A pendant on the person, or a phone that rings
Storii rings the person and asks a question from a bank of a thousand, about $99 a year, on any phone. The MemoriesBox pendant, $79 and shipping 2027, records whatever they say when they press it and feeds an archive that keeps their voice. One asks; the other listens.
Facts on this page verified
Two ways to make the asking happen
The problem both products solve is the same: the person has stories, nobody asks, and a year later the stories are gone. The MemoriesBox pendant is $79 at the early price and ships in 2027. Storii exists today. They solve the problem in opposite shapes, and the honest thing is to say which shape fits which family.
What Storii does, and does well
Storii telephones the person — any phone, including a landline — at a time they chose, asks one question from a bank of more than a thousand, and records the answer. It costs about $99 a year, a figure checked on each company's own site on 17 August 2026, and it needs nothing in the person's hand but a telephone they already answer.
That reaches people no app reaches. A person who will never touch a smartphone will pick up a ringing phone, and the question does the work of starting them. If your parent is that person and you want something this year, Storii is the right answer and this page will not pretend otherwise.
What the pendant does instead
It does not ask. It listens, when pressed. The 380 questions live in the MemoriesBox app, and the pendant is for everything a question list never reaches: the story that comes out over lunch, the thing remembered on a walk, the phone call to a sister where the good version gets told. The person wears it, and the recording is one press away, always.
Then the archive does what a phone call cannot: keeps the audio at the sample rate it was spoken at, transcribes it, files it into 21 chapters, holds it in the European Union, exports it whenever you like, and — when the person asks — builds their voice from it, so that a question that was never put can be answered later in the voice that would have answered it. See /features/voice-cloning.
Where a phone call is the weaker shape
- It asks its question, not theirs. The best story of the week is rarely the answer to the question that rang at four o'clock.
- It records a phone line. Telephone audio is narrow and compressed. It is a record of what was said; it is not a record of how they sounded.
- It ends when the call ends. A phone-call service produces recordings. It does not keep the voice as something the family can still ask.
- It is not in the EU. Storii does not claim European hosting. Where the recordings sit is on /trust/where-your-data-lives for us, and not published for them.
Where the pendant is the weaker shape
- It is not here yet. 2027.
- It needs somebody to press it. A person who will not remember to press a button, and has nobody nearby to suggest it, records nothing. The ringing phone is better for them.
- It does not ask. For a person who has to be prompted, the questions are in the app, and somebody has to open the app.
Side by side
| Storii | MemoriesBox pendant + archive | |
|---|---|---|
| How it starts | The phone rings | The person presses |
| What it records | The answer to its question, over a phone line | Whatever is said, at the collarbone, at full quality |
| Where the person has to be | Near a phone | Wearing it |
| Keeps the voice as a model | No | Yes, when the person asks |
| Family can ask the archive later | No | The storyteller can today; heirs in the next version |
| Hosted in the EU | Not claimed | Yes |
| Available | Now | 2027 |
| Checked | 17 August 2026 | 4 September 2026 |
What it costs over three years
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Three years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storii | ~$99 | ~$99 | ~$99 | ~$297 |
| MemoriesBox app only | $139 | $139 | $139 | $417 |
| MemoriesBox pendant + app | $79 + $139 | $139 | $139 | $496 |
| Pendant alone, as a recorder | $79 | — | — | $79 |
The last row is real. The pendant records, keeps 200 hours and transfers by USB-C with no subscription at all. It is a $79 recorder that happens to have an archive behind it if you want one.
Until then
If the person will answer a phone and nothing else, Storii now. If somebody in the family can hold a phone for twenty minutes a week, the MemoriesBox app now, into the same archive the pendant will feed. Start there, and reserve the pendant for the button.
Questions people ask
Is Storii or MemoriesBox better for a parent who won't use apps?
Today, Storii, because a ringing phone needs nothing learned. From 2027, the MemoriesBox pendant, which is worn and pressed and needs no phone in their hand. Until then, MemoriesBox works with a family member holding the phone.
Does the MemoriesBox device call my parent?
No. It records when they press it. The questions are in the app; the pendant is for the stories that a question list never reaches.
Which keeps the voice?
MemoriesBox. Storii produces recordings of phone calls; MemoriesBox keeps full-quality audio and, when the person asks, builds a model of their voice so the archive can be asked questions later.
Can I use both?
Yes, and for some families that is the right plan: Storii's calls for the prompting, and the MemoriesBox archive for keeping the voice, with the pendant when it ships.
Related: The device · Why not just use Alexa for this · The device or a voice recorder · Storii, fairly · The full comparison table
MemoriesBox is $139 a year, hosted in the EU, first 14 days free, cancel anytime. Start here.