I started looking for genealogy software for my mobile phone but most of the programs I came across are for the iPhone or iPad. Today I found the Mobile Genealogy site with a list of apps for the Android!!!

The first app I’m looking at is GedStar Pro. It’s a free app, I downloaded and installed it but I’ve run up against a barrier straight away. To use GedStar Pro I have to install their Windows software on my pc and convert my .gedcom file to Android format. There is a free trial of the Windows software for 28 days. My pc is dual boot Ubuntu Linux and Windows but I rarely use Windows on it. I don’t want to reboot just to mess around with GedStar Pro though. I also prefer to use FOSS where possible and to me it kind of defeats the purpose of a Linux phone with a Linux computer which means I don’t have to fudge around with it to try and get it to work it ‘just works’.

Next one is AGeneDB and I found that this app is no longer being developed.

Family Bee This one is $10 and there is no messing around with Windows software!! The official Family Bee website has the documentation too.

The directions were easy to follow to load my .gedcom file onto the phone and start viewing. So far it’s looking very good. I like the different tree views and the individual person view. I’ll write more about this later after I’ve used it a bit more.