Atlas Photo MapHow many countries have I been to? Count them from your photos
Most people guess. Ask someone how many countries they’ve been to and you’ll get a pause, a count on their fingers, then a number that’s off by two or three. The trips from ten years ago, the day trip across a border, the layover where you actually left the airport: those are the ones that slip.
There are three ways to get a real number.
1. Write the list from memory
Open a note and go year by year, starting from now and working back. Years are easier to remember than countries: where were you for that birthday, that summer, that wedding? Each year usually brings back one or two trips you’d forgotten.
It’s free and it works, but it’s slow, and it misses exactly the places you’ve forgotten, which are the ones you wanted to find.
2. Use a scratch map or a checklist
A paper scratch map or a website where you tick countries off a list makes the count visual. It’s satisfying, but it still runs on memory. You have to remember the country to tick it.
3. Let your photos count for you
Your iPhone already has the answer. When Location Services is on for the Camera, every photo you take saves the place where you took it. Years of photos add up to a full record of where you’ve been, including the trips you forgot.
You can see this yourself in the Photos app: open any photo and swipe up. If it has a location, a small map shows where it was taken.
Going through thousands of photos one by one isn’t realistic, though. That’s the job Atlas Photo Map does: it reads the locations in your library, groups them by country and gives you the number in a few seconds.
What counts as a country?
It depends on whose list you use.
- 193 is the number of UN member states. It’s the most common answer.
- 195 adds the two UN observer states, Vatican City and Palestine.
- Some travel clubs count far more, splitting off territories and regions that are a long way from the mainland they belong to.
Atlas counts countries and territories, 245 in all, so a trip to Puerto Rico or Greenland shows up as its own place.
Does a layover count?
The usual rule among travellers: if you left the airport, it counts. If you only changed planes, it doesn’t. Your photos follow the same logic in practice. A photo taken in the city puts that country on your map, while a terminal photo usually lands right at the airport.
Why your photo count might come up short
If a country you know you visited doesn’t show up, the photos from that trip probably have no saved location. Common reasons: Location Services was off for the Camera, the photos were sent to you over WhatsApp, or they came from a camera without GPS. Here’s why some iPhone photos have no location, and how to fix the ones that matter.
