Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Technology Tuesday - MyHeritage Mobile App - Research

MyHeritage recently updated its mobile app for the iOS devices - see the MyHeritage Blog post at  http://blog.myheritage.com/2014/07/major-update-of-the-myheritage-mobile-app/.  There are frequently asked questions about the mobile app at  http://www.myheritage.com/help/topics/myheritage-mobile-app/.

I wrote about the Family Tree portion of the MyHeritage mobile app last week in 
Technology Tuesday - MyHeritage Mobile App - Family Tree.

The mobile app is FREE from the App Store on the iOS products, and from Google Play for Android products.  A user must have a MyHeritage account and a family tree on MyHeritage in order to use the mobile app to its fullest potential.  

1)  The opening screen of the MyHeritage mobile app  on my iPhone looks like this:




2)  I tapped on the "Research" line and I could Search the MyHeritage record databases:


On the screen above, I added information about Amos Underhill (1772-1865), one of my ancestors.

3)  I tapped the "Search" button on the screen above, and a list of over 472,000 matches appeared (three screens shown below, there were many more!):
.




 I didn't scroll too far down.  The WikiTree and Geni matches are probably from my own submissions.  The only record I saw in the first couple of swipes was for the 1810 U.S. Census.

There were first names other than Amos in the first 20 results, but they all had a middle initial of A.

4)  I tapped on the 1810 U.S. Census item on the results list, and saw:


The search result page, including the document image, was really small, so I flicked to zoom in on it, and that was difficult to do - it did not always work well.

I was able to tap on the small orange "Full image" button (above the image on the screen above), and was able to zoom in on the entry for Amos Underhill:


I did not see a way to attach this record to Amos Underhill in my MyHeritage tree (Note: the website has this capability).

5)  I was concerned that I couldn't revise my search fields, and perhaps request an exact search.  Back on the third screen above, there is an icon ( >> ) next to the words "All results for Amos Underhill."  That takes the user to the search fields for editing or addition, and offers an "Exact match" check box.  I did not see a way to use the Advanced Search features on the app.

When I checked the box, and tapped on "Search," there were only 11 results:



6)  The "Research" feature on the MyHeritage app works well, but (I think!) all a user can do with it is look at it.  They cannot (I think!) attach it to a person in their tree.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/technology-tuesday-myheritage-mobile_30.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


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