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.
How to use Relatives Around Me for iOS. |
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?
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.
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.
But it is sourced with all that stuff…
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.
Great …relatives around you hannn
thats pretty cool idea
Can you do this on a Windows laptop?
Yes Michael you can
can you explain how to get the app on a windows laptop?
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.
can u do dis on cromebook
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This is good
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!
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!
I wish the web program did this!
Me too
It’s not in the App Store anymore
Nice!
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
No entiendo bien la información en inglés ,la tienen disponible en español ?
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.
it sucks