Connections
Why connections?
Tagging tells Lovd who's in a photo. Connections tell Lovd how they're related, which is what draws the family tree on the People page and the connection lines on your timeline.
You can connect yourself to other people, yourself to your Lovd Ones, and your Lovd Ones to each other. You can also connect yourself, or one of your Lovd Ones, to a Lovd One somebody else added or to someone else's account: that sends a request, and they accept or decline.
Adding a connection
Open the People page
Open People from the navigation.
Find the person
In the grid view, scroll or search by name.
Set their connection to you
Open the picker on their card (it reads This is my… until you pick something) and choose a type. The other side is filled in for you. A connection to one of your Lovd Ones saves straight away; a connection to someone with their own account is sent to them as a request.
Only one connection can exist between any two people. Picking a new type for someone replaces the old one.
To connect two of your Lovd Ones to each other, choose Connections from one Lovd One's ⋮ menu and use the Connect … to someone else form. In the graph view you can also drag a line from one person to another.
The other side is automatic
Mark someone as your parent and Lovd records you as their child, so you never set both sides. The same goes for every pair like it (grandparent and grandchild, aunt/uncle and niece/nephew, and so on). Types like sibling, partner or friend read the same both ways.
Connection requests
A connection is saved straight away only when both people are yours: you, or Lovd Ones you added. When one of them is somebody else's, they have to accept first. Someone with their own account answers for themselves, even if you already share a collection or a post with them. For a Lovd One somebody else added, the person who added them answers. The picker says who will be asked before you choose.
Picking a type in the picker sends the request there and then, and you'll see Connection request sent. To reach someone you haven't shared anything with yet, find them first:
Find them
Select Add someone on the People page and search for their @handle on Find on Lovd. (Make sure no collection is selected, or this invites them to the collection instead.)
Pick the connection
Select This is my… next to their name and choose a type.
Wait for them to accept
They're notified, and the request waits in their Notifications until they answer. Once they accept, you're connected.
While a request is waiting, the picker shows the type you asked for with a clock icon and the graph draws a dashed line. The picker and their Connections panel both read Waiting for … to accept, with Cancel request beside it. Only one request can be open between the same two people at a time.
They can decline. The picker then says so, and from which date you can ask again: a declined request can't be sent again for 30 days. To keep requests from being used to pester people, you can send 20 a day and have 50 waiting at once.
Requests about one of your Lovd Ones reach you the same way. Answer them in Notifications, or on that Lovd One's card, where a button shows how many are waiting.
Changing an existing connection works the same way: the request goes out, and the connection you already have stays as it is until they accept the new type.
An invite you send is different. Accepting it is their answer, so a connection that comes with an invite needs no separate request.
Connection types
There are 27 types. The picker opens with the most common ones at the top (parent, child, sibling, partner, spouse, friend, grandparent, pet), then the full list in three groups, with a search box to jump to any of them.
| Group | Types |
|---|---|
| Family | Parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin |
| Extended | Step-parent, step-child, foster parent, foster child, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law |
| Partners & friends | Partner, spouse, ex-partner, ex-spouse, friend, best friend, roommate, caregiver, godparent, godchild, pet, owner |
A Lovd One can be a pet: set them as your Pet, and you're their owner.
The connections graph
Once you've added a few connections, switch the People page to Graph to see them drawn out as a family tree.
- Generations. Where Lovd can work it out, parents sit above children and grandparents above parents.
- Orientation. Lay the tree out vertically or horizontally.
- Spacing. Adjust Sibling spacing and Generation spacing separately to spread the tree out or tighten it up.
- Connections. Show or hide people with no connections, and sibling and extended-family, partner, friend and pet lines.
- People. Select someone to open their profile. Their ⋮ menu can filter the timeline to their photos or open their connections.
- Lines. Select a line to edit or remove that connection, or to filter to photos of both people.
People with accounts and Lovd Ones sit side by side in the same tree. When someone has both a birthday and a date passed, their card shows their lifespan (1945–2023).
Connections on the timeline
When two connected people both have a birthday, the timeline draws a line between them. Turn the lines on or off with Show connections in the timeline toolbar's overflow menu, or press C.
To keep the timeline readable, some connections aren't drawn:
- Friend and best-friend connections.
- Connections where either person has no birthday, since there's no date to anchor the line. Add a birthday to bring it in.
- Lines that would only repeat a link the others already show.
Removing a connection
Either person can remove a connection at any time: from the graph, or from the picker on the other person's card, where Remove connection appears next to the search box. It disappears for both of you.
FAQ
Can two people have more than one connection type?
No, one type per pair. Picking a second type replaces the first, so the tree never says two people are both siblings and cousins.
What if the type I need isn't listed?
Pick the closest match. We add more types over time.
Can I connect relatives who've passed?
Yes. Any of your Lovd Ones can be connected, with or without a date passed.
Do connections belong to a collection?
No, connections are global, and a family tree is shared inside a collection. You see the connections you're part of, the ones between your own Lovd Ones, and the ones between two people who are both in a collection you can open (its members, and the Lovd Ones added to it). They show wherever those people do: the graph, the timeline, their card and their profile. A connection to someone outside the collection stays with the people it connects.
