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How do I get started?

Sign in. No FamilySearch account is required. Home leads with what matters most right now: a discovery, progress on a run, or what to do next. Research lists all your runs. Import a GEDCOM, people CSV, or DNA CSV you exported, or open an imported person and start research on that one person.

Do I need to connect FamilySearch or Ancestry?

Lost Tribes does not accept those passwords and does not write those trees. You upload files you exported.

What happens after I import a file?

GEDCOM and people CSV add people to Family. Opening Family → Import writes a free gap list (missing parents, date clashes, unsourced facts). What you imported stays a starting point until research finds records that support it. A file upload is never treated as proof on its own. Scan spends no credits. Research on one imported person uses 1 credit a round.

What is a DNA CSV import?

Upload a DNA match or segment CSV you exported yourself. Lost Tribes saves each row as typed genetic evidence on your account. It does not scrape match lists from testing sites. DNA is not parentage evidence.

Where do the food, songs and daily life on a profile come from?

Period context reconstructed from place and decade: food, songs, daily life, and historical background. It is labeled reconstruction, not evidence, and never substitutes for a sourced genealogical claim. Song playback and pronunciation appear only when attested in the source record.

What does the record request desk do?

When a case needs a record held offline, Lost Tribes drafts a letter, email, or phone script from your research citations. Copy or download the draft and send it yourself. Lost Tribes does not mail, email, or call on your behalf.

What are names to explore?

When research finds a name worth checking, such as a possible parent, it appears in Names to explore. Each row shows the name, why it came up, and which investigation found it. Hold keeps it under review and Reject keeps it out. Adding a name to your tree from this list is not available yet, but you can still review the evidence. Lost Tribes does not write to FamilySearch or Ancestry.

How do I hear about new records for a person?

On a person profile, choose Watch this person after research has started on that person. When new records or coverage changes land, Home and that profile show New evidence. Mark read clears the notice. Still watching on Home lists people you are watching. This does not connect to FamilySearch or Ancestry and does not write to those trees.

What is further research?

After an investigation finishes, a name in Names to explore can open a further question about that person. Review question lets you check it first, and Research further on that person is a child run that searches open archives only. Findings return to Names to explore. A name is not added to your tree just because research found it.

What are field research tasks?

When only a human can reach a record by letter, phone, or visit, Lost Tribes may offer a field task quote on Home. Accept the quote to authorize the genealogy team; work begins after that receipt. This is separate from the record request desk, which only drafts text for you to copy or download and send yourself. Field tasks mean the team carries out the outreach. Additional cost may apply. There is no purchase button in the app today.

Can I export my research as a PDF?

Yes. On a person profile, choose Export PDF report to prepare a PDF of your research on that person, then download it. You can add a numbered list of ancestors (Ahnentafel) or descendants (NGSQ Register). Preparing it can take a minute. Your research stays saved if it fails, so you can try again.

Can Lost Tribes research for me automatically?

Yes, if you turn it on. In Account settings, choose Let Lost Tribes research for me automatically. A plainly worded research request in chat then starts research at once, with no mode switch. Each round uses 1 credit. You set the most credits on one question (up to 5) and the most in a month. Turning it off stops new rounds straight away; a round already running finishes. A second setting, Keep researching my tree in the background, works through the gaps in your tree one question at a time within the same limits and posts what it did under Research on your tree. It does not research living people.

What does research add to my tree by itself?

With automatic research on, research can add a fact or relative that a record states directly, that nothing contradicts, that comes from an original or reliable source, and that is about a person who has died. It is marked Added by research with its source, and Review changes has an Undo for each change. Research adds only a few new people at a time. The rest, and anything uncertain or possibly living, wait for you with Add to the tree or Not them. A value you entered is never replaced. When research finishes, Home and the bell say how many new people it added, how many people you have in total, how many are verified, and how many more wait for your review.

What can I ask Lost Tribes to do in chat?

Ask in your own words: add a relative, fix a name, date or place, merge duplicates, check your tree, make a report, watch a person, set a reminder, or show your tasks. Chat answers questions from your tree and saved findings without spending credits, and offers to research when the tree cannot answer. Each change Lost Tribes makes shows Undo, and Undo all when there are several. Undo reverses only what that reply saved, and tells you if a change cannot be undone, for example because the person was edited since. Say Show my tasks to see what needs you, what is in progress, and your watches and reminders, each with Cancel. When you open chat after time away, Welcome back lists what happened and offers up to three one-tap next steps.

Can Lost Tribes watch for records or remind me?

In chat, ask Lost Tribes to keep an eye out for new records on a person who has died, or to remind you of something on a day. Reminders arrive as a notification in the bell, not by email. A watch checks after a week and then monthly. With automatic research on, a due watch can start research within your limits. Otherwise it sends one notice that new records may be online. You can have up to 25 watches and 50 reminders, and Undo or Cancel removes one. Watch this person on a profile is a separate feature, described above.

What does a Research Credit cover?

One round of research: your agent searches the archives, gathers evidence, and reports back with either an answer it can defend or an honest account of why the records cannot settle it yet. Research uses 1 credit a round and checks with you after 5 rounds. Credits are granted on join. There is no purchase button.

How does research run?

Each investigation uses public-web retrieval to search open archives and the research model to reason over what it finds. Live look is an optional watch on allowlisted public-record sites. It complements retrieval; it does not replace it.

Why does research take time?

Your agent works through historical records the way a professional genealogist would, including checking claims against the original documents. Careful takes longer than quick, and careful is the point.

What can it research?

Deceased ancestors, using documentary evidence. It will tell you plainly when a question falls outside what the records can support.

Attach a document to the chat

Attach a PDF or a text file to a chat message and Lost Tribes reads it, then answers from it: summarise a will, read a letter, or pull out the names and dates.

Up to 2 files per message, each under 3 MB. A PDF is read up to its first 30 pages. A scanned PDF has no text, so attach its pages as images. Reading a file never changes your tree; a change happens only when you ask for one, and it shows Undo. Sentences about a relative in your tree who may be living are left out, and so are email addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers.

Research several people at once

Ask once for a whole group, such as “find my four great-grandparents”, “research my mother’s side” or “find all the children of William Harper”. Lost Tribes works out who they are from your tree, lists them on one card, and starts when you tap Research these people.

It covers up to 8 people at a time and says when there are more. Anyone who may be living is skipped and only counted, never named; anyone already well sourced, or who needs a U.S. place or a year first, is left out by name. Each person is researched as their own question and uses credits as usual. You get one card, one Stop and one report when it is done.