A voice, kept

Record her now, with real photos as the starting point.

The most direct way to preserve a grandparent's voice is to record them telling stories about real photos, with their consent, and keep those recordings alongside the photos in a private family space.

The tools you already have don't hold it together

You've probably got voice notes in your phone's default app, photos scattered across iCloud and Google Drive, and a few blurry videos buried in WhatsApp threads. None of it is connected. The recording lives in one place; the photo it was about lives in another; the name of the person she mentioned is in neither. And when you try to find it in two years, you won't be able to.

Glow is a private family space - a phone app - where recordings, photos, names, and stories stay attached to each other, visible only to the family members you invite.

What you get

• Real recordings, kept together. You add voice notes directly to any photo, so the story about the picture of her in 1974 stays with that picture - not lost in a separate folder.

• Guided conversations that feel natural. Glow leads her through her own story out loud, using the family's photos as memory joggers, so it feels like showing an album together, not sitting an exam.

• Names that don't get lost. When you say "left is Grandma, right is John," the photo is named. Face suggestions improve as the family confirms more names. The AI never labels anyone on its own guess.

• A private space the whole family can add to. You invite who you want - nobody else can see in. A relative without an account can add a story to one photo through a guest link, so your aunt doesn't have to sign up to share what she remembers.

• Stories in her own words. Glow turns what the family adds - recordings, captions, comments - into a short written story. It is a retelling of what you gave it. It never invents, and it never speaks as her.

• We'll never fake her voice. Glow records real voices with consent and family control. It will never generate or clone a voice. What you keep is exactly what she said, the day she said it.

How it shows up in your week

Phone scanning of prints. You photograph a print or a whole album page; Glow finds the edges, flattens the image, and splits several prints from one shot. The shoebox gets digitised in an evening. If you're weighing up whether to scan prints yourself or send them to a service, this honest comparison of DIY scanning versus professional services can help you decide.

Guided life-story conversations. Glow walks her through her story out loud - or on screen, if she prefers - in English, Hebrew, or French, with photos from the archive as prompts. You can sit with her or she can go at her own pace.

Voice notes on any photo. On a Sunday call when she mentions something you've never heard before, you record it and attach it to the right photo before the week is out. That's the whole workflow.

A living family tree with a year slider. As photos get named, the tree fills in. Move the slider and people appear in the year they were born - a way to show children who came before them, using pictures they already recognise. Research shows that children who know their family story grow up more confident and less anxious, and a visual timeline like this is one of the most natural ways to share it.

Memories and short reels. Albums by decade or occasion are built from what the family adds. Each one can become a short highlight reel, shareable to WhatsApp, with nothing invented in it.

Comments by voice or video. Family members don't have to type. They can leave a 45-second voice or video comment on any photo - which means your uncle who "doesn't do apps" can still add what he knows.

Questions people ask before they start

Will it feel weird to ask her to record something?

Most grandparents, when you show them an old photo and ask a real question - "Who is that woman standing next to you?" - don't need much encouragement to talk. The conversation starts with the photo, not with a microphone. The recording is just what you do quietly in the background.

Does Glow do anything with her voice I haven't agreed to?

No. Voice recordings in Glow are real recordings, stored in a private family space under family control. Glow will never generate, clone, or use a voice to produce new content. What you record is exactly what you keep.

How quickly can I have something to show her?

You can scan the first photos and add the first voice note the same evening. Glow can turn that into a short written story from what you've added. There's no minimum before it becomes something real.

Can other family members contribute even if they're not nearby?

Yes. You invite family members by email. A relative who hasn't joined can use a guest link to add a story to one specific photo - no account needed. Their addition stays with that photo.

Is this private, or does it end up somewhere public?

Glow is private by default. Nothing is public unless the family chooses to share it. The space is visible only to the family members you've invited; a guest link opens just the one photo it was sent for.

Start with one photo and one question

Download Glow, scan one photo she's in, and ask her who else is in the picture. That's the whole first step - and it's enough to begin something that stays together for the next twenty years. Once you've got a collection growing, choosing the few photos that truly carry the story will help you shape it into something the whole family can hold onto.