What happened on this day, every year you've had a camera.
A calmer way to revisit your past. Just today's date, across every year. No slideshows. No soundtracks. No AI. All on your device.
Download on the App StoreApple's Memories is a miracle of engineering that almost nobody loves. It picks your photos for you, wraps them in a Ken Burns slideshow, plays a soundtrack you didn't choose, and every few months surfaces a photo of someone you'd rather not be reminded about. There's no way to say "just give me the pictures from this date - and only the ones I want."
Google Photos does the same thing with more machine learning. Timehop does it with ads and a login. Every app in the category adds when what you actually want is subtraction.
So I built ThisDay - the memories app I wish had already existed. Open it, see exactly what happened on today's date across every year. Hide a date. Skip a photo. Turn off screenshots. That's it.
One day, every year, top to bottom
Each year's memories sit in their own row, newest at the top, with a giant faded year typography behind the card - the editorial feel of a magazine spread, not a photo grid.
Tap any photo to go fullscreen. Swipe between years. A streak badge appears when you've got 3+ consecutive years of memories on this date.
Wander through your past on your terms
Pick any date - your wedding, the day you moved, the weekend that changed everything - and see what your camera roll looked like on that day across every year.
Hit Surprise Me for a random past date. It's the feature Apple Memories will never build, because randomness doesn't drive engagement metrics. It's also the most fun way to use the app.
Finally - a mute button for your past
Hide a date forever (grief, breakups, mistakes - whatever you don't want to relive every year). Hide a specific photo. Exclude a whole album. Skip screenshots. Show only your Favorites.
None of it touches Photos. ThisDay just quietly ignores what you told it to. You can unhide anything at any time.
Gentle, optional, exactly as you want it
A widget for your home screen in three sizes. A notification at the time of day you pick - and only on days with something to show. If you hid a date, notifications respect it. If the day has nothing, the app doesn't ping.
Every filter in the app applies to the widget and the notification equally. No parity gap, no "why does the widget show this photo I hid" moments.
Name the days that matter
Tag up to five dates with a label - "Wedding Day", "Moved to Austin", "Dad's birthday". When that date rolls around, ThisDay changes its title to match. Subtle. No notification spam, no cross-year analysis, no "on this day in 2018 you…" slideshow.
Just a quiet acknowledgment that today is, to you, that day.
Things the big apps still won't do
Every one of these is a top complaint about Apple Memories and Google Photos. ThisDay ships them as defaults.
What ThisDay does not do
Who it's for
People with a camera roll older than their current phone. People who want to revisit their past without an algorithm curating it for them. People who'd rather subtract than add.
Get ThisDay on the App StoreBuilt by J - Swift 6, SwiftUI, PhotoKit, WidgetKit. On-device only. Zero third-party dependencies.