Sharing & Keepsakes

Your archive is private, but the moments in it often belong to other people too. Ember can turn a story, a journal entry or a friendship into something you hand to them: a card, a PDF, or an image of your map.

How sharing works

Made on your device. Every card, PDF and map image is drawn by Ember on your Mac, iPhone or iPad, then handed to the system share sheet or Messages.
Nothing is hosted. There are no public links and no Ember servers in between. What you send is a file, and it goes wherever you send it.
You see it first. Each one opens with a live preview and a few switches, so you decide exactly what goes on it before it leaves.
Free, and no watermark unless you want one. Sharing is part of the free app. Cards, PDFs and map images carry a small "Archived in Ember" line by default; switch off Show "Archived in Ember" and they carry nothing of ours at all.

Memory cards

A memory card is a single picture of a moment: a story, a journal entry, or the way you met someone. It sits on the story's photo, or on a soft gradient in its own colours, with a serif title, a few lines of your words, who was there, and the place and date. Anniversaries get a small time phrase on top, like "A year ago today".

Open one from:

A story's Share menu → Send as a card…
A journal entry's menu → Send as a card…
A memory in the Feed.
Send a memory beside someone in Needs a Nudge.
A person's menu → Send a card… (a "How we met" or "Our story" card).

On the card, you can switch each part on or off: Photo, A few lines, Who was there (with or without Names), Place and date, and the Ember line. You can rewrite the title, and choose a Card shape or a Tall one that fits a phone screen.

Send to the people in it

The card knows who was there. Send to [name] opens Messages already addressed to them with the card attached, so you only have to add a line of your own. For a group memory, choose Everyone who was there. Share… sends it anywhere else.

Sending a memory is reaching out. After you send, Ember offers Log it, which opens Log Interaction with them already filled in, so the moment counts toward that relationship. It's optional; choose Done and nothing is recorded.

Stories and entries as PDF

Choose Save as PDF… from a story's Share menu or a journal entry's menu. Ember sets it like a small book: warm paper, a serif text face, page numbers, and your photos inline. The text is real text, so it can be searched, selected and read aloud.

Stories open on a cover page: the photo or the story's colours, the dates, the title, the places and the people.
Journal entries are one day, so they open straight onto the text under a header with the date, place and weather.
Songs become cards that open in Apple Music. Voice memos become cards with their length and date.

In the PDF, you choose: Photos, Map of the places (off by default), Who was there and Names, the Ember line, and A4 or Letter paper.

Linked stories and entries

If the text links to other stories or entries (or, for a story, entries mention it), they're listed under Linked stories and entries. Tick the ones you want and they're added at the end of the PDF. Their cards in the text become links that jump to them, with the page number shown. Only one level is followed, so a PDF never pulls in your whole journal.

When you're happy with the preview, choose Save… to keep the file or Share… to send it.

"Our story with…"

Sometimes the gift is the friendship itself. From a person's menu, choose Our story as PDF… (or Send a card… for the card version). Ember gathers what the two of you share into a keepsake made for them:

How you met.
Your shared stories.
Your songs.
The places you've been together.

You choose the title, with a few one-tap suggestions, and whether the cover uses Their photo. Only warm numbers appear, like how many stories you share.

Never included: your notes about them, nicknames, logged interactions, or whether the relationship is fading. The keepsake is made for them to read, so it's never a copy of their page.

Your map as an image

In the Map, choose Share to turn what's on screen (with your filters applied) into a picture, like "2026 on the map".

Choose Portrait or Square, and whether pins show your photos.
Entries and stories are on by default. People are off, and when you add them, names are never shown.
Approximate locations is on by default. It moves each pin to the middle of a 10 km square, and the map never zooms closer than a region, so no pin points at anyone's home. Turn it off only if you're happy for anyone who sees the image to know exactly where each place is.
Show counts adds how many entries, stories, cities and countries are on it.

What stays private

Everything you share starts from the most private choice and lets you add more:

Nothing is uploaded or hosted by Ember, ever. We can't see what you share or who you share it with.
People on a map image never carry names, and approximate locations are the default.
Places read "Oxford and 6 more places" rather than a route, so a card doesn't show the order you travelled in.
Private notes, nicknames, interactions and fading status never appear on anything you share.

Still stuck? Ask on the feedback board → All guides