Support

How does the old city line up with the street?

When you point your iPhone or iPad at the street, CityLayers compares what the camera sees with Apple's street imagery for the spot where you are standing. Once the two match, the app knows exactly where you are and which way you are facing, and sets the old city down at true scale, lined up with today's buildings. The status at the top changes from Aligning to Locked to the street.

Why is the city hidden until it lines up?

An old street drawn a few metres out of place, or turned a few degrees, would run through the wrong buildings and tell you the wrong story. So CityLayers waits until it is sure where you are before it shows anything. It usually takes a few seconds.

If it takes a long time

• Stand on the pavement and point the camera at the buildings across the street, not at the ground or the sky.
• Turn slowly so the camera sees several building fronts.
• Street imagery matches best in daylight. After dark, or in heavy rain, it may not match.

If the street imagery cannot be matched, CityLayers places the city using the compass and GPS instead and shows Compass and GPS. This is approximate; use a two-finger twist to line up the streets, or tap Re-centre to try matching again.

What does “Away from the city” mean?

It means you are outside the area the layer covers, so there is no old city to place around you. You can still explore the whole layer: you start in the old streets wherever you are, and tap the ground to walk. When you are back inside the city, CityLayers offers to line it up with the street again.

Walking and Re-centre

Tap the ground to walk there, or tap a building to walk up to it. Drag on the screen to look around. This works anywhere, including at home, with or without the camera and location.

Tap Re-centre to come back to where you are really standing. In the city, it also lines the old streets up with the real ones again.

Restoring purchases and redeeming a code

Restore a purchase

London · c. 1500 is a one-time purchase tied to your Apple Account, so you can use it on every iPhone and iPad signed in to that account. CityLayers restores it on its own when you open the app. If the layer still shows as locked, tap the … menu at the top right and choose Restore purchases, or open the layer picker, choose London · c. 1500 and tap Restore purchases. Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought it with.

Redeem a code

If you were given a code for London · c. 1500, open the App Store app, tap your account picture at the top right, then tap Redeem Gift Card or Code and enter the code. The layer unlocks the next time you open CityLayers.

Refunds

Purchases are handled by Apple, so refunds are too. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Supported devices

CityLayers: London runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later.

Lining up with the street needs an A12 Bionic chip or later (iPhone XS, iPhone XR and every iPhone since), GPS (on iPad, a Wi-Fi + Cellular model), Apple's street imagery for the area and a data connection. Where any of these is missing, the app uses the compass and GPS, or shows the city without the camera, and walking works everywhere.

Contact

Something not working, or a place you think we have got wrong? Tell us what you saw, which layer you were in and, if you can, where you were standing.

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