What is a memory layer?

A memory layer is software that runs personal history alongside a phone's present-tense use — a persistent, low-attention channel through which the past circulates during the day.

Context

Phones have notification layers, widget layers, and now bubble layers; the memory layer is the same architecture pointed backward. Bubbles In Time is a memory layer implemented as floating overlays.

Where the term shows up

You'll meet 'a memory layer' across the growing space of photo-resurfacing and ambient-memory tools on Android — and in Bubbles In Time, which implements the concept on-device: photos, videos, and message threads floating over daily phone use, no cloud, no account, $2.99 once.