The MyHeritage mobile app makes it easy to explore and share your family history on the go. Capture and share family photos and memories right from your mobile device, update your tree at family gatherings, and invite family members to contribute to your family tree. The MyHeritage mobile app is available for free on iOS and Android and works great on smartphones and tablets. If you haven’t done it already, install the mobile app now.
The Inbox feature on the mobile app allows for easy collaboration with your family site members, and with other users with whom you have DNA Matches or Smart Matches™. You can use it to send and receive emails, to explore your connection with other MyHeritage members, and discover more about your family history together. Collaboration is an important part of successful genealogical research. You can continue to correspond with your DNA Matches or other MyHeritage members wherever you are through the mobile Inbox, even if you started the conversation on the desktop. Contacting your DNA Matches is free in all contexts.
Accessing the Inbox
To navigate to the Inbox, tap on the envelope icon on the upper right-hand corner of the mobile app’s screen. If you have unread messages, there will be a badge on the envelope indicating how many unread messages are waiting for you.
You can also navigate to the Inbox from the menu of the mobile app:
Tapping on the envelope icon or on Inbox in the menu will take you to the Inbox.
The Inbox
The main page of the Inbox lists the email threads you have with other people. Threads with more recent messages will be listed first. Threads with unread messages will appear in bold. This is the same list that you’ll see on the desktop version of the Inbox. In the mobile Inbox you can initiate threads with members of your family site and continue threads initiated through the Contact links or buttons in the DNA Matches and Smart Matches™ features. You cannot search for or contact other MyHeritage members arbitrarily. This is a safety feature to protect MyHeritage members from spam.
To start a new thread, tap on the pencil on the bottom right-hand corner of the Inbox main page.
On iOS devices, tap on the plus sign in the “To” field. On Android devices, tap the “To” field and type in the name of the tree member you’d like to contact.
Start typing the name of the recipient and then select the intended individual from the list that appears. You can choose up to six recipients in case you want to start a group thread.
Start composing your message and tap “Send” (on iOS) or the arrow icon (on Android) when you’re done.
When a message is composed and sent, MyHeritage dispatches an email to the recipient. The email doesn’t give your email address; it is sent from MyHeritage on your behalf, and the recipient can respond to it through MyHeritage, which will then send an email to you.
On iOS, swipe any thread to the left to mark as read or unread or, tap on “More” to reply, archive, or delete the thread. On Android, do a long tap to pull up a menu where you can choose any of those options.
If you want to clean up your inbox without deleting your threads, you can archive them. When you archive a thread, it gets moved from your main inbox to a separate archive section.
To filter your message threads, tap on the filter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen — the icon that looks like a funnel. A panel will open from the right side of the screen where you can choose to view only messages that are unread, archived, or that you have sent.
Tap on any thread to see the most recent message. You can also tap on previous messages in the thread to expand and read them.
Reply to a message by tapping on the arrow in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Tap on the ellipsis menu (…) in the upper right-hand corner to reply, archive, mark the message as unread, or delete it.
We don’t expose email addresses, but we do tell you the name of the family site your correspondent manages.
When you have new messages, you will be notified directly on the home screen of your mobile device.
You can opt out of push notifications if you do not want to be notified this way, though we recommend leaving it on because incoming messages from other users can be very important. To opt out of push notifications on iOS, go to the settings menu on your device, select “Notifications”, tap on the MyHeritage app, and disable “Allow Notifications.” On Android, go to your device’s settings and continue according to the device-specific process for opting out of such notifications.
Summary
The mobile Inbox is a great way to keep your genealogical collaborations in one place. It was built to feel very familiar for people who are used to working with email applications, while preserving your privacy by not revealing your personal email address to anyone you correspond with on MyHeritage. The mobile app Inbox makes it easier and more enjoyable for you to collaborate with other MyHeritage members from around the world.
