Bored? This Easy-to-Miss Google Earth Feature Lets You Travel Back in Time

If you’re an avid TikToker, you may have noticed people using Google Street View to see how their neighborhoods have changed over the past 20 years and stroll down memory lane.

But as ZDNet reports, Google Earth actually allows users to view imagery going back much further—all the way to the 1940s in some areas—with its Historical imagery feature. However, it takes a little legwork to get the feature up and running.

First, download and open the Google Earth app (available on iOS or Android). Search for an area you want to view. Tap the Layers icon on the top right (stacked squares) and make sure it’s on Satellite under Basemap type. Then, scroll down to Historical imagery and toggle it on.

Google Earth historical data from 2025 and 1994. (Credit: PCMag/Google)

Once enabled, a timeline slider will appear at the bottom or top left of the screen, allowing you to rewind time. Don’t expect Street View-level imagery from bygone eras, however. As ZDNet notes, sparsely populated towns appear to have less historical map data to draw from, meaning imagery will only change after sliding a few years forward or backward.

It’s also not persistent. If you tap the back arrow and close out of Historical imagery, you’ll need to go into the Layers setting and toggle it on the next time you want to go back in time.

We checked out PCMag’s Manhattan offices, which featured imagery going back to 1978. We didn’t get much from that snapshot or from 1985 (the next available dataset), but we got a clear-ish picture from 1994, once it loaded.

This is also available on the desktop; click the icon with a backward-facing arrow circling the globe. But as has long been the case with Google Earth, it may bring your browser to a halt if you don’t have enough PC power, so mobile may be the faster option.

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About Will McCurdy

Contributor

I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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