How Simirity's Different

Simirity helps families go beyond surface-level communication to create deeper connections. Social media encourages people to share only highlights – holiday photos, nights out, celebrations – but real life happens in between those moments.

Take a typical family WhatsApp chat: it’s usually quick updates, photo dumps, or practical discussions. Those conversations get buried in endless message threads and disappear. Simirity provides story prompts and an online environment that guide you toward meaningful conversations – like asking your mum about her childhood or sharing what your child learned at school today.

Your Simirity stories are preserved in a private family archive, safe from algorithms and advertising, ready for future enjoyment rather than lost in the social media noise.

Genealogy apps focus on historical dates and family connections – who married whom and when they died. Simirity brings those people to life through stories that help your family feel genuinely connected to their heritage.

Think about it: knowing your great-grandmother was born in 1923 tells you very little. But hearing the story of how she met your great-grandfather during the war, or learning about her secret recipe that made the whole neighbourhood smile – suddenly she becomes a real person your children can relate to and feel proud of.

Simirity captures meaningful stories from your family’s past and present, preserving them for future generations to treasure. Rather than just mapping family history, we help you create an ongoing family narrative where your children feel like the next important link in a long family chain, connected through the real experiences and wisdom of those who came before them.

Google Photos stores and shares your family’s photos brilliantly, and Simirity isn’t trying to compete with that. Instead, Simirity focuses on the stories, emotions, and context that photos can’t convey – like your child’s thoughts on their first day at school, the origins of family traditions, or lessons learned from real-life experiences.

You wouldn’t upload all your photos to Simirity like you might with Google Photos. Photos are just one part of your stories, and many meaningful stories don’t need photos at all. Picture your child explaining their elaborate plan to become a dinosaur expert, or your mum telling you about the trouble she used to get into as a kid – these real family conversations can’t be captured in images.

In Simirity, it’s not about sharing photos; it’s about sharing the parts of your lives that matter most with the people you care about most. Because ultimately, life’s most meaningful moments can’t be captured in photos alone.

While both focus on family stories, there’s a fundamental difference in approach. StoryWorth sends weekly questions via email to a single person and creates an annual book about that one person’s life. Simirity is designed for the whole family to participate together – everyone contributes stories, responds to each other, and builds a shared family narrative.

Many people feel uncomfortable being the sole focus of family storytelling. With Simirity, the spotlight isn’t just on one person – it’s shared across the entire family. Your children’s current adventures are just as valued as grandparents’ historical memories, creating a balanced family story where everyone has a voice.

StoryWorth’s content is also limited to what fits in a physical book – text and photos. Being digital, Simirity offers much more flexibility: interactive maps, voice recordings, videos, and real-time conversations between family members rather than waiting for an end-of-year compilation.

Perhaps most importantly, physical books often end up on shelves, rarely opened. Simirity weaves your family’s past into daily life through story reminders and anniversaries, keeping precious memories active rather than archived away.

Personal journaling apps like Day One are designed for individual reflection – one person writing for themselves. Simirity is built for family collaboration, where multiple family members contribute stories, respond to each other, and build a shared family narrative together.

Consider sharing a story about a challenge in life – a career upset, a health concern, or a moment when you felt out of your depth. In a personal journal, these thoughts stay locked away. In Simirity, your honesty often sparks family members to share their own real experiences, creating conversations about life’s actual challenges rather than just surface-level updates.

While some journaling apps now offer family sharing, they typically share everything with everyone. Simirity gives you control – you might share a childhood memory with your whole family, but keep a private note just between you and your spouse, or create a special story collection just for your children. We’re designed for the natural complexity of family relationships, not just individual documentation.

Family sharing apps like FamilyAlbum and 23snaps do an excellent job of privately sharing photos and videos with your family, and they’re great alternatives to Google Photos. Like these apps, Simirity values family privacy and safety above everything else.

The key difference is that these apps focus on sharing photos and creating memories around images. Simirity goes beyond the photos to capture the stories, emotions, and context that images alone can’t convey.

Think about your child’s birthday party. In FamilyAlbum, you’d share individual photos and videos from the celebration. In Simirity, you’d create a complete birthday story that includes those same photos and videos, perhaps with a voice recording of your child sharing their thoughts after all the friends went home, and written accounts about the behind-the-scenes moments – like the panic when you realized you’d forgotten candles, or the sweet moment when the shy child finally joined in the games. Simirity lets you capture the whole birthday experience in a single story that contains all the different elements your family would love to revisit.

Both approaches have value, but Simirity believes that life’s most meaningful moments can’t be captured in photos alone.

Simirity doesn’t offer video calling – we’re not trying to replace your FaceTime chats with grandparents or family Zoom calls. Instead, we complement those conversations.

Video calls are wonderful for real-time connection, but those precious moments disappear once the call ends. Simirity preserves and builds on your family conversations through stories that can be revisited, responded to, and treasured over time.

Many families tell us that Simirity’s stories actually enhance their video calls as well. Instead of the usual ‘How was your week?’ conversations, families find themselves exploring topics they might never have discussed before, based on stories recently shared: like childhood memories, the back stories to children’s lives, or nostalgic stories about how life used to be.

It’s the difference between fleeting conversations and a lasting family legacy that grows richer over time.

Unlike public family blogs, Simirity is completely private and designed for interaction rather than broadcasting.

Family blogs typically have one author sharing updates with readers. Simirity encourages every family member to contribute stories and respond to each other, creating collaborative family conversations rather than one-way communication.

Simirity isn’t therapy – it’s a natural way for families to share and connect through storytelling. We provide gentle prompts and a safe space for families to learn about each other organically, without the formal structure or professional intervention of therapy.

It’s simply families being families, with a little guidance to make conversations more rewarding.