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Backstory
"3 years ago today" — remember the days that changed you
Backstory saves the days that shaped you — wins, losses, firsts, goodbyes — with the story, photos, even a voice memo. Every year on the anniversary it quietly brings each one back: "3 years ago today." Unlike streak-driven journals, it's built to cherish, not nag. A "remember gently" mode softens anniversaries of loss — no confetti, no streaks. Local-first and private: no account, no ads, no tracking. Free, in 4 languages.
Hi Product Hunt — I'm Gary, a first-time maker.
For years I faked this app with recurring calendar events. Every life-changing day — the day my daughter was born, the day I lost someone, the day we finally hiked the Grand Canyon — got a yearly repeating event so a little "3 years ago today" would pop up. No photos, no story, just a title. It still got me every time.
Backstory is the real version of that hack. You save a milestone once — the story in your own words, photos, even a voice memo — and every year on the anniversary it quietly taps you on the shoulder.
A few deliberate choices:
- Everything stays on your phone. No account required, no ads, no tracking, no third-party analytics. Sharing memories with family is strictly opt-in — and only the memories you choose ever leave the device.
- "Remember gently" mode for grief anniversaries — a softer notification, no confetti, no "celebrate!" language. Loss deserves different handling than wins.
- No streaks, no gamification. Your memories shouldn't guilt-trip you.
- Free, in English, Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese.
Honest disclosure: I'm not a developer. I built this as the product owner while AI (Claude) wrote every line of code. I made the decisions — what to build, how it should feel, what to say no to — and reviewed and tested everything on real devices. Happy to answer anything about that process; it was the strangest and most fun part.
I built it one-handed, mostly while feeding my infant daughter. She's the first milestone in my timeline.
What day would you save first?
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About Backstory on Product Hunt
“"3 years ago today" — remember the days that changed you”
Backstory was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 0 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #31 on the daily leaderboard. Backstory saves the days that shaped you — wins, losses, firsts, goodbyes — with the story, photos, even a voice memo. Every year on the anniversary it quietly brings each one back: "3 years ago today." Unlike streak-driven journals, it's built to cherish, not nag. A "remember gently" mode softens anniversaries of loss — no confetti, no streaks. Local-first and private: no account, no ads, no tracking. Free, in 4 languages.
Backstory was featured in iOS (110.7k followers), Health & Fitness (83.1k followers) and Productivity (658.3k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 220.8k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Backstory?
Backstory was hunted by Gaurav Choukse. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
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Gaurav Choukse