The stories only they can tell.

Life. Documented is an app for iPhone and iPad. It helps you interview the people you love, one question at a time, and turns their answers into a film, a written transcript and a book you can print.

Watch a finished interview10 minutes, on YouTube

Coming to the App Store for iPhone and iPad

Grandma Rose, smiling, in a green shirt

What family traditions were important growing up?

“We drove to Toccoa every Easter, and Walt sang the whole way there.”

Grandma Rose

This is an example family. Yours goes here.

You’ve meant to ask for years.

Sit down together.

Put the phone on a tripod and read each question from the screen. She sees only the phone and a small light that blinks when it’s her turn to talk. A full interview is twenty questions, and you can stop after any of them.

In the app, the Record button always says who you’re recording.
Record with RoseA new interview, on video or just the audio

Stories go quiet when no one asks.

Most of us mean to ask someday. Here’s why it’s worth doing soon.

  • You keep their voice, not just the facts.

    A family tree keeps names and dates. A recording keeps the laugh before the punchline, and the way she says your grandfather’s name.

  • Kids who know family stories do better.

    Psychologists Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush at Emory University found that children who know more of their family’s history show more resilience and a stronger sense of control over their lives.

  • Being asked is a gift.

    Few people are ever asked about their whole life. An evening of real questions tells someone their story matters to the people who come after them.

  • Some questions get harder to ask later.

    Memories fade and plans slip. One evening and a few questions is enough to begin, and you can finish another day.

A mother at the stove and her teenage son in a 1970s kitchen
The kitchen, 1975
A family gathered outdoors at Easter in 1976
Easter, 1976
People on a porch in a 1978 home movie still
On the porch, summer ’78

You read the question. They talk.

You don’t need to know how to interview anyone. The questions are on the screen, and every answer is saved the moment you tap Stop.

  1. Choose who you’re asking

    Pick a person and an interview. Each one starts with twenty questions you can reorder, change or add to.

  2. Read the question and tap Record

    Set the phone on a tripod. The light on the back blinks twice to say “your turn,” then stays dark while they talk. Tap Stop when they’re done, and the next question appears.

  3. Keep what you made

    Your iPhone writes out every word, then puts the answers together into a film, with each question on its own card. Print the whole story as a book when you’re ready.

The recording screen, sideways on a tripod. The person you’re asking sees only the phone and a small light.

There are five interviews to choose from: Life Story, Children’s, High School Senior, Engagement, or your own questions. Filming yourself on the front camera? A dot on the screen shows when it’s recording, with no flash at all.

Everything you record becomes something you keep.

A filmEach question on a black card, then the answer. Music plays under the cards, never over the words.
Short clipsThe best moments, cut short and ready to send to the family.
Every word, written outA transcript of each answer. Search them all for a name or a place.
A book you can printTheir answers laid out as a book, with chapters and photos.
Old photos, right where they belongShow a photo at the moment someone talks about it.
Files that open anywhereSave everything as ordinary video and text files that open on any computer, with or without the app.

No account. Nothing on our servers.

Life. Documented doesn’t run a server for your stories, so there’s nothing to sign up for and nothing for us to see. Recording, transcripts, the film and the book are all made on your iPhone.

Your films are ordinary files you own. If this company disappeared tomorrow, they would still play.

Read the privacy policy

You choose where each interview’s recordings are kept:

On this iPhone onlyThe recordings never leave the phone. This is the default.
iCloud DriveA copy of the whole interview in your own iCloud, so it comes back on a new iPhone.
PhotosThe finished film, saved to your photo library.

If you’re signed in to iCloud, names, questions and transcripts also sync through your own private iCloud, so they appear on your other devices.

What is your earliest childhood memory?

It’s the first question in the Life Story interview. You could ask it this weekend.

Watch a finished interview10 minutes, on YouTube

Coming to the App Store for iPhone and iPad with iOS 26