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Memories

Memories surfaces “this day, N years ago” style cards when you open Smriti. They’re generated locally, on demand, when you visit the Memories view (or read the banner on the Timeline). Nothing is pre-rendered, no server, no schedule.

How memories are generated

Smriti runs four generators against today’s date, then ranks the results and picks the best ~20 to surface:

  • On this day — photos from the exact same calendar day in any previous year.
  • Fallback window — when “on this day” finds nothing, widens to a ±7-day window so a sparse library still sees something.
  • Seasonal recap — gathers a whole month or season from a past year if there’s enough density.
  • Year recap — ultimate fallback: at least one card from a year with any history at all.

A hero photo is chosen for each memory: landscape orientation preferred, photos with faces ranked higher, recency breaks ties.

When memories appear

  • Library age — Memories only surface once your oldest photo is at least three months old. New libraries see nothing for the first quarter.
  • Photo age — Photos newer than three months don’t appear in memories. The point is nostalgia, not yesterday.
  • Daily refresh — Each day surfaces a new set; yesterday’s cards are recomputed.

What you can do

  • Open a memory card to see all the photos behind it as a filmstrip.
  • Slideshow — autoplay through the photos with arrow-key navigation. Pause with Space.
  • Dismiss a memory if you don’t want to see it again — useful for trips or events you’d rather forget. Dismissed memories don’t resurface in future months.

Privacy

Memories are computed entirely on-device. No server-side generation, no curated highlight reel, no notification that you “should look at this.” The Memories view is something you visit on purpose.

Disabling memories

Settings → Memories → Enable memories toggles the feature entirely. When off, the Timeline banner and the Memories view both hide.

See also