Today, Ancestry.com released another update for the iOS/iPadOS mobile cemetery app, Find a Grave 1.24 (note for Android users – it will probably be available next week). The last *major* update was Find a Grave 1.23, in November, and just as with 1.23 adding a major new feature with lists of photo requests from the cemeteries you volunteer at and that are located near you, this also appears to be a major update. Most companies would have named these releases FindAGrave 1.30 or Find a Grave 1.40 respectively, but they are going with Find a Grave 1.24, so don’t let the incremental version number fool you!
Find a Grave 1.24 makes it easier to enter a new memorial, and with image text recognition on photos of headstones, the app can suggest names and dates. You can now also easily share cemeteries (including public virtual cemeteries) from the app.
If you’re not aware of what Finda a Grave’s “virtual cemeteries” are, they were added around 2021 and are a collection of (mostly) physical Find a Grave memorials from different real cemeteries that are grouped together in a “virtual” collection based on some criteria the user creates – it could be grouping together members of your family who are buried, or members of a military unit, or “FAN” members – Friends, acquaintances, and neighbors of your family. This FindaGrave.com article news explains mores, and here is the help article.
Find a Grave 1.24 Changes, Fixes, and Additions
- When adding a new memorial, before entering information, you can add a grave photo. For easy-to-read headstones and devices that support image text recognition, you will get suggested names and dates for easier data entry.
- Filter Virtual Cemeteries by private or public
- You can now share cemeteries and public Virtual Cemeteries from the app
- Various bug fixes and small improvements
You can download it through the iOS/iPadOS App Store (US App Store, should redirect to the proper store in other countries):
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/find-a-grave/id732952190
It currently has access to 225 million graves 500,000 cemeteries around the world.