When you are navigating a new city or trying to find a specific storefront, a top-down map is often not enough. To solve this, Apple introduced the “Look Around” feature in Apple Maps. Similar to Google Street View, Look Around provides high-resolution, interactive 3D street-level imagery, allowing you to visually explore neighborhoods before you arrive.
What is Apple Maps Look Around?
Look Around offers a seamless, incredibly smooth street-level view of supported cities worldwide. Because Apple uses advanced 3D photogrammetry, moving down the street feels like driving in a video game rather than clicking through static, warped photographs. You can use it to scout parking spots, check accessibility, or simply explore landmarks.
How to Access Look Around on iPhone
Using Look Around on your iPhone is built directly into the standard Maps interface, though the button only appears when you are looking at a supported area.
- Open the Apple Maps app on your iPhone.
- Search for a city or navigate the map to a major metropolitan area (such as London, New York, or Tokyo).
- Zoom in slightly. If Look Around is available for that location, a small binoculars icon will appear in the bottom-left corner of the map screen.
- Tap the binoculars icon. A split-screen view will appear, showing the 3D street view at the top and the top-down map at the bottom.
- To enter full-screen mode, tap the expand icon (two arrows pointing outward) in the top-left corner of the Look Around window.
Navigating the 3D Environment
Moving through the Look Around environment is highly intuitive.
- Moving forward: Tap further down the street to smoothly glide forward. You do not need to repeatedly tap; tapping far in the distance will initiate a continuous movement.
- Looking around: Swipe left, right, up, or down on the screen to rotate your view 360 degrees.
- Identifying points of interest: As you navigate, you will see labels floating above businesses, restaurants, and landmarks. Tapping on one of these labels will bring up the location’s information card, including hours of operation and ratings, without forcing you to exit the 3D view.
How to Use Look Around on a Mac
The Look Around experience is also available on macOS, taking advantage of your larger display.
- Open the Maps application on your Mac.
- Search for your desired location.
- Click the binoculars icon located in the top-right corner of the map window (next to the 3D button).
- A small Look Around window will pop up. You can click and drag the edges of this window to resize it, or click the expand icon to take it full screen.
- Navigation works identically to the iPhone: click down the street to move forward and click-and-drag to look around.
While Look Around does not yet have the global coverage of Google Street View, its superior image quality and fluid navigation make it the best choice for exploring supported cities.