Tuesday, July 15, 2014

First Look at the FamilySearch Family Tree Mobile App

As promised the FamilySearch Tree app, and the Memories app, were released today to the Apple Store (for iOS) and the Google Play Store (for Android).  I downloaded them, and took some screen shots.

The initial screen is the FamilySearch Login screen - you have to have a FREE FamilySearch account, of course, and be in the Family Tree in order to use the app effectively.


Since I am in the Family Tree, it opened with the Portrait View with myself at the bottom of the tree.


This seems to be the only way to see one of the Tree views - I didn't see a way to view the Traditional, Descendancy or Fan Tree views.

I tapped on my grandfather's portrait and his Profile information opened on the "Details" tab:


I scrolled down to see the "Other Information" on the "Details" tab:


By swiping right-to-left or tapping the "Spouses" tab, I saw information about the Spouses and Children for the Profile:

By swiping right-to-left or tapping on the "Parents" tab I could see his parents and siblings:


By swiping right-to-left or tapping on the "Sources" tab, I could see the Sources for the person:


By swiping right-to-left or tapping on the "Photos" tab, I could see the Photos attached to the person:

There are more tabs to tap or swipe on the menu bar - I see "Stories" and "Audio" and "Charts" also.

I can tell that the user can add photos and stories and audio from the app.  However, I didn't see a way to see more detail for a Vital or Other Information item, or a Source.  I don't see a "Discussions" item either.

The user can select "View this tree" (just below the name at the top of the screen) to view the tree of the person.

On the iPhone, the app uses only the "Portrait" mode to show the screens, and not the "Landscape" mode.  I don't know about larger devices.

The user can pinch or expand the Portrait View screen only, it seems.

This app should be very useful to browse through the Family Tree to see what information is available for a specific person.

I'm sure that there are more features to be found after this very brief first look at the app.

Can I search for a person in the Tree on the mobile app?  I didn't see that option.  Or do I have to navigate to a specific person using the Portrait view or the linked names?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/07/first-look-at-familysearch-family-tree.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver




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