Who MemoriesBox is for
MemoriesBox records a person's life story as long guided interviews, keeps their own voice, and lets the family ask it questions later. These pages describe the situations people are usually in when they start.
Facts on this page verified
The same product, seven different reasons
Almost nobody arrives here because they were shopping for a life-story service. They arrive because something happened. A birthday with a number in it. A neurologist's letter. A grandchild who asked a question at dinner and nobody could answer it.
The product underneath is the same in every case: a long guided interview, recorded across many sessions, in the person's own voice, held in the European Union, exportable at any time. What changes is what you are worried about and what you should do first. Pick the page that describes your week.
Where to start
| If this is you | The page | What it is mostly about |
|---|---|---|
| You have meant to do this for two years | For the person who keeps meaning to ask | Why starting feels strange, and how to start anyway |
| The details are starting to go | When the details are starting to go | What still works, what to record first, free options |
| There is not much time | When there isn't much time | The first hour. No pricing until you ask for it |
| Your parents left one country for another | For families split across countries | Two languages in one family, and an archive that holds both |
| You are a soldier, or you are the family of one | For soldiers and their families | Free VIP Setup for families of serving and fallen soldiers |
| You are the one being asked to talk | For the person doing the remembering | Being a burden, being boring, being recorded badly |
| You are doing this for a child who cannot ask yet | The moments people finally do this | Occasions, gifts, and when to order |
Why this keeps happening to people
53% of Americans cannot name all four of their grandparents, and 51% say they want stories about what their ancestors were like when they were young (OnePoll for Ancestry, March 2022, n=2,113).
Those two numbers sit next to each other for a reason. The wanting is nearly universal. The record is already thin by the second generation. Nothing dramatic causes that. The stories live in one head, they are told at dinner, and dinners are not kept.
What is the same, whichever page you are on
- A long interview, not a weekly prompt. Many sessions, with follow-up questions that depend on the answers.
- The person's own voice is kept. A voice clone is a synthetic model of a person's voice, built from recordings of that person speaking, which can then read text aloud in the same timbre and cadence. Ours needs about 30 minutes of recordings.
- The family can ask a question later and hear an answer in that voice, drawn from what was actually said. It does not invent opinions the person never expressed, and every conversation is labelled as AI.
- Made in the EU. Your data never leaves Europe. Exportable at any time, in open formats.
- $139 a year. The first 14 days are free. Cancel anytime.
Things worth doing before you buy anything
- Save the voicemails you already have. How to save a voicemail forever has the steps for iPhone and Android.
- Record one ordinary phone call, with permission. How to record a phone call with a parent covers the consent rules by country.
- Ask three questions at the next meal rather than thirty. The first twenty minutes is about the order, not the list.
- Read what happens to your recordings if MemoriesBox shuts down before you hand anyone's voice to any company, including this one.
Questions people ask
Who actually buys MemoriesBox, the parent or the child?
Usually the adult child sets it up and the parent does the talking. That split is why there are two kinds of page here: one written to the buyer and one written to the storyteller. If the person being recorded has not agreed, it does not start.
Is MemoriesBox useful if the person has already died?
No. We only build a voice from recordings the person made themselves, knowingly, while they were alive and taking part. If you already have recordings of them speaking, what to do with the recordings afterwards is the more useful page.
Can more than one person in the family take part?
Yes. Other family members can ask questions and add material. The voice that is kept is the storyteller's own.
What does it cost, all in?
$139 a year, with the first 14 days free. Optional extras are VIP Setup at $299 one-time, VIP Complete from $790 for three to four guided conversations, a printed book from $139, and the device at $79 one-time, which ships in 2027.
Which page should I read if none of these fit?
How to record your parents' life story is the method, written to be usable whether or not you ever pay us anything.
Related: Occasions · What to actually ask · Where your recordings live
When you are ready, start a subscription. $139 a year, first 14 days free, cancel anytime.