Good questions deserve straight answers

Click “Start free” and enter your name, email, and a password. We’ll send a verification link. Once confirmed, you go through a short setup: choose your check-in timer, name your trusted person, and optionally record your first video. The whole thing takes about five minutes.

Any phone, tablet, or computer with a modern browser. Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox all work well. You don’t need to install any apps.

No. The only editing option is trimming the start or end — two handles you drag. There’s no timeline editor, no layers, nothing that takes practice to learn. If you can press a button and talk, you can use Parent Memories.

Your browser will ask permission to use your camera and microphone when you first try to record. If something goes wrong, our help center has step-by-step guides for every major browser. You can also use audio-only mode — it records just your voice, with no camera needed at all.

It depends on your plan: up to 5 minutes per recording on Free (1 a day) and 5 minutes on Standard ($4.99/month, 3 a day), or up to 10 minutes on Premium ($9.99/month, 3 a day). You can also choose the recording quality — 480p up to full-HD 1080p — and the frame shape, including phone-style portrait.

Yes. Switch to audio-only mode before recording. It captures your voice with no video — useful when you’re in the field, on a slow connection, or simply prefer not to be on camera.

You can rename a video, add a private note, mark it as important, or change its legacy-only setting at any time from your timeline (trimming is coming in a future update). Deleting is also possible; deleted videos go to a trash bin and are permanently removed after 30 days, so nothing disappears instantly.

You can mark any video as legacy only. It stays hidden from people who watch your timeline today, but is included in the handover when the time comes. It’s clearly labeled in your timeline so you always know what you’ve set aside.

20 GB — enough for years of regular recordings at most quality levels. You can see exactly how much you’ve used in your account settings at any time.

You name a trusted person when you set up your account. If you stop checking in for your chosen period (30, 60, or 90 days), we send a series of warning emails — and a 14-day final window to cancel. Only after that does your trusted person receive an invitation. They create their own account and get 180 days of free access to watch and download everything.

Yes. A family member can submit documentation (such as a death certificate) to fast-track the handover. An admin reviews and approves it before anything is transferred.

Your videos go to the adult guardian you designate — a spouse, sibling, or trusted friend. They decide when and how to watch with your children. There’s no separate login for children.

No. Not ever. They receive nothing until the full handover process completes — timer running out, all warning emails sent, and a 14-day final window passing. There is no shortcut that bypasses this.

They get full access: watch everything, download a bundle of all videos, leave notes and hearts on individual entries, and manage the account. They can also subscribe and start adding their own videos in a new chapter — continuing your family’s story for the next generation.

Set up a deployment pause before you leave. Your check-in timer freezes until the return date you set, and we won’t send warning emails while the pause is active. We also send a monthly one-click check-in email — no password needed — so you can stay active even in the field with minimal effort.

Verify your military service through ID.me in your legacy settings. Once verified, your account is completely free for as long as you’re on active deployment, and you get 20% off any paid plan whenever you’re home. ID.me verification takes about two minutes and only needs to be done once.

Yes. All videos are encrypted at rest. Only people you specifically invite can watch them, and our team cannot access the content — we see file sizes and dates, nothing more. The one exception: if a viewer reports a video as a safety concern, a human admin may review it. Every such review is logged in our audit trail and disclosed in our privacy policy.

That’s exactly why “Download everything” is available to every account holder at any time — not just guardians after handover. Download a bundle of all your videos and keep them on your own device, whenever you like. We think you should always have a copy that doesn’t depend on us.

Yes, from your account settings. Deleting permanently removes your account and all your videos. Your videos are held for 30 days so you have time to download them first, then permanently deleted.