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Relatives Around Me

January 5, 2018 By Matt Wright
How to use the Family Tree app to find relatives near you.

Have you ever sat in a room full of people and wondered if or how you might be related to those around you? If not, you will now . . . Sorry. But, there is good news! Relatives Around Me, a new feature in the FamilySearch Family Tree app, can tell you the answer.

How It Works

To try the new feature, you and your potential cousin both need to be signed in to the Family Tree app and within approximately 100 feet of each other. Once signed in, select More at the bottom right of the screen (iOS) or the dropdown in the top left (Android) and then select Relatives Around Me. This opens a page with a green button that says Scan for Friends.

Learn how to find out who around you you're related to!

How to use Relatives Around Me for iOS.

How to use the Family Tree app to find your relatives near you.

How to use Relatives Around Me for Android.

Tap the green button to start scanning. Anyone signed into the app and within range will show up in a list on your device, and you will show up on theirs. Selecting the person’s name will bring up a pedigree graphic showing your common ancestor and the lines through which you both descend. Pretty cool, right?

Use this cool feature to find relatives near you.

Give It A Try

Now, you could log into the app, start scanning, and wander around until you find a cousin. But there are better ways to use Relatives Around Me, especially in group settings. Here are some of the best scenarios to give this new feature a try:

  • Church group—Find out who in your congregation is also part of your family tree. Fun at a weekday party or activity, and useful in a Sunday class.
  • Friends—Out with friends? Check to see if you are related. You may have more in common with your friends than just hiking, reading, or a love of adorable cat videos.
  • Neighbors—Easy to do as you talk with neighbors across the fence. Interesting to see if you have flocked to the same area as your distant relatives.
  • Coworkers—A fun work party activity, or a unique way to build unity and connection among those that work in the same office.

If you have questions or comments about this or any other feature of the FamilySearch Family Tree app, you can select Give App Feedback on the Help menu to send us your input. We’d love to hear what you think of the app.

Download the app today and give it a try! To get to the Android app instead, click here.

 


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Filed Under: What's New at FamilySearch 53 Comments Tagged With: Family Tree App, Family Tree Updates, Relatives

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Comments

  1. John Archer says:
    April 14, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    If information on your family tree and/or the other person’s family tree is not sourced with records such as birth, death and census this app has no value. Bad information from family trees causes repetitive errors in genealogy work.

    Reply
    • Real Person says:
      May 16, 2018 at 10:17 pm

      But it is sourced with all that stuff…

      Reply
    • Martin Soward says:
      June 6, 2018 at 6:45 am

      John Archer is so right! It’s irritating to find that many people have latched on to erroneous data. It seems like some people will accept any information regardless of source citations. To me that is dishonoring one’s ancestors.

      Reply
      • priyankasen.com says:
        July 17, 2018 at 10:12 pm

        Great …relatives around you hannn

        Reply
  2. david kendall says:
    April 29, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    thats pretty cool idea

    Reply
  3. MICHAEL J FULLER says:
    April 30, 2018 at 11:16 am

    Can you do this on a Windows laptop?

    Reply
    • Oliver boice says:
      May 3, 2018 at 8:01 pm

      Yes Michael you can

      Reply
      • Adam says:
        June 5, 2018 at 12:20 pm

        can you explain how to get the app on a windows laptop?

        Reply
        • Alison Ensign says:
          June 6, 2018 at 10:01 am

          Adam, to get the app on a windows laptop, you will need to try adding GooglePlay to your browser: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-play/komhbcfkdcgmcdoenjcjheifdiabikfi?hl=en. You’ll then have to download the Family Tree app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.familysearch.mobile. However, I’m not positive this will work since GooglePlay and the Family Tree app are both designed for use on tablets and smartphones.

          Reply
  4. lilly says:
    May 2, 2018 at 8:13 am

    can u do dis on cromebook

    Reply
  5. aby mon says:
    May 11, 2018 at 3:59 am

    I really appreciate the content of this post. This is really an entreating and relevant topic. Iam a regualr visitor of this blog.

    Reply
  6. Anonymous says:
    May 15, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    I am exceptionally happy that I have run over to your blog since you have shared a stand-out blog which has every one of the things in an extremely lovely way.

    Reply
  7. Summer Cain says:
    June 28, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    This is good

    Reply
  8. K says:
    July 19, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    My daughter tried pulling up her pedigree but none of my pedigree as her father is coming up. My pedigree shows up on my account and goes back several generations but her shows nothing beyond me. Her moms side comes up. Help!

    Reply
    • Laurie Bradshaw says:
      July 20, 2018 at 8:24 am

      Hello! Have your daughter manually add family members on her FamilySearch Family Tree all the way back to the most recently deceased ancestor. Be sure to include the personalized FamilySearch IDs (the combination of letters and numbers to the right of the name). Once that’s done, the tree should fill itself in. I hope that helps!

      Reply
  9. Carl Hill says:
    August 6, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    I wish the web program did this!

    Reply
    • Amanda says:
      November 11, 2018 at 4:21 pm

      Me too

      Reply
  10. Someone says:
    August 9, 2018 at 5:12 am

    It’s not in the App Store anymore

    Reply
  11. Reeva says:
    September 22, 2018 at 8:46 am

    Nice!

    Reply
  12. Deborah Keel says:
    December 8, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    Hello, I have the app but when I try to scan for relatives around me it says “no internet connection”
    But I DO have connection. Please advise, thank you

    Reply
  13. María Concepcion Alvarez Pizano says:
    January 16, 2019 at 6:36 am

    No entiendo bien la información en inglés ,la tienen disponible en español ?

    Reply
    • DAN A PETERS says:
      January 30, 2019 at 5:59 pm

      Abra “translate.google.com” en su navegador, luego copie / pegue el texto en inglés en el cuadro de la izquierda y luego seleccione “Español” en el cuadro de la derecha. Espero que esto ayude, pero sólo una solución temporal.

      Reply
  14. Bob says:
    January 29, 2019 at 9:02 am

    it sucks

    Reply
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