What's New

A plain-language look at recent improvements to the new LostCousins site. Last updated 10 Oct 2026.

9 October 2026

The site now has a dark mode. If your phone, tablet or computer is set to dark, the site follows it automatically. Once you're signed in, click your name at the top right and choose Light, Dark or Match my device under Appearance. Your choice is remembered on that device. Newsletters still show as a white page, the way they were written.
Some of our most active members will get an email about the new website, asking whether they'd like to help test it. The button in the email opens a page here where you confirm your answer, and you can change your mind on the same page later. We'll invite a spread of volunteers over the next few months.

Recordings of the talks Peter arranged for members, which were on the My Events page of the old site, are back. Once you're signed in you'll find them under Talks & Recordings. There's also a link to our new YouTube channel at the foot of every page.

The home page and the sign-in page now say up front that sign-in isn't open to existing members yet, instead of only telling you after you've tried, and point you to the existing LostCousins site if you're looking for your ancestors or cousin matches.
You can now change the email address we send your newsletters and account emails to, from My Details. We email a code to the new address to check it's yours. Your sign-in doesn't depend on that address, so you keep signing in the same way.

The country list on My Details now includes every country, with the most common ones at the top, so your country can always be shown and chosen.

Newsletter publication dates now show as UK dates, so an issue published at midnight no longer appears as the day before.
If we release an update while you're using the site, the page now tells you a new version is being installed and carries on once it's ready, instead of just saying it's rejoining.

Refreshed the site header and homepage banner: the logo now blends into the banner, the heading is white and easier to read, and the menu is centred.
The Newsletters page now loads and searches faster.

Added a My Details page where you can look after your own contact details and preferences.
New newsletters use one consistent font and sit on a clean white page against a soft background, with comfortable line lengths on a wide screen. Older issues keep their original look.
Newsletters now print cleanly, leaving out the site header, footer and navigation links.
There's now a fixed link, /newsletter/latest, that always opens the newest published newsletter.
Tidied the unsubscribe page, and it now asks you to pick a reason (including "Prefer not to say") before the button works.

If you're already signed in to Google in your browser, a one-tap sign-in prompt now appears so you can sign in without leaving the page.
If the email address you sign in with isn't the one on your LostCousins account, we'll send a one-time code to your account's email so you can link the two safely.
Links to LostCousins shared in WhatsApp, Facebook and other apps now show a proper preview picture.

The newsletter editor can now offer a smaller, web-friendly version of a large picture before it's inserted, instead of only the original file.
Fixed the unsubscribe link in older newsletters so it can never act on a broken or all-zeros link.
You can now sign in with a personal Microsoft account (Outlook, Hotmail or Live).
Fixed the contents links inside newsletters, which used to jump back to the home page instead of to the right part of the issue, and upgraded old links to the original site to secure (https) addresses.

Added a site feedback form, so signed-in members can report a problem or suggest an improvement directly from any page.
New newsletters now start from an editable standard template, and the editor gained a live Preview button plus autosaved edit history.
Signing in no longer creates a new account on its own - accounts are set up separately, and the feedback form is only available once you're signed in.

Redesigned the public Newsletters page with a prominent search box and a single combined archive - the archive now goes all the way back to 2004.
Imported the full back-catalogue of historical newsletters, preserving their original formatting and publish dates.

Newsletters now keep a full revision history, with autosave while you're editing.

Introduced Member, Subscriber, Admin and SuperAdmin roles ahead of the full member import.

Added the Information pages (About Us, FAQs, How It Works, Census Links, Referrals) ported from the original site, and a refreshed logo and header colours to match.

Added the branded homepage, a preview of the new member dashboard, and sign-in with Google, Microsoft, or Facebook - only the providers actually available are shown.