MOBILE APP: iOS, ANDROID, APPLE WATCH
History Here: A Webby Award Winning App
Most people walk past history every day without knowing it's there. HISTORY Here was built to change that. A location-based mobile app covering thousands of historic points of interest across the United States, it turned passive proximity into active discovery - notifying users when they were near architecture, natural landmarks, museums, monuments, battlefields, and famous homes, then giving them the context to actually understand what they were standing next to.
The app was conceived, designed, and developed entirely in-house by the A+E Networks Digital Media team and went on to win a Webby Award, earn recognition from Apple as one of the best new apps in the App Store, and launch as a featured experience at the debut of the Apple Watch.
Splash screen
The easy-to-use interface, photos, and dynamic maps bring history to life anywhere in the country. Whether on vacation or just running errands, the app makes it simple and fun to get the facts on the history hidden all around you..
Home screen and map view
The core experience centered on a dynamic map that brought the user's surroundings to life. Points of interest appeared in context, anchored to real geography — making the discovery feel spatial and immediate rather than list-based. Photography and editorial content gave each location depth, turning a pin on a map into a story worth reading.
Point of interest detail
Detail screens balanced depth with accessibility. Each location was presented with photography, historical context, and a clear set of actions — bookmark it, explore nearby, share it. The design kept the experience lean enough to use in motion while delivering enough substance to make the visit feel worthwhile.
Apple watch integration
A+E Networks was among the launch partners for the Apple Watch in April 2015, bringing the critically acclaimed HISTORY HERE® app to the wrist from day one. The Watch integration was a natural extension of the app's core premise: proximity-based history discovery is most useful when the notification reaches you in the moment, without requiring you to pull out your phone. The app and geo-targeted content was a perfect fit for the new technology. A glance at your wrist, a tap to save — the Watch made the experience genuinely ambient in a way the phone alone couldn't.
App demo video
Special Features
Tours transformed the app from a reference tool into a narrative experience. Each tour threaded a set of locations into a coherent story — moving through a city the way a knowledgeable guide would, not the way a search result would. A Marilyn Monroe tour of Los Angeles began at the hospital where she was born and ended at the cemetery where she is buried. Al Capone's Chicago. Civil War Atlanta. Central Park, New York. The feature gave users a reason to explore with intention, not just discovery by accident.
Tours feature - themed location sequences
"Surprise Me" was the app at its most playful and its most memorable. A single tap surfaced a random point of interest from anywhere in the country, dropping users into a story they hadn't gone looking for. It was the feature that reminded people why the app existed: history is everywhere, and most of it is hiding in plain sight.
Designed and developed in-house by A+E Networks Digital Media team.
Industry Recognition
• Webby Award Winner: Mobile Sites and Apps
• GDUSA: American Web design Award
• GDUSA: American In-House Design Award
• Recognized as one of the "Best New Apps" in Apple's App Store
• Named among Yahoo! Tech's "23 Apple Watch Apps You Should Download Now"
• GDUSA: American Web design Award
• GDUSA: American In-House Design Award
• Recognized as one of the "Best New Apps" in Apple's App Store
• Named among Yahoo! Tech's "23 Apple Watch Apps You Should Download Now"
