Never used to train AI
Your uploads and restored outputs are not part of any training dataset. Human review is limited to safety or support cases you raise.
Nostalgia Family Archive
For Genealogists and Family ArchivistsFinish the photo side of your family history — without changing who's in the picture.
Tree software is for names, dates, and records. Nostalgia is for the photos those names are attached to. Restore damaged prints without changing the likeness, keep AI captions and tags on every image so context survives the generation that knew it, and share privately with the relatives who need them — while your tree stays exactly where it lives.
Private by designWorks alongside your treeBuilt for inherited collections
Free tier covers 10 restores a month. No credit card. Web is live today; iPhone is on the App Store, and Android remains in closed testing.
Restored
OriginalRepair first, keep the archival master, add color only when it helps tell the story.
Works alongside your tree
Keep your tree where it lives. Bring the photos here.
Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch are good at names, records, DNA, and relationships. Nostalgia is for the part of family history most tools skip: the photos themselves.
Your tree software handlesNostalgia handles
Names, dates, relationships, and recordsThe photos attached to those names — scan quality, damage repair, and likeness preservation
DNA matches, hints, and tree-building suggestionsAI captions, tags, and era estimates on every photo so the context you know today is written down before it’s lost
Formal citations and source documentsPrivate Family Vaults so cousins can browse, identify faces, and contribute missing prints
The result: photos that still look like your ancestors, captions that survive the next generation, and an archive relatives can actually open.
What we're deliberately not building
The line between us and your tree software is a feature, not a limitation. Keep using the right tool for each of these:
- Family trees. Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch have spent decades on tree structures, relationships, and hints. We won't try to replace that — our job is the photos attached to those names.
- DNA matching. Not our lane. We won't ask for a sample or build a match graph on top of one.
- Record databases. FamilySearch is free and deeper than anything we could build. When a document search is the right move, we'd rather point you there than dilute the archive.
- Social feeds and public profiles. Your family's photos aren't a marketing surface. Family Vaults share only with the relatives you invite — no public profile, no feed, no algorithm.
Likeness is the whole point
A portrait that doesn't look like the person isn't a restoration.
General-purpose AI enhancers were built for selfies. Pointed at a great-grandmother, they happily smooth her face into someone who isn't quite her. Nostalgia is designed the other way around: repair what's broken, preserve what's real, and keep the likeness that lets you recognize the person on your tree.
- Restore-first approach — damage is repaired before any stylistic step so facial character survives
- Photo Insight ranks every recommended edit as safe, optional, or blocked for the specific photo in front of you
- The restored black-and-white master is kept alongside any colorized companion view — not replaced by it
Restored
OriginalRestored view keeps the original tonality. Colorization is a separate, optional companion view.
Private by design
Your family's photos stay yours.
You own what you upload
Original scans and restored versions stay yours. Export or delete the full archive at any time.
Private by default
Family Vaults are invite-only. Sharing links are off unless you turn them on, and there is no public profile.
Details in the Privacy Policy and AI Policy.
Archive workflow
Work the way a serious family archive actually gets built.
There is no shortcut to a good archive, but there is a rhythm. This is the workflow most family historians settle into once they have inherited a collection.
Triage before you digitize
Sort the shoebox into priority people, priority events, and everything else. Scan the first two stacks first. A 300–500 print collection becomes a manageable queue in one afternoon.
Scan front and back at archival quality
600 DPI on a flatbed or Google PhotoScan on a phone. Capture the reverse of every print — handwritten names and dates on the back are usually the only surviving identification.
Restore carefully, then stop
Start with the recommended restore pass. Compare before and after. Accept when the likeness is right. Color is a companion view, not a mandatory final step.
Caption while memory is fresh
Edit the AI caption with the real names, tag the people you recognize, and add Who, When, Where, What, and Story notes while the details are still warm. Ten years from now, those captions are the archive.
Share branch by branch
Use Family Vaults — invite-only spaces for cousins, aunts, and siblings. One vault per family branch keeps scope manageable and relatives can contribute missing prints without a social account.
What helps today
Archive-first value already in the product.
- Photo Insight diagnoses damage and proposes a ranked repair plan before you spend a credit.
- Restore-first workflow that keeps careful repair separate from stylistic choices like colorization.
- Auto-generated captions, tags, era estimates, and back-of-photo note transcription — editable, so the archive captures what you know.
- Manual people tagging on every photo today, so you can record who is in the image alongside the caption.
- Family Vaults with roles (owner, editor, viewer) for private, branch-level sharing — no social feed, no public profile.
- Library syncs across mobile and web so you can scan on the phone, caption on a laptop, and hand a vault link to a relative from either device.
Coming next
The archive getting deeper, in order.
- Read-only tree import for signed-in web users: bring GEDCOM, GEDZIP, or FamilyEcho FamilyScript beside the archive without replacing your genealogy software.
- Tree-aware Family Vaults that can start from a root person and suggest linked photos from that branch.
- Person-centered timelines like “[Person] through the years” once the tree and People filters have enough confirmed links.
- Photo Book PDF and slideshow video exports so the archive can leave the app in formats relatives can print, save, and keep forever.
- Memorial vaults and private audio-note beta work, both built on the same archive primitives rather than separate products.
If you try Nostalgia and there's an archive job it doesn't yet help with, tell us directly — that feedback is how we rank what ships next.
Common questions
What family historians ask first.
Can I use Nostalgia alongside Ancestry or MyHeritage?
Yes. Nostalgia handles the restoration, captioning, organization, and private family sharing side of the job while your formal tree stays in FamilyEcho, Ancestry, MyHeritage, RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, Gramps, or FamilySearch. Signed-in web users can import GEDCOM, GEDZIP, or FamilyEcho FamilyScript read-only; Nostalgia uses it to organize photos and vaults, not to become a tree editor.
Will AI change my ancestor's face?
That is the single biggest risk with general-purpose AI enhancers, and it is why Nostalgia starts with a restore-first pipeline that repairs damage before any interpretive step. For ancestor portraits, Photo Insight typically recommends restore first and face enhancement only if needed. A slightly soft portrait that still looks like your ancestor is always better than a crisp portrait of someone who isn't quite them.
What happens to the photos I upload?
They are processed to deliver the restoration you requested and stored in your private library. They are never used to train AI models. You keep ownership of originals and restored versions, and you can export or delete everything at any time.
More answers on the full FAQ.
Further reading
If you want more before you start.
- Back-of-photo notes — what Nostalgia captures from the reverse of every scan, and why the writing on the back is usually the real genealogy.
- Bring photos out of Ancestry — download workflow, common pitfalls, and how to keep the tree and the archive in sync.
- Bring photos out of MyHeritage — equivalent workflow for MyHeritage, including what to do if a photo was already colorized there.
- The Family Historian's Guide to AI Photo Restoration — the long-form workflow, step by step.
- Scanning guide — 600 DPI, flatbed vs PhotoScan, how to capture print backs.
- Restoration gallery — real before-and-after examples to set expectations.
Start with one photo
Try it on an ancestor portrait. Add the rest of the archive only if it earns your trust.
If you're ready to try a photo
Web is live and free to start. One portrait, one restore, see whether the likeness holds up.
Restore a Photo FreeIf you want proof or scanning help first
Browse restored examples or read the scanning guide before you spend a credit.