Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Technology Tuesday - MyHeritage Mobile App - Family Tree

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/.

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:



There are three major sections for this app - Family Tree, Research, and Family Photos.  I will look at all three in this series.

2)  For this blog post, I'm going to review the "Family Tree" section of the MyHeritage mobile app.

When I tap on the right arrow on the screen above for "Family Tree," the screen shows the persons in my MyHeritage family tree:


The screen above shows an extensive family view - I'm in the middle with my descendants below, and my ancestors above.  If I want to see the family of, say, my wife, I can tap on the small blue and pink bubbles above her name and the tree will adjust to show her ancestors and descendants.  If I want to add a family member, I can tap on the plus (+) sign below the person's blue or pink icon to add another family member.

Flicking the screen expands the view (makes the icons larger) or pinching the screen makes the icons smaller.

3)  To see information about a person, I can tap on their icon (the blue or pink box, with the photo, name, lifespan years).  I chose to see the information about my paternal grandmother, Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962):


There are four buttons at the bottom of the screen - for Information, Events, Family, and Photographs.

4)  A user can Edit the information about the person by tapping the "Edit" button on the screen above.  That opens the "Edit Info" screen and the user can edit or add information about the person by picking one of the items with a right arrow:


note that an edit or addition made on the mobile app will be reflected in the user's family tree on the MyHeritage website.  And vice versa - a change to information on the website will be reflected on the mobile app.

To get back to the "Info" screen, the user needs to tap the "Done" button.

5)  I tapped on the "Events" icon (on the bottom of the screen), and the list of Events in the life of the person appeared (two screens shown below):



In addition to the life events for my grandmother, the significant events (birth, marriage and death of spouses and children) in her lifetime are listed.

A user can add or edit Event items by tapping on the "Edit" button at the top of the screen.

6)  The "Family" button on the bottom of the screen provides a list of parents, siblings, spouses and children of the person:


The user can navigate to any of these persons by tapping the name of the family member.  A family member can be added by tapping the "Edit" button.

7)  Tapping the "Photo" button (on the bottom of the screen) shows all of the photographs and attached record images for the person:



I have attached only one photograph for my grandmother.  If I tap the photo, then I can see it full screen.


Tapping on the three dots at the bottom of the screen above permits me to "Save to library" or "Remove current photo."

8)  The MyHeritage mobile app for iOS is very useful - it's my family tree in my pocket.  I can refer to it for information about the person in my family tree.  

I didn't see any way to see person notes, or source citations, using this mobile app.  I could see, or add, Event notes if I edited the Event.

I will review the "Research" feature in the MyHeritage mobile app in the next Technology Tuesday post.

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

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


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