REVIEW: Lifetile – create a digital shoebox of memories

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts lately. (It’s tiring.) A lot of them feel fairly random but actually there is a bit of a theme. I think it must be an age thing, but lately I have become much more aware of my own mortality.

It’s kind of scary, but at the same time I figure it’s a healthy thing because at least then you can start planning. I was writing a will recently, so that’s one good thing to tick off the list, but then my mind wanders and I start thinking about stupid things like work – what would happen if I died and didn’t get to finish a piece of work? I wouldn’t want the clients to think I was rubbish and not use me again. Should I tell someone my Twitter password now so that in the event of my death they can log in and explain that I’m not just being rude by not replying to people?

I think I may be missing the point a little bit, but still, these things do worry me.

Then there’s my memory. My boyfriend was asking me some questions recently about my grandparents and great grandparents and although I knew that I had at some point known all the answers, they just weren’t in my head any more. Early onset dementia perhaps? All the more reason to write my Twitter password down quick sharp.

lifetile

All of this is a very long winded way of introducing you to a new app I have been playing with this week called lifetile. It’s more than just another place to upload your photos, it’s about creating something that can be passed down to future generations; a digital shoebox of treasures to share.

Richard Grant CEO and Founder of lifetile explains: “It was losing my dad which inspired me to develop lifetile. What I realised, when he died, was that I knew very little about him. Of course, I had my holiday photos and some treasured memories but, when it came to knowing more about his life story – where he grew up and went to school, what he did before he met my mum and what their life was like before children – there were real gaps in my knowledge.

“I vowed that when I became a dad, I would make sure that I was able to provide my children with a more complete story of our lives, so I created a place where our most precious memories could be brought to life and enjoyed for years to come, generation by generation.”

Lifetile is a simple and secure way to capture, save and share your most precious memories – all in one place – creating a visually stunning timeline of big life events.To each event you can attach documents, images, videos and captions, imported from social media or uploaded directly from your phone or PC. It’s really easy to use and security is absolutely key as lifetile are very aware of how precious your digital shoebox is. This can be kept completely private, shared with friends or family, or made accessible to everyone.

So how exactly is it different from things like Facebook and Twitter? Imagine it like this – your kids draw hundreds of pictures in their lifetimes, not all of them exactly gallery standard. You praise each and every one, but you pick out your favourite few to stick on the fridge; lifetile is the digital equivalent of this, a safe way to store the extra special memories, the pictures and videos that you want to be able to return to again and again.

Here’s one of mine, plus some other examples:

 

Leave a legacy

One thing that sets lifetile apart is the ability to nominate individuals to manage your page after your death. This is one step ahead of Facebook, who are only now beginning to roll out a legacy contact feature in the US – it has yet to reach Facebook in the UK. As part of the legacy options, you even specify your final words. If you’ve ever spent time imagining yourself on your deathbed, trying to come up with something suitably witty yet poignant for your last words, then this is the feature for you.*