What's new - Shadetree

July 31, 2026 · version 2026.07.31

Collections travel with your memories

Your collections are now part of the file you save from Me > Your archive, so the shelves you arranged move with your memories instead of staying on one phone.
Opening that file shows them too: the collections are listed at the top, and tapping one jumps to the memory.
Bringing an archive in adds any collections it holds, and never changes one you already have.

July 30, 2026 · version 2026.07.30d

Which ones have you shared?

The filter button on Home can now show you just the memories you have shared, or just the ones you have not. Handy if you keep this mostly to yourself and share the occasional one.
Please save a fresh copy of your memories. If a memory held more than one photo, older saved copies only kept the last one. New ones keep them all.
Bringing an archive back in now returns the photos to any memory whose space you had freed up, so it becomes an ordinary memory again and you can share it.

July 30, 2026 · version 2026.07.30c

Minding how we say things

If you are the only one here, the app no longer says so back to you, and it does not keep asking you to invite people. It offers, quietly, twice - and then it takes your answer.
It also points out the other door: joining up with a family that is already going, a brother's or a cousin's, which for a lot of people is the one that fits.
A memory you kept to yourself used to claim nobody else was in your family, even when your family was full of people. It just says you have not shared it.

July 30, 2026 · version 2026.07.30b

Telling a friend

About now has "Tell someone about Shadetree". It sends a short message and a link, so a friend can start a place of their own for their family.
It was already in the app, but only at the bottom of the invite screen - so telling a friend meant making an invite code you did not need.

July 30, 2026 · version 2026.07.30

It fills itself in now

When somebody opens a memory you shared, holds it dear, or adds what they remember, it appears while you are looking at it. You used to have to close the app and come back.
A new voice joins the others without disturbing them, so if you are in the middle of listening to someone, they keep talking.
Nothing redraws unless it has actually changed, so nothing flickers.

July 29, 2026 · version 2026.07.29e

Ignoring what it does not understand

If somebody on a newer version of the app sent you something yours had never seen before, your phone could get stuck retrying it and show "1 still stuck" on the Check my connection screen, for no good reason and with nothing actually wrong. It now quietly ignores anything it does not recognise.

July 29, 2026 · version 2026.07.29d

A tidier Compact view

The Compact view on Home had too much space between rows, so it read as scattered rather than tidy. It is a proper list now.

July 29, 2026 · version 2026.07.29c

Our server is stricter about what belongs to whom

Nothing you save has ever been readable by anyone but the people you sent it to, and that has not changed. But our server was not checking carefully enough who was asking before it handed something over. Now it is: you can only see what was sent to you, and you can only send things as yourself.
You will not notice any difference. We went looking for this rather than waiting for it to go wrong.

July 29, 2026 · version 2026.07.29b

Recalling a memory now tells you when it is gone

When you recall a memory, the panel underneath shows which copies have actually been removed, and when. Before, it could only say that you had asked. A phone that has not been online yet says so, and fills itself in later.
It can only speak for the copy in somebody’s Shadetree. If they had already saved it to their own photos, that copy is theirs and nothing here can reach it.

July 29, 2026 · version 2026.07.29

Directions that led nowhere

A few help pages and error messages were pointing at places that had moved, so they were sending you somewhere that no longer existed. They now match the app.

July 28, 2026 · version 2026.07.28g

Backing up on Android, and a connection that came back asking

Backing up on an Android phone did nothing, and told you it had worked - it even wrote down the date. There was no file anywhere. That is the worst thing this app has done, because it is invisible: somebody could have believed for a year that they had a copy they did not have. Backing up now opens the same sharing panel iPhones use, so you choose where the file goes, and the app only claims a backup once it has gone and found the file again.
"Free up space" had the same fault. It saves your photos to a file and then removes them from the phone, and it never checked that the file had been written. It now refuses to remove anything unless the file is confirmed.
Restoring a phone from your recovery code could bring back a connection to another family as though you were still waiting for approval that had been given long ago. It corrects itself now.

July 28, 2026 · version 2026.07.28f

A memory that stopped halfway on Android

On an Android phone, a memory with more than one piece to it - a photo and a voice note, say - could start arriving, reach halfway and stop there for good. Fixed. iPhones were never affected.
The diagnostic report was also telling people it had saved a file when it had not, on the one screen whose whole purpose is rescuing a stuck app. It now shows the log on the screen with a "Copy all of it" button, so you can see it exists rather than taking our word for it.

July 28, 2026 · version 2026.07.28d

The About tab, gone over properly

There is a "Write to us" line on it now. That was missing entirely - the only address anywhere in the app was buried in the Terms.
The rest is tidier: less repetition, plainer wording, and the links are grouped so it is clearer what is a tip and what is help.

July 28, 2026 · version 2026.07.28c

You can delete a collection

Open a collection and the button is at the bottom. It asks first, and tells you plainly that every memory on the shelf stays exactly where it is - a collection is only a list, so getting rid of it cannot touch a photograph.

July 28, 2026 · version 2026.07.28b

The bottom of a memory, rewritten

Underneath your own memory, "Who has this" now names each person and when it reached them. Before, a green banner and a list said the same thing twice.
"Share with someone else" is separate, below, and only lists families that do not already have it. The button appears when you tick somebody and says what it will do.
"Save a copy to my phone" has moved down near the bottom, with the other housekeeping.

July 28, 2026 · version 2026.07.28

You can quiet someone, without anyone knowing

Sometimes it is not that anything is wrong - somebody just sends more than you have room for. Under Me, then Privacy, you can now turn one person down so their memories stop reaching this phone. Nobody is told and nobody can see it, and it is one tap back. You can still share things with them; it only changes what comes toward you.
There is also a "Report something" page in the same place, and a small link at the foot of anything somebody else sent you. It says plainly what we can and cannot do before you write a word.
A memory that somebody asked for now remembers who asked, and says so underneath. Me, then Your family has been rearranged so connected families sit beside your own instead of being buried inside it, and Me, then Advanced has been tidied.

July 26, 2026 · version 2026.07.26b

A family you haven’t approved can no longer reach you

You can now add what you remember to ANY memory somebody shares with you - a video, a voice note, a few written words, not just a photograph. It used to be photos only, and there was no way to tell from the outside which kinds would let you. Your voice joins the same warm chorus underneath, and everyone in the family sees it, without you having to choose a single person to send it to.
The little line under that invitation used to read "You were there too." It now says "If it brings something back." The old wording assumed you had been present, which is a fair guess under a photo of a picnic and a poor one under someone writing that their father would have been eighty today. The new one asks for nothing, and quietly says it is fine to have nothing to add.
Connecting two families has always needed approval: someone creates a code, the other family enters it, and a steward here says yes before the two are linked. Saying no was supposed to end it. It didn’t. Because of the way the check was written, a family whose request you had not answered - or had actually declined - could still send memories to your phone, and they would arrive as though everything were normal. Found by testing two real phones against each other, which is the only way this kind of thing ever turns up.
The reason is unglamorous. The check that decided whether to accept something from another family was written to answer a different question: how much do you want to see from a family you are already connected to. Asked about a family you had no connection with at all, it said yes. Declining someone left you with exactly no connection to them, which was precisely the state that let them through.
Connecting is now genuinely a request. When you enter someone’s connect code, Shadetree tells you it has been sent and that they need to say yes. Until they do, that family does not appear as somewhere to share, and nothing of theirs reaches you. Before, entering a code linked your side immediately and let you share straight away, while the other family was still being asked - which is not what the screen said was happening.
When they approve, their answer travels back to you, the connection becomes real, and it is published to your family so everyone in it inherits the link at the same moment. Nothing about this needs you to do anything twice.
Now, anything arriving from a family you have not approved is held to one side. It is not shown to you and it is not stored with your memories - it simply waits. Approve that family and everything they sent while you were deciding is delivered at once. Decline them and it is discarded, and they cannot reach you again.
Holding it rather than refusing it outright matters. Everyone in a family inherits its connections, but that inheritance takes a moment to reach each person’s phone. Refusing outright would have meant a memory from a family you genuinely had connected to could be destroyed in that gap, without a trace. Nothing here throws a memory away that somebody might have wanted.

July 26, 2026 · version 2026.07.26

Your recovery code now waits until you have something to protect

Setting up used to finish by asking you to write down a recovery code and prove you had copied it correctly - before you had done a single thing in Shadetree. That was the wrong order. It put the one chore driven by fear of losing something in front of people who had not made anything yet, and at that exact moment there was genuinely nothing to lose, because your timeline was still empty. The code now waits until you have saved your first memory, when there is finally something worth keeping, and it arrives saying so: you have made something, now let us make sure you never lose it.
Nothing about how you are protected has changed - only when you are asked. Your recovery code and its encrypted backup are still created the moment you set up, exactly as before. The only thing that moved is the point at which we show it to you.
Until you have saved it, a card sits at the top of Home to remind you, and it stays there until you do. It has no "dismiss" - it simply goes away for good once your code is saved.
If you started your own family, Shadetree will also show you the code the second time you open the app, whether or not you have made anything yet. A founder's code holds the family's keys, and unlike everyone else's, nobody can reissue it for you.
The screen itself is now three short numbered steps: copy it, put it somewhere you will find it, paste it back so we can check it. Nervous people need to see that a task is short and that it ends, and three small numbers say that better than three paragraphs. Checking your code turns the last step green.
If you are already using Shadetree, you saved your code when you set up and you will not be asked for it again. The same goes for anyone who came back on a new phone using their code, since doing that proves you have it.

July 25, 2026 · version 2026.07.25

Sharing works again in the iPhone app

Opening a memory no longer starts its voice or video playing by itself. Tapping a memory in a list means "let me see this", and a recording beginning out loud is a poor surprise if you happen to be somewhere quiet. Press play when you are ready. If you liked it the old way, there is now a switch for it in Me, under Appearance: "Start playing on its own". The one exception is the big pinned memory in the Spotlight view, which still plays when you tap it - there you tapped something with a play button on it, so sound is what you asked for.
A thumbnail on the Home tab could suddenly go blank - an empty square where a picture used to be - while the photo itself still opened perfectly when you tapped the memory. Shadetree keeps a small stack of recently shown thumbnails in memory so it does not have to read every photo off the disk again each time you scroll, and once that stack was full it was throwing away pictures that were still on the screen in front of you. It now leaves those alone. It also waits for a picture to genuinely arrive before it takes away the little placeholder icon, so a photo that is slow or stubborn shows its icon rather than nothing at all, and tries again next time instead of giving up for good.
In the photo book preview, the Close and Save buttons at the top had slid up underneath the clock and the notch, where they could not be tapped. They sit below it now, the way every other bar in the app already did.
A memory you deleted could come back. Deleting removed it from your phone, but left no record that you had done it - so the next time anybody in the family caught someone up, your phone accepted the memory again as though it were new. It could reappear hours or days later with nothing to connect it to. Shadetree now remembers what you deleted and turns those copies away at the door. Deleting means deleted, which is what the warning said all along.
Memories with more than one photo were quietly only keeping the last one. The dots underneath appeared, so it looked like they were all there, but every dot showed the same picture - because each photo was being filed in the same place and overwriting the one before it. Fixed. New memories keep every photo, and you can now swipe the picture sideways to move between them as well as tapping the dots. Memories already saved with several photos kept only the last one and cannot be recovered, so if you have one that matters, it is worth saving again.
Your backup file is called shadetree-archive now, instead of carrying an old working name for this app that nobody outside the workshop ever needed to see. Backups you have already saved still restore perfectly - Shadetree knows both names and always will, because the copy sitting on a drive in a drawer is exactly the one you reach for after losing a phone.
Two small honesty fixes on the Me tab. "Add to your home screen" no longer appears when you are already using the installed app, where it had nothing to offer. And if putting a count on the app icon is not available, Shadetree now says why instead of telling you to add it to your home screen, which was confusing advice to read inside an app you had already installed.
Catching someone up is now quiet on both ends. When a family member sets Shadetree up on a new phone, everyone else quietly re-sends the memories that person is missing, and that work can carry on for hours while phones wake up and finish it. Your own phone already knew to stay out of your way while it was helping. The person on the receiving end did not: their phone would announce that something new had arrived, sometimes in the middle of the night, when what had really arrived was a copy of something years old. Now nobody gets rung about a memory they already have.
A memory you had already read could quietly turn up as new again, with the little dot beside it, and your phone could even buzz in the middle of the night to announce it. Nothing new had arrived. Sometimes a memory reaches you a second time - a phone finishing something it started earlier, or somebody’s app catching another person up - and Shadetree was treating that second copy as though you had never laid eyes on it. It now remembers that you read it. Your own titles and the memories you had held dear were already protected from this; the unread dot was the one thing that had been missed.
There is now a way to tell a friend about Shadetree, at the bottom of the invite screen. An invite code brings someone into your own family, which is the right thing for your daughter and the wrong thing for a friend down the road who wants this for their family. They would start a place of their own, and the two of you can connect them afterwards. It hands them a plain link to the website and nothing else - no code, no way of tracking whether they went.
The very first version of Shadetree from the App Store could do everything except the one thing that matters: it could not send a memory to your family. It saved them safely, it showed you everything you already had, and then it sat there saying "trouble sending - Shadetree will keep trying", over and over. Nothing was ever lost, but nothing ever left the phone either. This fixes it.
If you were stuck on that message, you do not need to do anything. The memories that were waiting will send themselves the next time you open the app.
While we were in there, we also stopped Shadetree giving up too early on a slow upload. A big video on a weak signal now gets the time it needs instead of being cut off and started again.
The app no longer turns sideways when you turn your phone. Every screen here is built as one narrow column, and rotating stretched it into something that just looked broken.
Photos and videos sent from the iPhone app were arriving damaged. They turned up as a card that could not be opened, saying the memory could not be verified - which is an alarming thing to read about something your own family just sent you. Nothing was wrong with your memory or with their phone: the app was handing the encrypted file to the phone in a way that quietly corrupted it on the way out the door. Written notes were never affected, which is why it seemed so random. This is fixed. Anything already sent that way cannot be repaired, so if someone has one of those cards, send that memory again and they can delete the old one.
Sharing one memory with more than one family now sends it once instead of once per family. Nothing was ever lost the old way, but a video shared with two families really was carried up twice - which is why the progress bar could reach the end and then start again from the beginning. Half the waiting, and half the data if you are not on wifi.
"Choose video" now opens your videos, and nothing else. It used to stop and ask whether you meant your library, or the camera, or your files - three questions in the way of one thing you had already decided to do. Adding a photo has worked this way for a while; video does now too.
When someone new joins your family, the memories they missed now actually reach them. Shadetree has always tried to send them - your phone quietly re-shares everything you wrote into that family the moment they are welcomed in - but if your phone was asleep, or off wifi, or the relay was busy for a second, the whole attempt was abandoned without a word. Worse, it then refused to try again for fifteen minutes, so the newcomer tapping "ask my family to resend" got nothing, twice. Those memories now go into the same patient queue as everything else you send: if one does not get through, it waits and tries again on its own.
While your phone is doing that catching-up for someone, it says so in one calm line and otherwise stays out of your way. It will not report your old memories as "sending" or flash a warning at you about something you did not just do. And if you record something new in the middle of it, your memory goes first - the catching-up steps aside and picks up afterwards.
A video picked that new way showed a black square instead of itself while you were writing about it. The video was always there and always fine - the app simply had not been told what kind of file it was holding, so it would not play it back to you. It plays now.

July 24, 2026 · version 2026.07.24

Leaving should be as easy as arriving

The way to take your information back off our server used to sit under "Advanced", alongside the technical bits. That was the wrong place for it. If you ever want to leave, you shouldn't have to go looking through a screen meant for keys and relay settings - so it now lives under Privacy, where you'd think to look. Nothing about it has changed, only where it is: it still asks you to type REMOVE, it still explains exactly what goes and what stays, and your memories still stay right here on your phone.

July 23, 2026 · version 2026.07.23

Making sure your recovery code really works

A correction to our privacy promise, which we'd rather tell you about than quietly change. It said we never send you email. That was true when it was written, but it stopped being true when we added the step that checks an email address really belongs to you - which sends you a one-time code. Our policy now says so plainly, and also names the fact that a delivery service passes that one email along to you. Nothing about your family or your memories ever goes with it, and that is still the only email we will ever send you.
Your recovery code is the one thing that brings you back if your phone is lost or replaced - so now, right after you save it, Shadetree asks you to paste it back and checks it for you. It only takes a moment, and it catches the quiet mistake that used to be impossible to notice: a code that got cut short on its way to your notes looks perfectly fine, and only turns out to be useless on the day you finally need it.
If something did go wrong, it tells you exactly what - whether a piece got left behind, or it isn't the same code, or we can't find your backup - instead of just saying "that didn't work".

July 22, 2026 · version 2026.07.22

Your memories, held more firmly

When a phone starts running low on space, it quietly tidies things away on its own - and an app kept in the browser can be among the first to go. Shadetree now asks your phone to hold onto your memories properly, as something to keep rather than something to clear out. Nothing looks any different; your memories are simply harder to lose.

July 20, 2026 · version 2026.07.20

What everyone remembers

A shared photo usually holds more than one person's memory - you weren't the only one at that table. Now, on a photo someone shared with the family, everyone can add what THEY remember: their own voice, or a few words. Open the photo and you'll see them gathered right underneath, under "What everyone remembers," each voice ready to play.
Adding yours couldn't be simpler. Open the photo, tap "Add what you remember," and talk - the same way you record any memory. It reaches everyone in the family on its own; you don't have to choose a single person.

July 19, 2026 · version 2026.07.19

More than one photo in a memory

A memory can now hold several photos, not just one - the front and back of a handwritten recipe, a few shots from the same afternoon, both pages of a letter. On the last screen where you add a title and the story, you'll see your photo with a gentle "Add a photo" button beside it. Add as many as you like, remove any with the little ✕, and they all become part of that one memory.
When you open a memory with a few photos, the pictures gently show one after another while the voice or video plays - so the back of the recipe appears just as she mentions it. Little dots let you step through them yourself, too.
On your Home page, a memory that holds more than one photo now shows a small stack mark with the count in the corner, so you can tell at a glance which ones have more waiting inside.

July 19, 2026 · version 2026.07.19

Smoother sending, and a better fit on smaller phones

If a memory ever looked stuck sending - the little "trouble sending, still trying" note that just wouldn't clear - it now notices on its own, lets go, and tries again fresh, instead of needing you to close and reopen the app. Your memory was always safe on your device the whole time; this just gets it on its way without any fuss.
The screen where you add a title, a date, and the story now fits and scrolls properly on smaller phones and larger text sizes, so the story box is always a comfortable size and the Save button is easy to reach.

July 19, 2026 · version 2026.07.19

Your collections come home too

Your collections - the little groupings you make on the Collections tab - now come back with everything else if you ever set Shadetree up fresh on a new or wiped phone. They ride along inside your own private, locked backup, just the names and which memories belong together, never the photos and never shared with anyone. When your memories find their way home, your shelves are already waiting for them.

July 18, 2026 · version 2026.07.18

Make a little book from your memories

Under Me, there's a new "Make a photo book." Pick your favorites, a single year, or everything, give it a title, and Shadetree lays your memories out as a gentle little book - a cover, then a page for each one with its photo, the date, and your words. Save it as a PDF and print it at home, or take it to any photo-book shop. It's free, it's yours, and it makes a lovely thing to give. Nothing leaves your device unless you choose to send it off to be printed.

July 18, 2026 · version 2026.07.18

Getting your memories back, made gentle and sure

If you ever set Shadetree up fresh on a new or wiped phone and ask your family to resend your memories, the work is now shared out across whoever happens to be around, instead of leaning on any one person's phone. And anything that doesn't make it through is quietly asked for again from someone else who has a copy, so nothing gets left behind. When your own phone is the one helping a loved one rebuild their memories, you'll see a gentle note at the top: "Helping send [name]'s memories home." If you can, leave the app open for a moment - that's their pictures finding their way home.

July 18, 2026 · version 2026.07.18

Join a family, and its memories come to meet you

When you join a family that's already been sharing for a while, you no longer arrive to an empty page. Your device quietly asks the family for what was shared before you got here, and everyone's memories start filling in on their own - no button to press. They arrive a little at a time, as each person's phone or tablet comes online over the next day or so, so give it a bit and watch your Timeline fill in. Nothing is stored on our server to make this happen: the memories come straight from the people who made them, the same private way everything else does.

July 18, 2026 · version 2026.07.18

Remove your information yourself, any time

Your data has always been yours, and now leaving is fully in your hands too. Under Me, then Advanced, there's a new "Remove my information from Shadetree." It takes your name, your keys, your recovery backup, and your email recovery off our server, and it can't be undone, so it asks you to type REMOVE to be sure. Your memories are not touched: they stay right here on your device. It's the honest other half of a private place: as easy to walk away as it was to join.

July 18, 2026 · version 2026.07.18

Get right up close to a photo

Open any photo full screen and you can now zoom right in - double-tap it, or pinch with two fingers, then drag to move around. It's made for the moments you want to lean into: a face in the back of an old group photo, the writing on a sign, a detail you'd almost forgotten. Double-tap again to come back out. And if you've turned on "Reduce Motion" in your phone's settings, the app now honors it everywhere, keeping things calm and still for you.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

A clearer, more honest privacy promise

We rewrote our Privacy Policy to be plainer and more complete about exactly what stays private, what we have to keep to deliver a memory, and what you can choose to add. The heart of it hasn't changed and never will: your photos, videos, voices, and words are locked on your device before they leave it, and we cannot read them. What we made clearer is the honest rest of the picture. To carry a memory to the right people, our server does keep a little readable information, like the name and photo you chose, who's in your family, and the outside of the envelope for each memory (who sent it to whom, and when), but never what's inside. We would rather tell you plainly than let a nice-sounding line stand that wasn't the whole truth. You can read the full, plain-language version any time under Terms and Privacy.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

A gentler way back in

Until now, the only way back after a lost or replaced phone was your recovery code - that long code with a dot in the middle. It works, but a code on a slip of paper is easy to misplace, and losing it meant losing everything. So we added a second, friendlier door: email recovery. In Settings you can add your email and choose a passphrase (a few words you'll remember, like "maple porch summer rain"), and from then on either your recovery code or that email and passphrase can bring you back. Here's the part that matters: we still can't read a thing. Your passphrase never leaves your device, we never see it, and it only ever unlocks your recovery code - never your memories. Even if our servers were stolen tomorrow, your memories would stay unreadable. This just means a lost code is no longer the end.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

One family can never see another

A quiet but important change under the hood. When two families connect here, they can see each other's names, because that's the point - they're sharing. But two families who have never connected should be complete strangers, invisible to each other. We tightened things so that's now true down to the wire: your family's people are only ever visible to your own family and the families you've chosen to connect with. Nobody else on here can list who's in your family, even if they went looking.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Start with your shoebox

The hardest part of any memory app is the empty beginning. So now you can bring in a handful of photos you already have - tap "Bring in photos," pick a few you love from your phone, and they land in your Shoebox. Then, whenever you like, tap one and tell us about it - who's in it, where it was, what you remember - and it becomes a memory. No rush, no list to finish, no counter. Just your own photos, waiting quietly to have their stories told before the telling gets harder.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Reply with a memory

When someone shares a memory with you, you can now reply to it - not with a comment, but with a memory of your own. A photo, your voice, or a few words. Open their memory and tap "Reply with a memory." What you make reaches them, and gathers quietly beneath the memory it answers. No threads, no counts - just one memory answering another.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Hold a memory close

When someone shares a memory with you, you can now hold it close - a quiet way to let them know it reached you, and that it mattered. Open the memory and tap the little heart. They'll see your name, never a number. There's no tally, no notification, nothing to keep up with - just a small warmth, waiting for them the next time they look. It's the murmur around the hearth, not a scoreboard.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Choose your text size

In Me → Appearance you can now set the text to Small, Medium, or Large. It makes the words bigger (or smaller) everywhere in the app at once - handy if the writing ever feels too small to read comfortably.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

A couple of small touches

When someone's waiting to join your family, you'll now see a friendly banner just above the menu instead of a "Waiting" tab - bigger, clearer, and easy to tap. It only appears when there's actually something to look at.
Added a profile photo? You can now remove it and go back to just your initial, from Me → your name.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

A number on the app icon for new memories

The Shadetree icon on your home screen now shows a small number when memories are waiting to be seen, so you can tell at a glance without opening the app. Open the app and look, and the number clears itself. If you've turned notifications on, it can update on its own when something new arrives.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Turn a filtered list into a collection

Filter or search your memories, then tap "＋ Collection" on the filter bar to gather everything you're looking at into a collection - either a brand new one or added onto a shelf you already have. A quick way to turn "all of Grandma's voice notes" or "everything from our trip" into a collection in one step.
The filter now has a "Family" option too. Pick a family to see just the memories shared with them or received from them - handy once you're connected to more than one family.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Tidier collections

The number on a collection now matches what's actually inside it. If you'd deleted a memory from your timeline, the collection could still show the old count - now they always agree.
You can take a memory off a collection without deleting it. Open a collection, tap "Edit", and a small ✕ appears on each one - tapping it lifts that memory off the shelf while keeping it safe in your timeline.
When you delete a memory that's part of a collection, Shadetree now tells you which collections it will come off of, so nothing disappears by surprise.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

See when you've shared with a connected family

When you share a memory with a family you're connected to - not just your own - that family now shows up right away in the "who has it" list at the bottom, waiting on them to open it. Before, it was quietly delivered but never shown there until someone happened to read it, which made it look like it hadn't gone through. It had - now you can see it.
The share box on a memory now also shows a connected family as "Shared with" once you've sent it to them, instead of leaving the box unchecked as if you hadn't.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Your recordings are safer

If you record a video and something interrupts you before you save it - a phone call, or the app closing on its own - Shadetree now keeps a copy. Next time you open it, it gently asks if you'd like your video back. Nothing slips away.

July 17, 2026 · version 2026.07.17

Share longer videos

The size limit for a video has roughly doubled, so longer clips send with no fuss - a whole story, a full song, the grandkids' recital.
If a video ever is too big to share, the app now tells you gently and reminds you nothing is lost: it stays on your phone, and the full-quality original is always safe in your Photos.

July 16, 2026 · version 2026.07.16

A warmer way to share a photo

When you add a photo, it now fills the screen on its own - and gently invites you to tell the people you love what it means to you: tap to talk, film a few words, or write a note. Or just save the photo as it is. Nothing is ever required.
The same calm, one-thing-at-a-time feel now carries through voice notes, videos, and written memories too.

July 15, 2026 · version 2026.07.15

Your own devices, kept in step

You can now tell the app which screens are yours - a Hearth frame in the living room, a second phone. When you add one (Your family › Add another of my devices) and approve it, just check "This is another of my own devices."
Once a device is yours, the names and favorites you set on any of your screens quietly show up on the others - so a memory you title on your phone reads the same on your Hearth. Only your own devices, never anyone else's copy.
Manage them any time under Me › My devices, where you can rename or unlink a device.

July 15, 2026 · version 2026.07.15

Name a memory whenever the words come to you

Open any memory and you'll see a small pencil next to its title - tap it to give the memory a name, or change the one it has. This works whether you made the memory or someone shared it with you: it's your copy, so it's your title.
If you leave a memory unnamed, it still shows its date like before. Nothing is ever forced - you can come back and name it later, or not at all.

July 15, 2026 · version 2026.07.15

Surprises and questions come back the right way

When someone opens a surprise you sent and records their voice, the playback now uses the same big, friendly player as the rest of the app - with a clear Play button and a progress bar - instead of the tiny grey one.
And when you ask someone a question, their answer now always comes back to you - even if they just record it and save without picking who to share with. Whoever asked always gets the answer.

July 12, 2026 · version 2026.07.12

You can tell when a voice recording is running

When you record a voice memory, the screen now makes it obvious that it's listening: a red "Recording" light, a timer counting up, and a little sound meter that moves with your voice. When you're done, tap Stop - just like before. No more wondering whether it started.

July 12, 2026 · version 2026.07.12

A new way to look back: Spotlight

There's a fourth way to see your memories now. Tap the layout button at the top of Home and choose Spotlight: one memory fills a big, beautiful frame up top, and a tidy list sits beneath it. Scroll the list and the frame follows along - whatever you land on is shown large, whether it's a photo, a video, a voice recording, or a few written words. Tap the frame to open it.
It's made for slow, unhurried looking back - like turning over one photo at a time on the mantel.

July 12, 2026 · version 2026.07.12

The bottom row stays put after you type

When you tapped a text box to add a memory, the keyboard popped up - and after you closed it, the row of buttons along the bottom sometimes drifted up off the edge and left a gap. It now snaps right back where it belongs.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

A warmer New screen

The "New" tab got the same loving treatment as the rest of the app. A gentle "What do you want to keep?" up top, each way to add a memory now has its own warm colored icon, and "Ask someone" and "Send a surprise" - two lovely ways to bring family in - are no longer hidden at the bottom.
Everything you could do before, you still can - it just feels warmer and is easier to find.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

Fits your screen, and names where it said "Someone"

On some iPhones - especially with larger text or display zoom turned on - the app was sizing itself a little taller than the screen, which pushed the bottom row of buttons partly out of view. It now measures the visible screen correctly, so everything fits.
When you shared with a connected family, the delivery list sometimes said "Sent to Someone" instead of the person's name. It now shows their real name.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

A few small fixes

A face photo you add now fills its little circle properly on memory cards (it was showing just a corner).
The "filters are on" banner now reads correctly and no longer gets its bottom edge clipped.
If you ever have a long list of people to filter by, it now stays tidy and scrolls instead of pushing everything else off the screen.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

A few things made clearer

When you record a voice memory, you now hear it back through the same big, friendly play button used everywhere else - no more tiny control to squint at before you send.
The button inside a memory now reads "Save a copy to my phone," with a gentle note that the memory is already safe in Shadetree - it just tucks an extra copy into your phone. (It used to read "Save to my phone," which a few people took to mean they had to tap it to keep the memory.)
Inviting someone new and connecting with another family are now done by a family’s steward, so it’s always clear who tends each family. Anyone can still add their own second device, like an iPad.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

Quiet groundwork so Shadetree can grow

Behind the scenes, we added gentle limits that let Shadetree safely welcome more families over time - and a bot check we can switch on for the public sign-up door when the time comes. Nothing changes for your family day to day.
One thing you might see, rarely: if a family sends a lot of large videos in a short span, a memory may say it’s "waiting for space." It’s never lost - it stays saved on your phone and sends itself over the next few days as room frees up.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

A safer first-time setup on iPhone and iPad

When someone new opens Shadetree on an iPhone or iPad, we now walk them through adding it to their Home Screen first - before they set anything up. On Apple devices, a browser tab and the installed app keep separate memories, so setting up in the wrong one used to mean doing it all over again. Now that can’t happen.
If Shadetree is already on your Home Screen, nothing changes for you.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

Anyone can start their own family

You no longer need a code from anyone to begin. The welcome screen now has "Start a new family" - enter your name and you’re off, with your own private place to invite your people into.
(This is the groundwork for opening Shadetree up more widely, on the operator’s terms.)

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

See who’s in a family you’re connected with

When your family is connected to another, you can now see who’s in it. Go to Me → Your family → open the family → under "Connected families," tap "See who’s in…" to view their people, with names and faces.
It’s just the people - a warm way to know who you’re linked with. Their memories still only reach you when someone chooses to share them, and you only ever see families your own is directly connected to.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

Put a face to every memory

You can now add a photo of yourself. Go to Me → Profile and tap the circle next to your name. From then on, your family sees your face beside the memories you share, instead of just your initial.
It’s entirely up to you - if you’d rather not, your initial stays, in its own warm colour.
Also: video memories now show a picture from the clip everywhere on Home, and the month labels got a warmer look with a touch more room between memories.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

Videos show a picture from the clip

A video memory now shows a still picture taken from the video itself, instead of a plain placeholder - so at a glance you can tell what it is. The little play button still sits on top, ready when you tap.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

A warmer Home, the way you like it

Home now leads with your photos. Each memory shows large and lovely, with the storyteller’s name and a warm circle beside it, and the month you’re looking at stays gently at the top as you scroll.
Tap the new little icon at the top right (next to the star) to choose how memories are shown: Comfortable is the big, cosy default; Album lays them out like a scrapbook page; Compact is a tidy list for when you just want to find something fast. Your phone remembers whichever you pick.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

No surprises when your phone asks to use the camera

The first time you take a photo, record a video, or record a voice note, we now give you a gentle heads-up that your phone is about to ask permission - so when it does, you know to tap Allow. No more being caught off guard by a question you weren’t expecting.
And if the camera or microphone was turned off by mistake, Shadetree now explains in plain words how to switch it back on in your phone’s settings, instead of showing a confusing error.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

A quiet knock, only when it’s someone you love

Shadetree can now let you know when a family member shares a memory, asks you a question, or is waiting to join - if you want it to. It is off until you turn it on, under Me → Privacy.
It works the way our place should: you will never be nudged to "come back," there is no preview on your lock screen (just a gentle "something new is waiting"), and a flurry of shares becomes one quiet knock, not a buzz for each. We only ring the bell when it is truly someone reaching out to you.
On an iPhone or iPad, add Shadetree to your Home Screen first, then turn it on there.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

You decide who joins - and who connects

When someone asks to join your family, or another family accepts your invitation to connect, it no longer happens on its own. A "Waiting" tab lights up at the bottom of the app, just for the family steward, showing who it is so you can say yes.
Tap "Yes" to welcome them in, or "Not now" if you are not sure - and nothing happens until you choose. If you tap "Not now" by mistake, they drop into a "Recently declined" list right below, where one tap brings them back. Nobody joins your family, and no family gets connected, without you.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11

It will never mistake you for a new person

Fixed a rare but alarming glitch where opening the app could briefly show the new-user setup screen - even though all your memories were right here on the phone. It happened when the phone hadn’t finished waking up its storage yet.
Now the app waits and double-checks. If your memories are on this device, it will never drop you into setup by mistake. And if it genuinely can’t read them for a moment, it shows a calm "just a hiccup - tap Reload" screen instead. Your memories are always safe on the device the whole time.

July 11, 2026 · version 2026.07.11