Ephemeros

Ephemeros turns your phone into a time machine for places.

Find a "spot" - a fixed viewpoint someone has photographed before - and take a new photo aligned to the original. A semi-transparent "ghost" of the baseline image floats over your camera, and live compass and tilt guides help you line up the exact same framing. Every aligned capture is added to the spot's series, building a timelapse that shows how a place changes across days, seasons, and years.

WHY REPHOTOGRAPHY?

A single photo is a moment. A series of aligned photos is a story — a coastline receding, a building rising, a glacier retreating, a garden growing, a neighbourhood transforming. Ephemeros makes it easy for anyone to contribute to that visual record, and turns the collected captures into an open dataset for researchers studying environmental and urban change.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Discover nearby spots on a fast, offline-capable map
• Create new spots at viewpoints worth watching
• Capture aligned repeat photos with a live ghost overlay and alignment guides
• Watch each spot's timelapse build up over time
• Organise spots into shareable lists and invite friends with a code
• Scan a spot's QR code to jump straight to it
• Earn points and build trust as your contributions are approved
• Get notified when spots you follow gain new captures

BUILT FOR THE FIELD

• Full offline capture - shoot with no signal; uploads sync automatically when you're back online (Wi-Fi-only option supported)
• In-app camera only, so every photo carries accurate location and orientation metadata - this is what makes the series scientifically useful
• Lightweight vector maps that work without a data connection

A SHARED, RESPECTFUL RECORD

Contributed photos are reviewed before they join a public series. You control your privacy: spots can be kept private, your profile can be hidden, and you can export or delete your data at any time.

Ephemeros is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases.

Start with a spot near you and add the next frame to its story.