- Apple has brought its Look Around feature to web browsers
- This is Apple’s Street View rival in Apple Maps
- Brings Apple Maps closer to Google Maps in terms of features
Apple Maps and Google Maps have been rivals for years, and each can boast of doing certain things better than the other. Both services let you view maps from a pedestrian’s perspective, but so far Apple’s version has been limited to the Apple Maps app, not its web view (which launched in July 2024). However, with the latest update all that is changing.
As Chris Carley pointed out in Threads (via 9to5Mac), you can now get Apple’s Street View rival (called Look Around) when you use Apple Maps in any of the best web browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. According to 9to5Mac, this feature was probably added around December 11.
Look Around lets you take a street-level look at any covered area, moving the view around 360 degrees and moving up and down along streets and paths. It is currently available in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Japan, and a few other places. Apple has a full list of its available locations on its website.
Break free from Apple apps
Now that Look Around is supported in browsers, you’re no longer limited to using the feature on Apple devices. Previously, you needed to have the Apple Maps app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, but now that you can access it from a browser, you can use Look Around from a Windows PC if you want (although it still doesn’t work on any of the best phones Android).
That could help make Look Around a much more popular feature, since it won’t depend on the user having an Apple device. Instead, now anyone can use it, as long as they have a compatible web browser.
Carley added that the web version of Look Around does not appear to have the parallax effect (whereby background objects appear to move more slowly relative to your viewpoint than foreground objects) that can be seen when moving the view around. iOS and macOS versions. . However, this effect appears to work when you move forward or backward in Look Around, and it seems likely that Apple will update the web view to align with versions of its Apple Maps app.
Apple Maps web view is currently in beta and many features, such as transit maps, 3D building visualization, and location login and storage, are not available. But with the addition of Look Around, you have another reason to switch from Google Maps.
