Someone left a memory here. Go find it.
Words and photos sealed at the place they happened, for one person, a group or anyone. It only opens when you stand there.
Coming soon · iPhone and Android
Find it. In the app it opens within 30 m; here, try it now.
The app never tracks you. The only places we store are where memories are left. Your location is used to find what is near you, then thrown away.
How it works, in five steps
One person leaves a memory at a place. Someone else walks there, opens it and answers.
Seal it and leave it here
Step 1: Leave it where it happened
Write a few lines and add up to six photos. Pin it where you are standing or anywhere on the map, and leave it for one person, for a group, or for anyone who walks by.
- Your voice, or a short videoFor one person, add a voice note of up to 60 seconds or a video of up to 30 seconds. They play it when they open the memory at the place.
- When can it be unlocked?Upon Arrival, or On a Special Day up to 25 years ahead. Until that day it stays sealed, even for someone standing on the spot.
- When should they hear about it?For a Special Day left for a person or a group, choose Today, or On that day to keep it a surprise.
Step 2: It stays sealed
From a distance, people can see that something is waiting and roughly where. They can’t read it, and there’s no preview of the photos.
It only opens for someone standing within 30 metres of the spot. If it has a day, it stays sealed until then, even on the spot.
Step 3: Follow the sonar
Once you’re within a mile, it shows up on the sonar. You get a direction and a distance counting down in metres, and the ping gets faster as you get closer. Over the last 100 metres your phone also taps like a heartbeat.
- Tell me when I’m near a memoryTurn it on in Settings and your phone watches the area around the nearest memories left for you or your groups, up to 20 of them. Within about a mile of one, you get a notification, even with the app closed. It also tells you when you get within 200 m of a place in Achievements. Your phone does this by itself and sends us nothing about where you are.
- Distance on your iPhone lock screenWhile you walk the last 100 metres to a memory, your lock screen can show how far it is. It never shows who left it or what it says.
Step 4: Break the seal
You walk the last few steps and the wax cracks. The words someone left for this exact spot write themselves in, line by line, and the photos they took here appear beside them. If there is a voice note or a video, you play it there.
It’s saved in your journal with the date you found it, and nothing else. From anywhere else, all the app shows is that something is waiting.
Step 5: Answer it there
After you open a memory, send one of five reactions and a few words if you like. Only the person who left it sees your answer. You can also leave a memory back for them at the same spot.
The person who left it hears about answers once a day, in the evening.
The app today
Home is the sonar
Open the app and the radar is already searching. Around it, five circles choose what it shows. Under it, the memories waiting for you.
- GPS barsThe bars at the top show your GPS signal. If a setting the app needs is off, a small tab appears on the right edge: tap it to see what to turn on.
- The bellThe bell at the top of the app opens Activity: answers to your memories, friend requests, and On this day, when a memory you opened comes back around in a later year.
- Waiting for youUnder the radar, each memory left for you has a row. Tap Locate memory, or tap a blip, to aim the sonar at it.
The five circles around the radar
- Dropped: memories you left
- Sealed: memories left for you
- Public: memories other people left for anyone
- Group: memories left for a group
- Walls: shared walls, yours and the ones you were invited to
On iPhone, a home screen widget shows how many memories are waiting for you nearby and when the app last checked. The widget does not use your location.
Coming to Tracking Memories
Memory time capsules
Write to someone you love, and seal it to a day as well as to a place. It opens on the day you chose, and the words still open where you left them.
Two locks, doing different work. Before the day it is not on the map, not in the sonar, not in any list, and a link straight to it says the page does not exist rather than that it is locked. On the day it opens, and to read it they go to the place.
Any day up to 25 years ahead: an eighteenth birthday, a graduation, an anniversary, or a date that only means something to the two of you.
Write to one person from your own list of people, or to yourself.- Choose the paper it will be read on.
Not open to everyone yet. Leave your email on this page and we will tell you when it is.
At a wedding, or in memory of someone
Shared walls
A wall stays at one place, like a guestbook. Print its sign, and guests scan the QR code to find it.
Whoever starts it picks how close people need to be: 30, 100 or 250 metres. Within that distance anyone can read it and add their own memory.
From anywhere else, people see only a wall’s name, cover and look, who started it and, for a memorial, who it remembers, unless its creator invited them to sign from afar.
Watch a wall at a wedding, 29 secondsTurn it into a game
You can also plant a trail of sealed spots for friends or family and write the clues yourself. Each spot opens at 30 metres, the same as a memory. There are seven ways to play.
Treasure hunt
Clues in order lead to the treasure. First to reach it wins.
Classic hunt
Spots in any order, each worth points. Most points wins.
Race
Everyone starts together, against the clock.
Story trail
Every spot unlocks the next chapter.
Photo challenge
Prove you were there with a photo.
Memory lane
Retrace the places only the two of you share.
Team hunt
Teams race for the same spots. First there takes full points.
Plan it on your computer, play it on your phone.
Building a hunt, step by step
Achievements
Challenges from the Tracking Memories team. Anyone can play.
A memory waits at each place. Its seal opens anywhere within 200 m of it.
See the Achievements
Your journal
Every memory you’ve opened or left, and every hunt you’ve played with the trophies you won, becomes a pin on your own map of the world. Only you can see it. Tap a pin to open that memory again.
It records the day you found something, but not the time or the route you took. You can turn it off or wipe it at any time.
- First place
- Second
- Third
- Treasure found
Appearance
Dress the app for a season or a holiday, or let it follow the calendar.
Private and safe
We don’t track you. We only know where the memories are.
Most location apps want to know where you are all the time. Here is everything that happens to your location in this one:
Your phone asks
While the app is open, it sends your location with one question: is anything near me?
We answer
We send back the memories within a mile, with a direction and distance for each. What they say stays sealed.
We forget
Then we throw your location away. It isn’t saved anywhere, including our logs.
Background location only if you ask
The app uses your location while it’s open. If you turn on “Tell me when I’m near a memory” in Settings, your phone watches for memories left for you and sends us nothing. It stays off until you turn it on.
The microphone only while you record
It is used only while you record a voice note or a video, after you press Record. It never listens at any other time.
Your journal keeps the date
When you find a memory, your journal saves the day. It doesn’t save the hour or how you got there.
Games are opt-in
If you join a hunt, we record the time you reach each spot so the leaderboard works. We still don’t record your location.
Photos, voice notes and videos lose their location
They usually carry hidden location data. We remove it from photos twice, once on your phone and again on our server, and from voice notes and videos on our server.
Nobody can peek
There’s no preview or blurred thumbnail. Until someone reaches a memory, only the person who wrote it can read it.
Keeping it safe
No adult content
There is no 18+ mode. Adult language and mature images are refused, and every new photo is checked before it’s saved, so pornographic images are never stored or shown.
Private memories stay private
We never read or scan a memory you send to one person, unless the person who got it reports it. Then a moderator reviews that one memory to deal with the report. Memories left for a group or for everyone are checked before they go up.
Report or block anyone
One tap sends a memory, a photo, a person, a group or a hunt to a human moderator. Once you block someone, you stop seeing each other in the app.
The full rules are in our privacy policy, and anything it does not answer goes to contact@trackingmemories.com.
Coming soon to iPhone and Android
Tracking Memories is on its way to the App Store and Google Play. In your first minutes in the app, a welcome memory appears about 60 metres from you. Follow the sonar and break its seal.
Coming soon · iPhone and Android
Questions
How do I find a memory?
Open the app. Memories left for you, and public ones within a mile, show up on the sonar. Walk toward one, and once you’re within 30 metres you can break the seal and read it.
Does the app track where I go?
No. While the app is open, it uses your location to check what’s nearby, then throws it away. It keeps no location history and no record of where you were when you opened something. If you turn on the alert near memories, your phone does that check by itself and sends us nothing.
Why 30 metres?
A memory or a hunt spot opens within 30 metres. A phone’s GPS is usually accurate to between 5 and 20 metres, so thirty metres is close enough to mean “you are here” without making you hunt for the exact paving stone. The one exception is a place in Achievements: its seal opens anywhere within 200 m of it.
Can I read a memory without going there?
No, and the website can’t open it either. The only person who can read it from anywhere is whoever wrote it.
Someone left me a memory, but I don’t have the app. What happens?
They’ll get a link, by message or by email, and an 8-character code. When the app is out, get it, sign up, and open the link or type the code under “Got a memory code?”. Then walk to the place to open it.
Can a memory wait for a date?
Yes. When you leave it, choose “On a Special Day” under “When can it be unlocked?”. It stays sealed until that day, even for someone standing on the spot.
Can it be a surprise?
On a Special Day, choose “On that day” under “When should they hear about it?”: nothing reaches them until the day it opens.
What is a shared wall?
A guestbook at one place. Anyone within its distance (30, 100 or 250 metres, chosen by whoever starts it) can read it and add a memory. The person who started it can remove anything on it.
What shows on my lock screen?
On iPhone, while you walk the last 100 metres to a memory you chose in the app, only “A memory is near” and the distance. You can turn it off in Settings > Lock screen.
Can I make a treasure hunt on my computer?
Yes. On trackingmemories.com, a hunt’s moderators can plant spots, write clues, invite players and run the leaderboard. Finding a spot still takes a phone, standing at the place.
Is there an 18+ setting?
No. Adult language and mature images are refused when someone tries to leave them, and pornographic images are never stored or shown.
What does this website collect?
Nothing that identifies you. Visits are only counted, without cookies: how many people came, from which country and kind of device. No ads, and even the fonts load from our own domain.