Their stories, in their own words.
Sit with your mum, dad or grandparent and let them talk. Hearthtold transcribes it on your iPhone and makes each story a chapter in their own words, then a book to print.
Recording and transcribing every conversation is free, and so are the chapters from your first one. Hearthtold Plus, for every chapter and the book, is £2.99 a month or £19.99 a year.
Dad had the shop on Kirkgate
1952 · All 16 parts included · In the book
Grandma, what was your dad’s shop like?
Oh it was a lovely shop, was Dad’s shop on Kirkgate. Dad had the shop on Kirkgate from before I was born. It was an ironmonger’s, nails and paraffin and mangle rollers and everything. You could smell it from the end of the street, the paraffin and the soap. There was a bell over the door that went ting every time somebody came in. And Dad wore a brown overall, he always had a pencil behind his ear. I used to sit on a sack of bird seed behind the counter and do my homework. He’d let me weigh out the nails on the big brass scales and put them in paper bags. Everybody on Kirkgate came in at some point, everybody.
Mrs Tordoff from the bakery used to come in for her firelighters and stop for an hour talking. Dad knew everybody’s business, he knew who was courting before their mothers did. On a Saturday it was that busy you couldn’t move for people. And in the winter he had a little paraffin stove in the back and we’d toast teacakes on it. I loved that shop, I loved it, I thought it was the best place in the world. Mum used to come down at dinnertime with his dinner in a basin with a cloth over it. And they’d stand in the back and have a cup of tea together and I’d mind the counter.
At the table
01
Ask your question, kept apart from their words.
Pick one of the app’s questions or ask your own, holding the Ask button while you speak. Your question is marked as yours, never mixed in with theirs.
02
Then let them talk.
The phone records the conversation and, once it has downloaded their language (do it on Wi-Fi before your visit), transcribes it as you go. The transcript is there the moment you stop.
03
Off the record, whenever they like.
One tap, and what they say next isn’t transcribed or put in a chapter. It’s still recorded, in files of its own you can delete.
Who lived next door to you?
Seaside, market and the buses
Machine transcript; may contain errors
- Who lived next door to you?
- Next door, oh, now that was Mrs Gledhill, she was a character.
- She had a parrot, a grey parrot called Captain, and it swore like a sailor.
- Oh, Mrs Gledhill, yes, she used to hang her washing out on a Sunday and Mum was scandalised.
- You didn’t hang washing on a Sunday, you just didn’t, not in our street.
- But she was good, she was very good to us, she’d have us in after school when Mum was at work.
- I knitted a scarf for Dad that was about ten foot long and he wore it, he wore it to work.
- Now there was a bit of bother between her and Mum one year.
- Don’t put this bit in.
- Off the record (2 min)
- Right.
- Anyway they made it up in the end, they were the best of friends after that.
Evacuation and the Rosemount
Chapters
Grandad, can you tell me about when you were evacuated?
I’d never seen a sheep, can you believe that, never seen a sheep in my life.
So, er, what were the Haversgills like?
Well she was kind, she was very kind…
And what about your national service, where did they send you?
I got the brown envelope, er, and I had to report to Highmoor Camp on the Monday.
Anyway, after I come out I went back to the dye works…
It was at the Rosemount ballroom on a Saturday night…
What was the first thing you said to her?
I said would you like to dance and she said I don’t mind.
All 60 parts included
Afterwards
Every story becomes a chapter.
Tap Make chapters and Hearthtold finds where each story starts and ends. Each chapter is made of their own sentences, in the order they said them, with a heading you can change. Your first conversation’s chapters are free; after that they come with Plus.
Their words
01
Tidied, never rewritten.
Ums, ers and words said twice come out. Nothing is added, and nothing is reworded.
02
Tap any sentence to hear them say it.
Every sentence plays from the recording, so you can check each one by ear.
03
Listen, then tick it checked.
Only chapters you’ve ticked ‘Listened and checked’ go in the book. A word you change stays underlined until you accept it.
As transcribedIn the chapter
It was an ironmonger’s, um, nails and paraffin…
As transcribedIn the chapter
…the paraffin and the and the soap.
Part 7 of 16Playing
I used to sit on a sack of bird seed behind the counter and do my homework.
Listened and checked · In the book
With Plus
A gentle follow-up when they pause.
When they stop for a few seconds, a question built from what they just said appears on your screen for you to ask, and is never shown when you’ve handed them the phone. It holds back after talk of money or a will, and after talk of illness or losing someone unless you turn on ‘Harder questions too’ before you start.
For example
“Everybody on Kirkgate came in at some point, everybody.”Grandma Joan
Recording · 4:12
What was your dad like when you were small?
You could askWhat do you remember most about Kirkgate?
The book
01
Your chapters, your photos.
Only chapters you’ve checked go in. Add photos from your library, or photograph old prints, each with a caption and year.
02
A PDF to print anywhere.
With Plus: a PDF at 6 × 9 in or 8 × 10 in, with the bleed print shops ask for. Any print shop or online printer can print it; you choose who.
03
The last page says how it was made.
The last page tells the family it was told by them, arranged on an iPhone and checked by you.
Grandma Joan’s stories
Told by Joan
Dad had the shop on Kirkgate
1952
Oh it was a lovely shop, was Dad’s shop on Kirkgate. Dad had the shop on Kirkgate from before I was born. It was an ironmonger’s, nails and paraffin and mangle rollers and everything. You could smell it from the end of the street, the paraffin and the soap. There was a bell over the door that went ting every time somebody came in. And Dad wore a brown overall, he always had a pencil behind his ear. I used to sit on a sack of bird seed behind the counter and do my homework. He’d let me weigh out the nails on the big brass scales and put them in paper bags. Everybody on Kirkgate came in at some point, everybody.
Mrs Tordoff from the bakery used to come in for her firelighters and stop for an hour talking. Dad knew everybody’s business, he knew who was courting before their mothers did. On a Saturday it was that busy you couldn’t move for people. And in the winter he had a little paraffin stove in the back and we’d toast teacakes on it. I loved that shop, I loved it, I thought it was the best place in the world. Mum used to come down at dinnertime with his dinner in a basin with a cloth over it. And they’d stand in the back and have a cup of tea together and I’d mind the counter.
7
8
Photographs
13
Told by Joan in conversations recorded 17 October 2026. Transcribed and arranged on an iPhone with AI help, and checked by Ellie. Small wording changes were made for reading.
iCloud DriveHearthtoldjoan-7c2e41
- audio / 18 items
- consent.m4a31 KB
- 1.m4a469 KB
- transcripts / 2026-10-17 1.txt4 KB
- chapters / 1 / 01 Dad had the shop on Kirkgate.md2 KB
- chapters / 1 / 03 The noise in that weaving shed.md2 KB
- photos3 items
- book / Grandma Joan’s stories.pdf2.1 MB
- manifest.json38 KB
- Joan-2026-10-25.zipSave everythingMaking the archive…Share the archive
Your files
Every file stays yours.
Every recording, transcript and chapter is an open file on your iPhone and in Hearthtold’s folder in your own iCloud Drive. ‘Save everything’ makes one archive per storyteller, free, always. Nothing is sent to us.
Photos, corrections and the people named.
Your photos, in the book.
Add them from your library, or photograph an old print. Each goes after the chapter you choose, with its caption and year.
Hand it over.
Pass them the phone with only Off the record and Stop on it, large. Touch and hold for two seconds to take it back.
Correct a word.
A word you change stays underlined until you accept it, and the words as transcribed are kept, so you can go back to them.
People named.
Before you export, tick each person the book names, to check they’re happy with what’s said.
No Apple Intelligence?
On an iPhone that can’t run Apple Intelligence, you can record, transcribe, split chapters by hand and make the book, all free.
How it compares
Hear any sentence in their own voice. Tellbook, Storyworth and Remento play a chapter or a whole story.
Free to record, with no limit. Tellbook gives three chapters free, then £24.99 once. Storyworth starts at £49 and Remento at £75.
Where others do more. Tellbook is paid for once. Storyworth and Remento print and post a hardback for you.
See the comparisonChecked on 25 October 2026.
Free to record. Plus for chapters and the book.
Free
£0
- Record and transcribe every conversation, with no limit
- Chapters made for you from your first conversation
- Split any conversation into chapters by hand
- Corrections, playback and sharing a recording
- The iCloud Drive copy, ‘Save everything’ and Recently Deleted
Plus
£2.99 a month
or £19.99 a year. No free trial: your first conversation’s chapters are the trial.
- Chapters made for you from every conversation
- Follow-up questions as you talk
- The book, as a print-ready PDF
If Plus ends, everything you’ve made stays, and the book of chapters already made still exports. Plus needs Apple Intelligence; on an iPhone that can’t run it there’s nothing to buy, and the book is free.
Questions.
Does it work without the internet?
Yes, once their language has downloaded to your iPhone: do it on Wi-Fi before your visit. Recording, transcribing and making chapters all happen on the iPhone.
Is anything sent to Mirentha?
No. There’s no account, no server and no analytics. Copies leave your iPhone only in your own iCloud (iCloud Drive, and your iPhone’s backup if it’s on), which we can’t see, and in whatever you choose to share.
Which iPhones does it work on?
Any iPhone with iOS 26 records and transcribes conversations. Chapters made for you and follow-up questions need Apple Intelligence: an iPhone 15 Pro or later, with it switched on, in a language it supports.
Does it change their words?
Only to tidy them: ums, ers and words said twice come out, and nothing is added or reworded. A word you correct stays underlined until you accept it, and nothing goes in the book until you’ve ticked the chapter ‘Listened and checked’.
Can I get a printed hardback?
Hearthtold makes a print-ready PDF of the inside pages, 6 × 9 in or 8 × 10 in, with bleed. Any print shop or online printer can add a cover and bind it; Hearthtold doesn’t print or post books itself.
How much is it?
Recording and transcribing are free with no limit, and so are the chapters from your first conversation (one sitting, from start to stop). Plus is £2.99 a month or £19.99 a year, for chapters from every conversation, follow-up questions and the book.