot but since the US is also quite huge, it's still not as much as I would like to have in areas like Oregon. I'm actively working on that though. You can find quite a few beautiful spots for Oregon here: locationscout.net/locations/3653-oregon
Wasn't like that years ago. I added Pillars of Rome to Oregon since my comment.
That's awesome, thank you for being a part of the community. Yeah, the content is definitely growing on a daily basis, but even more importantly, Mia - my working student - and I invest a lot of time into improving the content on a daily basis, with over 64,000 manual spot content improvements already.
I absolutely hate apps like this. Through the years I've see locations becoming more and more crowded (especially because of things like Instagram) and this will only get worse. The difference with 20 years ago is incredible. The easier it gets the less fun. And I tell you; going to a famous spot for is no fun anymore. Everyone hunting for the same thing.. What's wrong with keeping your eyes and ears open all year and putting pins in Google Earth when you hear or read something?
Hey Leo,
thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really get where you’re coming from. The increase in crowds at popular spots is something many photographers and travelers have noticed over the years, and it’s a valid concern. Social media has definitely changed how and why people explore certain places while local infrastructure projects make it easier and easier to visit these spots.
That said, the goal of Locationscout isn’t to make everything easier just for the sake of convenience - it’s about curating quality over quantity, and celebrating photography as an art. Many of the spots on the platform are contributed by passionate photographers who want to help others discover not just the famous locations, but also the hidden gems and lesser-known places that still offer peace, beauty, and inspiration. Some of them are easy to reach, some of them aren't, and you therefore won't see a lot of people there.
In fact, we’re actively working on features that highlight quiet alternatives to the most crowded spots, helping people spread out rather than all ending up in the same few iconic places. And while I totally respect the joy of discovering locations the old-school way (I love doing that myself!), some people don’t have the time or opportunity to explore as much and really value having a thoughtful, respectful starting point.
I truly appreciate your perspective, and I’d love to continue building something that helps people explore more mindfully and with intention.
Have a great weekend,
Manuel
This is a fantastic app for photographers. On my recent trip to Tuscany, it helped me discover incredible locations I never would have found otherwise. Comparing it to Google Maps really doesn’t make sense. And calling it a bad app just because you couldn’t find spots in one specific region isn’t a fair assessment either.
Thank you very much dear Tomaz for your kind and thoughtful words. So happy to hear that it helped you so much in Tuscany.
While I totally understand where comparing it to Google Maps or Earth comes from, I also don't think that it makes a lot of sense because it's quite different in many regards.
I am also not happy if a certain region is not as well covered as the users or I would like it to be. But that's how user-generated content works and while Google can use their masses of data, developers, or users in existing apps, it's not that easy for a solo developer. I'm fully convinced though, that the overall content quality will exceed any other tool because I use Google Maps a lot as well to verify geo positions of spots and it's crazy (but totally understandable) how wrong photos are marked on Google Maps for so many places.
Have a wonderful start to this week and thank you again for using Locationscout on your trip. I hope you had a great time with lots of amazing experiences.
I mentioned Google earth and no Google maps. And the comparison is collecting info from elsewhere (tips, articles, movies, sites etc etc through my whole life) vs this app and not form Google Earth which I use to set pins on the right spot, export a kmz file when I leave and put it in my phone to navigate with maps.me. Ah, never mind...
Hey Leo, I know. Most users compare it to Google Maps, though, just because there is a map. So my comment wasn't about you, and it's absolutely fine to compare it like that, especially from the perspective you mentioned. I simply need to do a better job of differentiating it and showing the value compared to Google Earth, Maps, etc.
I love to hear that kmz files are an important feature for you. It's already on my todo list. :-)