Our story

Why I built Parent Memories

Every promise this service makes comes from something that happened to my own family.

It wasn’t until after my own time in the Army that my Granddad finally began opening up about his experiences in WWII. I often found myself wishing there was an easy way for him to record those stories so the rest of our family could hear them. Later, when my brother and friends deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, that familiar worry returned. I wanted them to have a reliable way to document their time and leave meaningful messages for their loved ones back home.

During that same period, my career kept me on the road with multiple flights a week. Because my kids were little, I started keeping a daily video log to share the things I couldn’t say in person. I recorded a message every day for years—until a hard drive crash erased those irreplaceable videos forever. That heartbreak is what inspired Parent Memories. I wanted to build a secure, permanent space where anyone can create lasting video journals for their family, giving them the peace of mind that those messages will always be there when they are needed most.

— Troy Arnold, founder

What that taught us

A lost hard drive is a small tragedy that happens quietly, to ordinary people, all the time. Everything below exists because of it.

Your videos outlive your devices

Recordings live on our servers, not on a phone that gets dropped or a drive that gives out. That is the whole point of the service — it is the failure I actually lived through.

They’re yours to take, always

Download any video — or your entire timeline — whenever you want, in a normal format that plays anywhere. No lock-in, no hostage-taking. If we ever stopped being useful to you, you’d leave with everything.

They reach your people even if you can’t deliver them

The check-in timer and your trusted person exist for the reason I worried about my brother and my friends. If something happens to you, your videos don’t vanish into an account nobody can open — they go to the person you chose.

Service members get looked after

Verified military members save 20%, and your account is free while you’re deployed with your billing paused until you’re home. That’s not a marketing tactic — it’s where this idea started.

Don’t wait for the right moment

I wish I’d started sooner, and I wish I’d kept them somewhere safe. Your first video takes five minutes.

Start my free trial

Free for 14 days · No card needed · Military members free while deployed