Why I Made MagnetStory:
A Small App for Travel Keepsakes & Forgotten Memories

It’s funny: I realized I’ve never really talked about the story behind MagnetStory, or why I decided to make it in the first place.

Before making MagnetStory, I was an architect. I only knew a little programming at the beginning. But I have always loved traveling — not just to check places off a list, but to see how cities are built across different regions, cultures, and histories.

I love seeing how certain masterpieces can stand for centuries. Dynasties disappear. People come and go. Time keeps moving. But some buildings, streets, and objects stay there quietly, carrying traces of everything that came before.

And of course, I take photos. A lot of photos.

Cities, buildings, tiny architectural details, materials, street corners, people, daily life, children running in the sun, long shadows cast by a grand cathedral, an ice cream vendor rolling past with that small familiar sound.

Nature does the same thing, but in an even bigger way: clouds moving over a vast green field, light changing over water, mountains standing there as if the world never started and will never end.

Those moments feel timeless when they happen.

But later, they disappear into the camera roll.

Like many travelers, I also bring souvenirs home. Usually magnets and postcards, sometimes small artworks, textiles, or other little keepsakes. They are not expensive things, but they carry something real: a place, a day, a version of myself who was there.

The story of MagnetStory began with my own collection.

Every time I visit a new place, I usually collect a magnet. I have more than 60 of them now. One day, I was looking at them and wanted to revisit my photos from an Amsterdam trip in 2019.

And then I failed.

Not emotionally. Technically.

Because trying to find one specific travel memory inside a photo album with more than 15,000 photos is basically archaeology, but with worse labeling.

So I thought: why is this so hard?

Why can’t I simply link a travel souvenir — like a magnet, postcard, or keepsake — to the photos and memories behind it?

Why can’t I look at an object and let it bring back the moment?

That was the beginning of MagnetStory.

At first, I was actually building it for Vision Pro. The idea felt very natural there: you look at an object, and the related memory appears. You tap it, open a window, and see the map, the photos, and the story connected to that keepsake.

I built a demo quite quickly, and it almost worked exactly as I imagined.

Then I found one practical limitation: ARKit on Vision Pro only supported recognizing one image at a time for what I needed, while the iPhone version could support more. So I switched the project to phone first.

Not as dreamy, maybe. But much more useful right now.

Today, MagnetStory lets you link photos and memories to your personal keepsakes, souvenirs, magnets, postcards, and collections. You can revisit them later, not by endlessly scrolling through your camera roll, but through the objects that already matter to you.

There is also a small widget that helps you review these memories from time to time — because I believe many of the best moments in life are not gone. They are just buried.

A quiet trip. A gift from a friend. A tiny object from a city you loved. A photo you forgot you took. A moment that once made you feel alive.

These small, shiny memories matter. They give us something to hold onto in ordinary days.

And MagnetStory is not only for magnets.

You can use it for postcards, stamps, coins, stones, toys, miniatures, mugs, handmade gifts, travel souvenirs, or almost any personal collection. I’ve been lucky to see some wonderful collections from early users, and it makes me happy that MagnetStory can become a small space for them to recall, relive, and keep those moments alive.

That is why I made MagnetStory.

Not just to organize photos.

But to help people reconnect with the memories hidden inside the objects they already love.

You can get MagnetStory on the App Store here: