Mobile Records Search is now FREE
From your Android or iPhone app, you can now access the Mobile Records Search for free.
The Mobile Records Search feature enables you to search for headstones on the go. While you are at a cemetery taking photos, you can search for specific names to find ancestors. When you find a headstone you want to view, tap on it, and you can view both the image of the headstone and a map of its location in the cemetery.
We hope you enjoy this great feature. To unlock this feature, tap on Records on the BillionGraves Home screen on your app. If you are having any problems accessing the Mobile Records Search, check your dashboard in the app to be sure you are signed in, then return to the Records view to begin your search. If you have any questions, feel free to contact support.
Users who purchased the records search (for $2.99) before it became free have been given a notifications package as a replacement for their purchase (a $4.99 value).
BillionGraves Plus
We’re unveiling new features on BillionGraves! All of the free features that you’ve come to enjoy are still free.
Introducing:
BillionGraves Plus
By opening a Plus account, you can access all of the BillionGraves features.
- 30 Records Watches: A Record Watch means you’ve submitted a specific surname you’d like to monitor at BillionGraves. Whenever a headstone with your specified surname is transcribed, you are notified via email. With these notifications, you’ll always know the latest data on your family history.
- Virtual Walkthrough: from any record view, you can click on the Nearby Records tab, where you will be able to see surrounding headstones in that cemetery. This is a great way to learn additional information about other people buried in that cemetery. We hope you make valuable research connections as you experience the whole cemetery where your ancestor is buried.
- Mobile Records Search: You can search and view all BillionGraves records directly from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device in addition to searching on the web. This means that while you are in a cemetery, you’ll be able to lookup a name to help you find a specific headstone or specific surnames buried in that cemetery.
- Favorites: This feature is coming soon, but we’re really excited to share it with you. You’ll be able to keep track of all your favorite BillionGraves records in one place. Once you mark a record as a favorite, you’ll never have to search for it again; it will be easily accessible from your Favorites page.
The BillionGraves Plus account is only $9.99 per year. And if 30 Record Watches isn’t enough, you can purchase Notification Packages, which include 10 additional Record Watches. You can purchase a Notification Package even if you don’t have the Plus account. For more information on signing up for a BillionGraves Plus account, visit BillionGraves.com.
Earn New Features for Free
Because we love our volunteers, we have started a program to reward you for your hard work: you can earn features just by uploading new images! When you upload just 500 images, you will receive 1 Records Watch (you can be emailed notifications when a certain surname has been added to the BillionGraves database). At 1000 images, you’ll receive an additional Records Watch. Then, you’ll continue to earn features for every 1000 images you upload. Visit the Upgrade page for more details. We know you’ll enjoy making a habit out of recording headstones, and we want to reward you for your efforts.
Of course, all of these features only serve to enhance your experience on BillionGraves. Our database of records will always be free. You do not need a BillionGraves Plus account in order to continue using BillionGraves.
We hope you are as excited about these new features as we are. Thanks again to all of our volunteers—image uploaders and transcribers alike—we couldn’t do it without you! Start uploading more pictures so you can earn your first Records Watch!
Free Access to Records
To celebrate the holidays, we at BillionGraves are providing anyone who registers for a BillionGraves account during December and January free access to records within the iPhone or Android app. This promotion will continue through the end of January, so if you don’t have an account, or know someone who doesn’t, register today for free so you can access this great feature.
With access to records on the go, you are able to visit a cemetery, search for a name, and find both the headstone image and the GPS location for that headstone from your smartphone. If you have multiple relatives in one cemetery, you can find all of their headstones through a digital search rather than a manual one.
If you have already registered during December, the next time you open your app, you will automatically have access to the searchable records within the app. Remember, records are always available for free online as well.
New Transcription Features
We are always looking for ways to improve your experience with BillionGraves, and today we have added two new features to transcribing:
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You can now transcribe sets of linked images together. You will know if you have a set of images to transcribe if below the transcription text boxes, you see a row of thumbnails of the images that are linked together.
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Now you can choose the country from which you would like to transcribe headstones.
| Note: if you are having any problems with the transcription page, clear your browser’s cache. This should resolve any problems. If anything is still having problems after clearing the cache, please contact us and let us know. |
The Importance of Staying Current
For those who are following the continuing steam of helpful updates, BillionGraves has recently released a version 2.0.1 of the BillionGraves app for Android and for Apple. While no solution is perfect, each step gets us closer. We try to not make it huge burden by keeping the number of updates down to a minimum. Generally there could be an update once every month or two unless there is something that needs more immediate attention. We invite you to continue to check back to this blog to find out more in the future.