No AI training without permission
Your uploads and restored outputs are not part of a training dataset unless you separately opt in. Human review is limited to safety or support cases you raise.
Nostalgia - Living Archive
For Family HistoriansInherited the photos? Keep the stories with them.
Keep your family tree where it lives. Use Nostalgia to scan and carefully restore the photos, preserve names and notes, import tree context, review larger batches, and share privately with family.
Private by designNames and notes stay with the photoBuilt for inherited collections
Free starts with 30 never-expire welcome restores. iPhone and iPad are on the App Store, Android is rolling out through Google Play testing, and web is the companion workspace for tree import and larger review.
Restoration result
SourceRepair first, keep the Source, 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 a place to work through your photographs and gather what your relatives remember.
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 suggestionsCaption drafts, tags, and era estimates that help you write down the photo context you already know
Formal citations and source documentsPrivate links for individual restored photos and Family Vaults for branch-level sharing (one vault free with every account)
The result: photos that still look like your ancestors, captions that survive the next generation, and an archive relatives can actually open.
Boundary: your tree software remains the source of names, records, DNA, and formal relationships. Nostalgia keeps the photo side organized around that work without becoming another tree editor.
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
- The photo check 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
RestoredSourceThis restoration result keeps the Source tonality. Colorization is a separate, optional companion view.
Private by design
Your family's photos stay yours.
You own what you upload
Source scans and restoration results stay yours. Export or delete the full archive at any time.
Private by default
Private links are off unless you turn them on. Family Vaults are invite-only spaces for relatives.
Details in the Privacy Policy and AI Policy.
Archive workflow
A practical workflow for inherited photos.
The goal is not to finish everything at once. Start with the photos that need names or repair first, then build a repeatable rhythm for the rest.
Triage before you digitize
Sort the shoebox into priority people, priority events, and everything else. Scan the first two stacks first so the collection becomes a manageable queue.
Scan front and back at archival quality
Use 600 DPI on a flatbed when possible, or scan with the Nostalgia app. Glare burst handles glossy prints and album pages split into separate photos. At a desk, scan 2–6 prints together in the software you already have, then import the whole-bed file into web Scan Station. Choose an album, review the crops, and use Scan more for this album to continue. Capture the reverse when handwriting, dates, or places are present. Keep matching filenames and copy the wording into notes; pairing is manual.
Restore carefully, then stop
Save the batch, review possible duplicates, and try one photo check recommendation first. Compare before and after. Choose the main Source and restoration independently in Versions. Colour is optional; unused attempts can be reviewed for permanent cleanup on web.
Caption while memory is fresh
Edit the caption draft with real names, tag the people you recognize, and add Who, When, Where, What, and Story notes while the details are easy to confirm. If you already keep a tree, import it on web first so names suggest while you scan — never required to begin.
Share branch by branch
Use private links for a single restored photo, or Family Vaults for invite-only branch spaces. Either way, whoever opens the link can react and answer who is in the photo without an account, and every answer waits for your approval before it enters the Archive. One vault is included free. After a named album, pick one next share — a question, a vault, an exhibit, or a memorial — not all four.
Next steps
Choose the help you need before you upload.
The album-session playbookName the afternoon, scan, restore the worthy few, then choose one next share. Tree import is optional.Bring photos out of a treeHow to work from Ancestry or MyHeritage while keeping your tree where it is.Set expectations with examplesReal before-and-after restorations before you try an ancestor portrait.
Still researching a name, place, or date? Cyndi's List organizes genealogy resources by topic and location. Use historical records to check your photo captions, and keep uncertain details marked as estimates until you can confirm them.
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
Start with the app for scanning and restore. One portrait, one version decision, see whether the likeness holds up.
Get the appIf you need the larger workspace first
Use web for tree import, review queues, and inherited collection planning before or after mobile capture.