Keep your memories where they happened.
Here My Story is a free personal memory map. Drop a pin on the exact spot where something happened, add the story, a photo and the date, then share the map with the people who were there.
Start your mapFree. Private unless you choose to share it. Nothing to install.
Grandma's kitchen. The back door was never locked. 1974
Where Dad taught me to skip stones. 1987
Our first apartment. Fourth floor, no lift. 2009
The night it snowed in June. 1996
A map of your life, not your trips
Most map apps count the countries you've visited or sort the photos on your phone. Here My Story is for the places where your life happened: the house you grew up in, the bench where you got the phone call, the parking lot where you learned to drive.
- Pins go anywhere, in any year
- You place each pin by hand and give it a date as far back as 1900. Nothing depends on a photo's location tag, so memories from before you owned a phone get a place too.
- The story comes first
- A pin holds your words. Add a photo if you have one, or leave the story to stand on its own.
- It opens from a link
- The map runs in the browser on a phone or a computer. The people you share it with have nothing to install.
- Private unless you say otherwise
- Only you can see your map until you invite someone by email or switch on a public link. Only you can change it. How privacy works
Some stories can only be read where they happened
Mark a story "Only readable at this place" and the people you share your map with see a locked pin. To read it, they have to go and stand there. Leave a letter for your children at the house they grew up in, or a grandfather's story at the gate of the farm.
How location-locked stories workFrom anywhere else
Locked story Only readable at this place. Go to the pin, then unlock it.Standing at the pin
You're standing where I asked your mother to marry me. She told me to ask again when I had a job.
How it works
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Drop a pin
Use where you're standing, or move the map and place the pin on the exact spot.
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Add the story
Write what happened there, set the date, and add a photo if you have one. On a phone you can take the photo on the spot.
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Invite the people who were there
Invite someone by email, or turn on a public link. They can read your map. Only you can change it.
What will you put on yours?
A memory map can hold one person's whole life or one part of it. Here are five to start from, each with an example of a pin you might put on it.
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Your parents' and grandparents' stories
Sit down with a parent and a map. Pin the house they grew up in, the school, the first job, and write down what they tell you about each one.
Mom at nine, sent to the corner store with a note and a quarter.
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Someone you've lost
Pin the places you shared with them and the stories that belong there, then invite the family to read it.
Dad's bench by the boat ramp. He'd have hated the new railing.
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Every home you've lived in
For military families, expats and anyone who has moved a lot: one pin for each address, with what you remember of it.
Base housing, third stairwell. I learned to ride a bike in the parking lot.
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The two of you
Where you met, the first date, the terrible first apartment. A map of your relationship that you can both open.
Table by the window. You ordered for both of us and got it wrong.
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Where you grew up
The streets, shortcuts and stores of your childhood, including the ones that aren't there any more.
The video store on Main. It's a vape shop now.
Browse it as a map or as a journal
Every story sits on the map where it happened and in a list by year, so you can find it either way. The pins at the top of this page look like this as a journal.
2009
- Our first apartmentFourth floor, no lift.
1996
- The night it snowed in JuneWe stood in the road in our pajamas.
1987
- Skipping stonesWhere Dad taught me. Flat ones, thrown low.
1974
- Grandma's kitchenThe back door was never locked.
How is it different from other map apps?
Other tools are built around trips, custom maps or weekly questions. Here My Story is built around the places in your own life.
| Tool | Built around | What a pin holds | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Here My Story | The places in your own life, in any year | A written story, a photo and a date | Family stories, remembrance, everywhere you've lived |
| Travel trackers such as Polarsteps | Trips and countries visited | A stop on a trip, with photos and a route | Recording a journey while you're on it |
| Google My Maps | Custom maps of any kind | A title, a description and photos | Planning, lists of places, layers of data |
| Memoir services such as Storyworth | A question each week | Nothing; there is no map | A printed book of one person's answers |
Questions people ask
What is a personal memory map?
A personal memory map is a map of the places where your life happened, with a story attached to each one. A travel map records where you have been. A memory map records what happened there and why it mattered. More on memory maps
Is Here My Story free?
Yes. Making a map, adding stories and photos, and sharing your map are all free.
Who can see my map?
Only you, until you choose otherwise. You can invite specific people by email, or switch on a public link that anyone can open. In both cases they can read your map but cannot change it, and you can take the access away again.
Can I add memories from before I had a smartphone?
Yes. You place every pin by hand and can date it any day back to 1900, so a childhood home from 1962 works the same way as last weekend. A photo is optional. If you have an old print, take a picture of it with your phone and attach that.
Do the people I share with need an account?
Not for a public link, which opens for anyone. People you invite by email sign in with a free account at that email address, which is how the map stays limited to them.
Is there an app to install?
No. Here My Story runs in the web browser on phones, tablets and computers at app.heremystory.com.
Is it "Here My Story" or "Hear My Story"?
Here, as in this place: here is where my story happened. The address is heremystory.com.