Written by Lisa Louise Cooke, unless otherwise noted.
Your research doesn’t stop when you step away from the computer. Today’s apps for smartphones can help you capture family stories, search records, analyze DNA, document cemetery visits, manage your family tree, and collaborate with relatives—wherever your research takes you.
With so many apps available, it can be difficult to know which ones are truly useful. The following collection highlights the apps that offer the greatest value for genealogists, whether you’re researching at home, in an archive, or on the road.
Note: Unless stated otherwise, all the apps mentioned here are downloadable on both iOS and Android devices. When available, we’ll provide URLs for an app’s website; these pages usually include links to download the app from your device’s store, but you can’t download mobile apps directly from the website.
Apps from the Big Genealogy Websites
The top genealogy websites offer free companion apps that have many of the same functions as their browser versions. View and edit your family tree, search for records, analyze DNA results and document finds that you make in the field.
As in the browser versions of Ancestry.com, Findmypast and MyHeritage, you’ll need a subscription to unlock the full features of each app.
1. FamilySearch Family Tree
FamilySearch offers a free, vast collection of historical records. And its Family Tree app boasts easy-to-use tools that include sharing family photos, stories and documents.
Once downloaded, the app prompts you to log in to your FamilySearch Account. Icons on the bottom of the screen lead to your branch of the FamilySearch Tree, a list of any record hints and research opportunities for the eight most recent generations of your ancestors (under Tasks), and an overview of profiles you’ve recently viewed (under Recent).
From More, you can search records, find a person in the Tree, participate in experimental features (under Labs) and more. Relatives Around Me identifies people physically near you who, according to the FamilySearch Tree, are related to you—a fun way of identifying cousins at genealogy conferences, society meetings or family reunions.
Some new features as of late 2026 include the ability to have multiple screens open at once, helpful when comparing information from two parts of the site. Enable the tool from More > Settings, then tap and hold a name to open that person’s profile in a new tab.
FamilySearch offers three other apps: Memories (for saving and viewing media items saved to the Tree; more on this later), Get Involved (which facilitates crowdsourced projects, such as reviewing names in records for accuracy), and Together (“an innovative approach to sharing memories and strengthening your family”). Learn more at <www.familysearch.org/en/blog/familysearch-mobile-apps>; we’ll cover the Memories app later in this article.
2. Ancestry
The free Ancestry app is a must-have—whether or not you have a subscription. Build and manage your tree, upload photos, search records, and explore the app’s many features.
Once logged in, you’ll see several links on the app’s Home tab: viewing record and photo hints, adding a person or media to your tree, reviewing DNA matches, and more. The Insights filter shares ancestral dates and highlights gaps in your research. And the Learnings filter surfaces instructional videos from Ancestry.com.
Like the main website, the Tree icon gives the ability to view existing profiles, build a tree from scratch, and add or edit relatives. Search for records from the magnifying glass icon tab next to it.
From Memories, you can curate media such as photos, record images and audio—all in one convenient location. By default, the tab opens your Gallery. But you can also view albums or stories instead or filter items by person, date or location.
Tap a photo to make adjustments to it or view its details. Or upload new material from the Add Media button, which (in addition to photos) has options for creating stories, albums and audio recordings.
From Add New Media, you can also take advantage of the app’s built-in document scanner for capturing photographs and documents. After scanning an item, attach the photo directly to people in your tree. AI tools can help you transcribe handwritten and typed documents (making them easier to read and search) or suggest identities for photo subjects.
Finally, the DNA tab includes all the features you would expect from the browser version. (At one time, Ancestry.com had a separate app for DNA results.) Explore your ethnicity estimate, DNA matches, Journeys, and other reports and tools. You can even message matches directly through the app.
3. Findmypast
Although best known for its unmatched British and Irish record collections, the Findmypast app also provides access to historical records from many other countries. In the app, you can search records, build and manage your family tree, review automated record hints, and upload photos and documents directly from your mobile device.
Start with Hints (the lightbulb icon) to review new record and family tree matches. These can lead you to relevant records as well as information found in other members’ family trees. The nearby Search icon (the magnifying glass) allows you to explore Findmypast’s record and newspaper collections using names, dates, places, relatives and more. From results, view the record transcript, access the original image (when available), and attach a record directly to your tree.
Speaking of family trees: From the Tree icon, you can view relatives, add new family members, edit profiles, and upload photographs directly from your phone. Tap a person’s name to get started.
As you move around the app, the round button toward the bottom of your screen changes. From the Home tab, the button opens your phone’s camera to scan documents or snap new pictures. But from the Hints tab, the button provides filtering options; from the Tree tab, you can search for relatives, add new ones, or (from a person’s profile) add facts or media.
4. MyHeritage
MyHeritage is especially known for its innovative technology, and its free app doesn’t disappoint.
Most site features are also available in the app: building your family tree, reviewing automated Record Matches and Smart Matches, searching historical records, viewing ethnicity estimates and DNA matches, and scanning and uploading photos. Multilingual support and extensive international connections make the app an especially valuable tool if you have ancestors from outside the United States.
Start with the Discoveries icon on the main menu. There, the app presents a list of people in your tree for whom MyHeritage has found new information: Record Matches from historical records and Smart Matches from other users’ family trees. The latter can also generate Instant Discoveries, suggestions for entire groups of relatives or collections of family photos.
The app also boasts MyHeritage’s well-known AI-powered photo tools. From the Photos icon, you can enhance blurry photos, colorize black-and-white images, repair damage, animate faces, and create short shareable videos (LiveMemory). You can also access Scribe AI, a tool that scans, transcribes, translates (if necessary), and interprets documents and photos.
Get relatives involved through My Account > Invite Members, where you can send an invitation to collaborate via email or text. Authorized users can view your family tree and contribute facts, photographs and relatives.
Family Tree Apps
Unlike the companion apps from the major genealogy websites, these are designed specifically for building, viewing or editing your family tree. Whether you use desktop genealogy software, GEDCOM files, or a collaborative online tree, you’ll find an app that fits your workflow.
5. GedView
Many genealogists build their family trees in one or more desktop genealogy software programs—each of which (as we’ll see) may or may not have a companion mobile app. But nearly all of them (as well as online family trees) can export your tree in a special file format called a GEDCOM.
GedView can import GEDCOM files, allowing you to carry your entire family tree on your mobile device. View and edit people, families, events, notes, sources and media. You can even capture photos and videos as well as the GPS location.
When you’re back at your computer, you can export your whole database from GedView. Or you can make a GEDCOM file that reflects only the changes you made in the app, then import that file into your main program.
GedView is available only for iOS devices and costs a one-time fee of $4.99.
6. Family Tree Maker
From the Family Tree Maker Connect app, you can view a read-only copy of your Family Tree Maker file on your smartphone or tablet. Better still: You can invite family members to view your tree and leave “Relative Hints” that back up to your file.
The app itself is free to download, but you’ll need a paid TreeVault Cloud Services subscription to make and view a copy of your file. However, relatives can see shared trees without needing to pay (and without having a Family Tree Maker license) and leave Relative Hints from a free TreeVault account.
Note this version of the app is compatible with only the most recent edition of the software: Family Tree Maker 2024, which costs a one-time fee of $80 (as a digital download) or $100 (including a USB drive).
7. MobileFamilyTree 11
As the name suggests, MobileFamilyTree 11 is a close cousin to the desktop software MacFamilyTree 11.
But the app can also be used in its own right to build and manage your family tree directly on your mobile device. It offers many of the same capabilities as its desktop counterpart, including interactive ancestor and descendant charts, an immersive Virtual Tree, mapping tools, media-management, and extensive reporting options.
MobileFamilyTree 11 is available only on iOS devices and costs a one-time fee of $29.99. It syncs with MacFamilyTree 11, which likewise is available only for macOS computers and costs $34.99.
8. ReunionTouch
ReunionTouch is another iOS-exclusive app that lets you view and edit family trees from your mobile device. For a one-time fee of $9.99, you can browse and edit people, families, events, notes, sources and media.
No need for GEDCOMs—the app syncs directly with the Mac-exclusive Reunion desktop software, versions 11 and later ($99 for a new license).
9. RootsMagic
If you use the popular RootsMagic desktop software, the free RootsMagic app for iOS devices is a must-have. Even if you don’t use the paid version of RootsMagic software ($39.95), you can still use the app—simply download the free version of RootsMagic Essentials software and start your tree.
The RootsMagic app is designed as a read-only companion. Export a tree from RootsMagic 6 or later to Dropbox, then download the file from Dropbox to your mobile app. In addition to viewing your tree, you can also use the app to calculate dates and relationships.
Story and Memory Apps
Names, dates, and places tell only part of your family’s story. The following apps help you preserve the photographs, memories, voices and personal experiences that give those facts meaning.
10. FamilySearch Memories
FamilySearch Memories is a remarkably robust free app for preserving and organizing family photos, documents, stories and audio recordings. Sign in with your free FamilySearch account, and everything you add syncs automatically to the main website (and across all your devices) as soon as you’re online.
Tap the + icon to get started. Snap a photo or upload one from your phone’s gallery or camera roll, then tag the people in it to link the memory to their page in the Tree. Write a family story or use the built-in audio recorder to capture audio—say, an interview or a favorite family joke. Clips under five minutes work best, though the app can still work with longer recordings.
It’s important to note that, by default, Memories (even those featuring living people) can be viewed publicly on the site. To update a Memory’s privacy settings, open it and tap the three dots at top right. Then tap Details and switch Visibility to Private Memory.
11. Storied: Family History
Genealogy software programs excel at recording facts. Storied focuses on preserving the stories behind those facts. In addition to building and managing your family tree, the companion app lets you write, organize and share stories about your ancestors.
In addition to text, you can attach photos, audio and other media to stories—all of which synchronize with your online Storied account. The AI-powered “StoryAssist” can even turn your notes or voice recordings into a polished first draft.
The Storied app itself is free to download and use on a limited basis. Optional subscription plans (which start at $19.99/year) give access to historical records, collections at NewspaperArchive, AI tools, and more. For an additional fee, you can transform your stories, photos, and family tree into a professionally printed StoriedBook.
Cemetery Research Apps
Few genealogy activities are as collaborative as documenting tombstones. These apps make it possible for genealogists around the world to build and improve shared cemetery databases that benefit everyone.
12. BillionGraves
BillionGraves is one of the world’s largest crowdsourced cemetery databases. The site specializes in GPS-tagged headstone records; every memorial includes coordinates for where a photo of the tombstone was taken. That information makes it easy to re-find an exact burial site—and identify nearby graves that could belong to relatives.
Using the free app, volunteers can photograph and transcribe headstones directly from their mobile devices, creating a rapidly growing, searchable collection of burial records. FamilySearch users will especially appreciate the ability to attach BillionGraves memorials directly to people in the Family Tree.
13. Find a Grave
Owned by Ancestry.com, Find a Grave is another online collection of burial information that’s built and maintained by volunteers around the world.
Whether you’re searching for an ancestor’s final resting place or documenting one yourself, the free app provides access to memorials, headstone photographs, cemetery locations, biographies and family links.
Search by name, dates, cemetery or location to find existing memorials. You can also browse nearby cemeteries using your phone’s GPS and create a memorial that doesn’t exist yet. Upload photographs, add biographies, suggest corrections, or request that another volunteer photograph a grave for you.
Honorable Mentions
These apps don’t fall neatly into any of the above categories; however, they can still prove to be valuable tools to genealogists.
14. Adobe Photoshop Express
There’s nothing sweeter than when genealogical research leads to old family photos. Unfortunately, photos that have survived the decades are often worse for the wear. Adobe Photoshop Express makes quick work of photo restoration right from your mobile device.
For best results, scan your photos at the highest resolution possible. Save copies of the photos stored on your computer to a Cloud-based storage app such as Dropbox or Google Drive so you can access them from your phone. Import a photo to the app.
Under Retouch, you’ll find the Heal tool that lets you instantly correct small blemishes with a simple tap of the finger. The app makes the correction based on the surrounding area. If the fix isn’t quite right, tap the Undo icon and try zooming in a bit closer and trying again.
Fix larger and more serious image defects with the Patch tool. Zoom in on the offending area by spreading the image with two fingers. Next, tap a spot on the image that looks the same as the spot you want to repair. For example, if you’re repairing a blemish that appears on the lapel of your ancestor’s coat, tap a nearby portion of the lapel that’s in good condition so you can replicate it. You can adjust the size and hardness of the patch by using the slider or selecting options (such as Brush, Opacity or Feather).
Also in the Retouch menu at the bottom of the screen, you’ll find the Smooth Skin tool, which does a nice job of detecting faces and smoothing graininess that can come with a photo’s age.
15. Notion
Part database, note taker and virtual white board, Notion (founded by Notion Labs in 2016) is a free “all-in-one workspace” that does all that and more. Use Notion to keep a research log, maintain a database, organize DNA matches, and more.
16. Capti
Consume web pages, blogs, digitized books and other online genealogy content with your ears instead of your eyes. This app lets you listen to content from the web, Google Drive or Dropbox. In addition to the iOS app, you can use Capti in Firefox and on Windows and Mac computers (English only).
Features
- narrates websites, e-books and documents
- save content for later or listen immediately using the Playlist
- create playlists
- personalize with annotations and comments
- skip ads and menus on web pages
- listen offline
- customize voice and speech rate
- supports PDF, EPUB, HTML, TXT, DOC, PPT, RTF, ODT and more
- multilingual
- accurate and expansive dictionary
17. Dolphin
In addition to being a great web browser, this app has loads of convenient built-in tools. My favorite ones let you save to Evernote, find text on a page, and navigate with Gestures, all of which allow you to accomplish tasks with one swoop of your finger.
To set up customized gestures (such as a for Ancestry.com), first tap the hand icon. Next, draw the letter in one stroke. Tap the Add Gesture button, then enter the URL. Finally, tap Next, then Save.
Features
- Sonar feature (Android and iPhone) lets you search, share and navigate by shaking your phone and speaking commands
- Downloadable desktop extensions are helpful to send URLs, directions, photos and phone numbers to connected devices
- Open many tabs
- Keep your data consistent and up-to-date across all compatible devices
- Navigate your bookmarks with ease
- Sync bookmarks, tabs, history and passwords
18. Evernote
Genealogical notes come in all shapes and sizes. Typed text, photos, audio, video and content from websites all need to be captured and made available for easy reference.
Evernote can handle all those formats and more, and note taking is what Evernote does best. While you can use Evernote from the Evernote.com website or the downloadable software on your computer, the app gives you the ability to continue your research on the go.
Install the free app, and sign in with your Evernote account. As you surf the web on your phone, you can save snippets of webpages to Evernote, up to and including full pages. To save a portion of a page, press and hold on the text until the menu pops up. Tap Select and move the handles to encompass the desired area. Then tap Share, and Evernote will be one of the options offered.
You can also turn your photos into notes by sharing them from your Photos app. And if you want to record an interview with a relative, simply open the app, select the “create” option to start a new note, and tap the microphone icon. Notes are automatically saved and retrievable by all your devices connected to the same account.
Evernote is free to use. But if you want to use the Evernote app on more than one device, upload more than 250 MB per month, or create more than 50 notes, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan. A popular alternative to Evernote is Microsoft’s OneNote, which sports many of the same features.
19. Google Translate
This free app breaks down language barriers in genealogy. Use it to converse with someone who speaks another language using your device’s microphone and speaker, and translate signs and other printed text using the camera. Translate newspapers and books by pulling up a digitized page, zooming in on the desired text (must be a standard typeface), opening the app on your device, and snapping a pic of the page.
Features
- supports 100 languages
- translate using your voice, camera, keyboard or handwriting
- translates while offline; no internet connection is required
- save translations and access them from any device
20. PhotoScan by Google Photos
Although smartphones now sport higher quality cameras than ever before, it can still be a challenge to take a quality, glare-free photo of an old photograph or document that you’ve found. For example, if you meet up with a cousin who has old family photos or you come across a document in an unexpected location, you may not be so lucky as to have immediate access to a digital scanner.
Google PhotoScan can step in to save the day by allowing you to snap the best possible image. The free app does so by taking not one, but four images of an item, then stitching the photos together. That one composite image is comparable to the quality of a flatbed scanner.
The app also automatically detects the edges of an image and crops accordingly. PhotoScan also enhances the photo by straightening it out, correcting the perspective and using smart rotation so that your photos appear right side up no matter how you scanned them.
Even though PhotoScan does conveniently auto-correct, there are a few things you can do to get even better scans. First, remove photos from any sleeves, albums and frames when possible. Try to scan in good light (such as outside during the early morning), and set up a dedicated, work-area light if you’re scanning indoors. Point a small desk lamp at the image at an angle, and place your photographs on a solid color matte background. White works well because it makes it very easy for the app to identify the edges of the photograph.
Also remember not to tilt your phone while scanning. For best results, hold your phone vertically when scanning vertical photos, and hold your phone horizontally for horizontal photos. You may get better images when your flash is turned on, but test that in your conditions.
21. Trello
The project management app Trello makes easy work of writing, organizing, collaborating and task management. Trello uses customizable boards, lists and cards to help you visualize and organize everything you’re working on. You can also customize your workflow to suit the individual research project. You can upload photos, videos and files, and you can share your boards with others to facilitate collaboration. Trello tracks the history of the project so you can see when items are added or removed.
Like other organizational apps, Trello allows you to work offline then sync everything when you reconnect to the internet. The app is “free to use forever” and offers upgrade options for more functionality. Trello is widely popular among genealogists, and yet it’s extremely well suited for organizing all areas of your work and home life.
Trello lets you add PowerUps (other apps like Calendar, Evernote and Dropbox) to help you accomplish even more. For example, built-in file search lets you attach Evernote notes to a Trello card and create new notes right from your card.
Mobile apps can’t replace the power of desktop genealogy software or full-featured websites. But they can help you make the most of every research opportunity. Whether you’re interviewing a relative, exploring a cemetery, visiting an archive, or simply waiting for an appointment, the right app can help you capture information and keep your genealogy moving forward.
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A version of this article appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Family Tree Magazine. Last updated: September 2026
