MacFamilyTree has quite a history.
For over 20 years, the powerful genealogy app has helped people make a meaningful connection with their past using elegant animations, charts, and imaging tools. The app’s virtual globe, for example, plots your ancestors’ migration paths around the world, while cutting-edge algorithms enhance scratchy old photos and hard-to-read documents.
“Genealogy isn’t just data; it’s experiencing the life of your ancestors,” says Benjamin Günther, co-CEO of the Germany-based Synium Software. “We rely on the latest technologies to focus on that discovery experience.”
And with the latest version of MacFamilyTree, optimized for Mac with the Apple M1 chip, the app’s gorgeous visuals bring your family story to life more fluidly than ever. We spoke with Günther as well as lead developer and co-CEO Mendel Kucharzeck about how M1 is transforming the future of digging into the past.
What’s the first thing people will notice when running MacFamilyTree on a Mac with M1?
Kucharzeck: MacFamilyTree’s user interface has a lot of animation. With the M1, it runs buttery smooth at 60 frames per second for the first time. And M1’s tremendous Metal and Core Animation performance means you can display a family chart with thousands of people and smoothly pan and zoom in and out.
What performance improvements are you seeing throughout the app?
Günther: Some areas are faster by a factor of 10. We were giggling hysterically, to be honest.
Kucharzeck: Thanks to the Neural Engine, the Colorize and Image Enhancer features—which optimize old photos and documents—run four times faster.
Günther: We’ve heard from customers that they had tears in their eyes when they saw their grandmother and grandfather sitting there in color—seeing the green of the trees, the blue of the water.
Was it challenging to bring MacFamilyTree to the new hardware?
Kucharzeck: Porting to Apple silicon was a two-step process: First, launch Xcode 12. Second, hit the Run button (laughs). It worked on the very first try—we had a native build up in minutes, and a few hours later we had it running perfectly.
If somebody had shown you this 10 years ago, what would you have said to them?
Günther: “Nice science fiction.” What we’re able to do by harnessing the power of Apple silicon really is science fiction.