Updates come from The Picture Org. To install one, open the Hearth app, go to Settings, then Update the Hearth. How to use the Hearth: the User Guide.
Hearth 0.49.1
November 13, 2026
- On your installer's Docker page, the secure names part shows its own padlock icon instead of a blank one.
Hearth 0.49.0
November 13, 2026
- A new Hearth can be set up with one command, run by your installer on the server: it sets up Immich, music, home movies (if wanted), the Lanterns and the Hearth app in order, says what to do in a browser between them, and carries on where it stopped if a part needs fixing.
- For your installer, to try: the Lanterns page can make the QR code that sets up a reset Android phone or tablet as a Lantern, installing Fully on it as the phone's owner and joining the home Wi-Fi (open the Lanterns page with #reset-phone at the end of its address). The code is drawn in the browser; the Wi-Fi password isn't sent to the Hearth or kept.
Hearth 0.48.0
November 13, 2026
- The Nest doorbells can be connected from the Hearth app: Doorbells in Settings walks through Google's one-time steps, the sign-in, and which doorbells also react when someone's seen at the door. It can also set the doorbell's camera page and the Portals that switch to it. Before, this needed a command on the server. Google's sign-in and the passwords stay on the Hearth and aren't shown again.
- A Lantern can show two photos side by side: tick Two photos side by side beside it on the Lanterns page. A wide photo starts filling its half, then slowly zooms out to show all of it. Each pair stays twice the usual time, so the zoom finishes.
- Each Lantern can have its own time on screen, chosen beside it on the Lanterns page, or keep the usual time from Settings.
Hearth 0.47.0
November 13, 2026
- Lanterns can show the family calendar's next two appointments under the clock, as Coming up: only the time and the title. Paste the calendar's private address once under Family calendar in Settings (Google Calendar's secret iCal address, or an Outlook published calendar), then tick Show the calendar beside each Lantern that should show it. The Hearth reads the calendar every 15 minutes and never shows the address again.
- Settings has a choice for how each photo moves on the Lanterns: a gentle zoom (as before), Ken Burns (a slow zoom and drift toward one part of the photo, different each time), or still.
Hearth 0.46.0
November 13, 2026
- USB copies can be switched on from the Backup page: Switch on USB copies. Before, this needed a command on the server.
- A Lantern can be shown upside down, for a screen whose power cord needs it the other way up, or one that can't turn its picture itself: tick Upside down beside it on the Lanterns page. It turns within half a minute.
- The Good, Check, Problem and Not set up tags are all the same width, so the lines beside them stay lined up on Home, Setup and Backup.
Hearth 0.45.1
November 12, 2026
- The Setup page's Unraid Connect line now checks whether Connect is in use (signed in to an Unraid account, or remote access on) instead of whether it's there. Connect is part of Unraid from 7.2, so there's nothing to remove.
Hearth 0.45.0
November 12, 2026
- On the Lanterns, a photo that doesn't fill the screen (a tall photo on a TV, or a wide one on a phone held upright) slides slowly from one side to the other while it shows, each one the other way from the last. Photos the screen's shape still zoom gently. Add
&pan=offto a Lantern's link to keep them still. - Once secure names work at home, each Lantern on the plain address moves itself to https://lanterns.<name>, keeping its room name, town and options. It moves only after checking that the new address answers from that screen, so an older screen that can't use it stays where it is. The key never goes in the address. Add
&secure=offto a Lantern's link to keep it on the plain address. - The Lanterns page's two ways to add a screen have clearer names: A dedicated Lantern (an Android phone, tablet or Portal in Fully, set up by the Hearth) comes first, then A Lantern on any other screen (an iPad, computer or TV browser, from the setup link), with how to keep an iPad on the photos.
- Setting up a phone in Fully no longer asks you to set "Show above the lock screen" by hand when it can't read that setting: it says it couldn't check it, and that nothing needs doing if it's already on.
Hearth 0.44.4
November 12, 2026
- The Setup page shows the server's checks on Hearths whose Unraid settings file has Windows-style line endings. Before, the results couldn't be read, so the page said "Not checked yet" and kept checking again. The same fix makes the secure name for Unraid's own page use https when Unraid does; the hourly check puts that right by itself after the update.
- Home offers to install the Hearth app on the device, with its own icon and window: Install the Hearth app in Chrome and Edge, how to add it to the Home Screen on an iPhone or iPad, and on the plain address a link to the secure one (browsers install apps only from a secure address). Not now hides the offer for 30 days.
Hearth 0.44.3
November 12, 2026
- Check again on the Setup page says it's checking, and shows the new result as soon as the server has looked (a few seconds to a minute). If the Hearth's helper isn't running, or the check takes over two minutes, it says so.
Hearth 0.44.2
November 12, 2026
- Secure names use port 9443 unless you choose another, keeping clear of Unraid's own page (443) and Tailscale's (8443), so addresses look like https://hearth.<name>:9443.
- The Setup page's checklist ticks three more lines by itself: the Immich library once it holds the whole archive, music once Navidrome answers and has songs, and the reserved address once it has stayed the same for a week.
- While secure names setup waits for the home network to find the names, it asks for throwaway names, so a "not found" from before the names existed is never kept for hearth., videos. or the others.
- The secure names card links to the page where The Picture Org makes enrolment codes.
Hearth 0.44.1
November 12, 2026
- Secure names use port 8443 unless you choose another, leaving 443 to Unraid's own page; addresses look like https://hearth.<name>:8443. If 8443 is taken too, setup offers the next free port.
- If secure names setup stops after taking a name from The Picture Org's name service, it gives the name back, so the enrolment code isn't wasted on a name nobody holds.
- Music (Navidrome) and videos (Jellyfin) get secure names too, music.<name> and videos.<name>, and so does Unraid's own page for the installer, server.<name>. The music apps can use the music address at home.
- Getting the certificate waits up to 5 minutes for the name service's record to show, instead of about a minute.
- The Setup page links to the setup plan for installers.
Hearth 0.44.0
November 12, 2026
- The Lanterns page sets up a Facebook Portal too, without the server's terminal: after Find it, choose Photos when idle (a Portal). The Portal keeps Google Home as its page and shows the Lantern after 5 minutes untouched, woken when someone walks by. After secure names are set up, the same button gives Portals and phones their new link.
- Add phone photos to the family archive is on the Phones page: type the family account's Immich password once (it isn't kept) and the Hearth makes the key it needs, so this no longer needs the server's terminal. The wording elsewhere says "added to the family archive" instead of "filed".
- The Setup and Settings pages link to the User Guide.
Hearth 0.43.0
November 12, 2026
- Secure names (https) can be set up from the Setup page of the Hearth app, without the server's terminal: type the enrolment code from The Picture Org and press Set up secure names. The page shows how it's going, then the new addresses with a padlock for the Hearth app, the Lanterns and Immich. The old addresses keep working.
Hearth 0.42.0
November 12, 2026
- The Hearth sets up an Android phone or tablet as a Lantern in Fully Kiosk Browser for you. On the Lanterns page, under A phone or tablet as a Lantern: install Fully, turn on its Remote Admin with a password, type the password and press Find it, then Make it a Lantern. The Hearth makes the Lantern Fully's start page, full screen and always on, starting by itself when the phone starts, and says what it set. The password isn't kept.
Hearth 0.41.1
November 12, 2026
- A phone or tablet used as a Lantern can keep it as an app with its own icon: in Chrome, open the menu and choose Add to Home screen (or Install app). If the Lantern closes, tap its icon to bring it back, full screen.
- In a phone's browser, the first tap on the Lantern fills the whole screen, without the address bar.
Hearth 0.41.0
November 12, 2026
- On Home, tap a photo under Today, over the years to see it big, with its year, place and tags. Arrows (or a swipe on a phone) go to the next one, and Open in Immich opens it in Immich to download, share or fix a tag.
Hearth 0.40.1
November 12, 2026
- Everyone's Immich web page shows Tags, Folders and Recently added in its sidebar. The Hearth turns them on once for each account, so anyone who switches one off keeps it off. A person added from the Phones page gets them straight away.
- A new Immich key for the Hearth app can be pasted on the Setup page. The Hearth checks the key before it uses it. If the key can't turn on the sidebar for everyone, Home says what it needs.
- When a photo has more than three tags, the Lanterns show the most specific ones first (a town before its state), then A to Z.
Hearth 0.40.0
November 12, 2026
- The Lanterns show up to three of a photo's tags under its date, so a scan tagged "Fourth of July" or with a place says so on the screen. Add or change tags in Immich and the Lanterns follow. Our studio's own keywords are never shown.
Hearth 0.39.1
November 11, 2026
- Fixed: opening the setup link from the QR code showed "This screen isn't set up yet" once, until the page was opened again. The screen now says it's set up and starts the Lantern by itself.
- On a phone or a small tablet, the Lantern fits the screen and fits again when you turn it, without a refresh.
Hearth 0.39.0
November 11, 2026
- The Lantern setup link on the Lanterns page also shows as a QR code, so a new screen can open it with its camera. The code is made on your Hearth; the link never goes to an outside service.
Hearth 0.38.1
November 11, 2026
- Fixed: the family's albums didn't reach the Album for today list, because the newer Immich says who owns an album in a different way.
Hearth 0.38.0
November 11, 2026
- Album for today on the Lanterns page: choose one of your albums (a birthday, a trip) and every Lantern plays it for the rest of the day in place of today's and this month's photos. New phone photos still show. At midnight the usual albums come back by themselves, or press Back to the usual albums sooner.
- Albums the family makes in Immich are shared with the family account by themselves, so they can play on the Lanterns. An album whose name starts with Private stays with the person who made it. On the Phones page, each person types their Immich password once more to allow it.
- Photos moves up to Immich 3.4.1 when the Hearth updates. A copy of the photo database is saved first, and if the new version can't be fetched, the old one keeps running.
Hearth 0.37.0
November 10, 2026
- Send to The Picture Org tries a second address if the first can't be reached.
- The Hearth checks updates with the same code as The Picture Org's other apps, so a new signing key reaches it too.
Hearth 0.36.1
November 10, 2026
- When a new version is out, one Install it button on Settings fetches it, checks it and installs it.
Hearth 0.36.0
November 10, 2026
- When a new version of the Hearth is out, Home says so in plain view, with a See what's new link.
- Settings lists What's new in each newer version before anything is installed, so you can choose whether to update.
- A new choice, Install new versions by themselves, overnight, is off unless you tick it. With it on, the Hearth updates itself between 2 and 5 in the morning, with the same safety checks, and Home tells you how it went.
- The line that says an update was signed by The Picture Org and checked is now green with a tick.
Hearth 0.35.0
November 10, 2026
- The Hearth can tell you when a new version is out. On Settings, under Update the Hearth, tick Check memoryembers.com once a day for a new version. It's off until you tick it, and it sends nothing about your family.
Hearth 0.34.0
November 10, 2026
- A Setup checklist on Settings for whoever sets up the Hearth: the Hearth checks its own setup (storage, backups, battery backup and more) and says what's left, in plain words.
- You can change the family name shown in the greeting there.
Hearth 0.33.1
November 10, 2026
- On a computer, the menu at the top stays on screen while you scroll a long page.
Hearth 0.33.0
November 10, 2026
- Drive health on the Backup page: the Hearth's drives grouped by how they're set up, with each drive's health, age and temperature, and when every file was last checked.
- A drive that runs warm or has had errors shows Check; one that's too hot or has stopped working shows Problem, and Home tells you.
Hearth 0.32.3
November 10, 2026
- A safety fix: on a Hearth whose drives sit in a USB box, those drives are never offered as USB backup drives to prepare.
Hearth 0.32.2
November 10, 2026
- Your installer can set each drive's real born-on date, for drives bought at different times.
- Drives in a USB box that the Hearth uses are counted as its own, with their health and age.
Hearth 0.32.1
November 10, 2026
- Born-on dates: the Backup page shows the day your Hearth was born, each drive's born-on date and serial number, and drives that were taken out. The legacy page lists them too.
- A drive that has only had some errors still needs a fresh backup before it's replaced; only a drive that has failed can be replaced without one.
Hearth 0.32.0
November 10, 2026
- Shut down the Hearth on Settings, for moving it or before a power cut.
- Replacing a drive from the Backup page (turned on by The Picture Org once it has been tested for your Hearth).
Hearth 0.31.0
November 10, 2026
- Home has Open buttons at the top for the photos, the music and the home movies.
Hearth 0.30.0
November 10, 2026
- Bigger Open buttons on the Photos, Music and Videos pages. On a phone they open the app (Immich, Jellyfin, and Symfonium or play:Sub for music), or its store page if it isn't installed yet.
Hearth 0.29.0
November 10, 2026
- Videos already in the photo archive play on the TVs too, under Videos in the photo archive. Nothing moves.
- The Hearth's version is shown under MemoryEmbers at the top left.
Hearth 0.28.0
November 10, 2026
- Update the Hearth from Settings: choose the update The Picture Org sends you, and the Hearth checks it's genuine before installing it.
- Phone videos filed before Videos was set up can be moved to home movies with one press.
Hearth 0.27.0
November 10, 2026
- Set the Lanterns' towns from the Lanterns page: the home town, other towns, and each Lantern's town for its weather and tides.
- Home movies play more smoothly on several TVs at once.
Hearth 0.26.2
November 10, 2026
- Phones whose photos the Lanterns couldn't see now show.
- Home's phone lines go by when photos arrived.
Hearth 0.26.1
November 10, 2026
- The Phones page goes by when each phone's newest photo arrived.
Hearth 0.26.0
November 10, 2026
- Home movies are backed up to the USB drives and the off-site backup.
- Phone videos are filed into home movies so they play on the TVs.
Hearth 0.25.1
November 10, 2026
- Small fixes.
Hearth 0.25.0
November 10, 2026
- Everyone sees all the family's photos in their own Immich app, not only their own.
- Can remove photos lets the people you choose take photos out of the family archive, with 30 days to undo.
Hearth 0.24.1
November 10, 2026
- A nearly full drive is named, and isn't called a problem while the photos still have room.
Hearth 0.24.0
November 10, 2026
- Home movies on the family's TVs with the free Jellyfin app (optional), with a Videos page to add movies and sign in a TV.
Hearth 0.23.0
November 10, 2026
- Names on faces, captions, albums and stars you add in Immich are kept in small files next to each photo, so they're backed up with it.
Hearth 0.22.0
November 10, 2026
- A printable family legacy page: who to ask, and where the photos are.
- Drive ages, and a yearly backup review.
Hearth 0.21.0
November 10, 2026
- The Photos page counts the photos in the Lanterns' albums.
- Backing up the music library off-site is optional.
Hearth 0.20.0
November 9, 2026
- The off-site backup can't be wiped by ransomware.
Hearth 0.19.0
November 9, 2026
- Phone photos can be filed into the family archive for everyone, set up from the Phones page.
Hearth 0.18.0
November 9, 2026
- The Hearth app's buttons work at once.
- I've plugged in my drive on the Backup page.
- The Lanterns can play any playlist you make.
Hearth 0.17.1
November 9, 2026
- Photos that came out almost black are left out of the Lanterns.
Hearth 0.17.0
November 9, 2026
- A Backup page: 3-2-1, USB drives and the off-site backup in one place.
- Name each Lantern after its room.
Hearth 0.16.0
November 9, 2026
- Home says "Everything is running", and "Everything is safe." once your backups reach 3-2-1.
- Add a person's photo account from the Phones page, with QR codes for the apps.
Hearth 0.15.0
November 9, 2026
- Backups to up to two USB drives, readable or encrypted.
Hearth 0.14.0
November 9, 2026
- Send the logs to The Picture Org from Home > Help, and optional automatic problem reports.
Hearth 0.13.0
November 9, 2026
- Versions at the end of Home's details; repeated notices show once.
Hearth 0.12.0
November 9, 2026
- Lanterns reload themselves after an update.
Hearth 0.11.0
November 9, 2026
- Warnings about the Hearth's drives and battery backup show on Home.
Hearth 0.10.1
November 9, 2026
- The Lanterns' tides and sun take turns every minute.
Hearth 0.10.0
November 9, 2026
- Secure addresses for every Hearth.
Hearth 0.9.1
November 9, 2026
- Security fixes.
Hearth 0.9.0
November 9, 2026
- Each phone's last backup on Home, one address for phones at home and away, and optional remote help.
Hearth 0.8.0
November 9, 2026
- Secure addresses work with more home routers.
Hearth 0.7.0
November 9, 2026
- Secure addresses (https) on the home network.
Hearth 0.6.1
November 9, 2026
- Small fixes.
Hearth 0.6.0
November 8, 2026
- The Settings page.
Hearth 0.5.0
November 8, 2026
- The sun's arc on the Lanterns.
Hearth 0.4.0
November 8, 2026
- Version numbers.
Hearth 0.3.0
November 2026
- The first release.