How to Interview Grandparents Over Video Call (2026)

TL;DR

Live far from your grandparents? You can still capture their life stories over a video call. Use Zoom or FaceTime, record the audio, ask open-ended questions, and back the file up in three places. Or skip the hardest parts and let Gift Podcast do the interview for you — $79.

Your grandmother is 84. She lives in Florida. You live in Seattle. Every phone call she says the same thing: "Tell me about work, honey." And every call, you nod along and forget to ask the questions you actually want answered — how she met Grandpa, what her mother's kitchen smelled like, what she thought the day she boarded that boat.

The good news: you don't need to fly across the country to record her stories. A video call, an hour of her time, and a plan is enough. Here's exactly how to do it in 2026 — and an easier option if the tech gets in the way.

Before you call: three things to sort out first

Pick a platform they already use

Don't ask your grandmother to download Zoom for the first time an hour before her interview. Use whatever she already knows. FaceTime if she has an iPhone or iPad. WhatsApp video if she uses it to talk to cousins overseas. Facebook Messenger if she checks Facebook. Familiarity beats features every time.

Do a five-minute tech test the day before

Call her the day before at the same time you plan to record. Check the audio. Check the lighting. Ask her to prop the phone or tablet against a stack of books — holding a device for an hour will tire her arm and shake the video. If she has AirPods or headphones, ask her to wear them. It cuts room echo dramatically.

Send her the questions in advance

Print five or six questions and mail them, or read them aloud on the phone the week before. This gives her time to think. Older brains remember more when they have time to warm up. She will come to the call ready with stories she has not thought about in decades.

25 questions that unlock a life story

These are not small-talk questions. Skip "how are you feeling" and go straight for memory.

Childhood

What was your bedroom like when you were seven?
What did your mother do that made her feel like your mother?
What smells remind you of your grandmother's house?
Who was your first best friend, and what happened to them?
What was the biggest lie you told as a kid?

Young adulthood

What was your first job, and how much did you make?
Where did you go on your first date with Grandpa?
What did you want to be at 20, and did you become it?
What is a decision you made in your twenties that changed everything?
What was playing on the radio the summer you fell in love?

Love, marriage, and family

What do you remember about the day I was born?
What did you and Grandpa fight about most?
What did you learn about love that took you thirty years to figure out?
Which of your children were you most worried about, and why?
What was your happiest day as a mother?

Wisdom and legacy

What advice did your parents give you that you now realize was right?
What is the hardest thing you have ever gotten through?
What do you know now that you wish you had known at 30?
What do you hope I remember about you?
Is there anything you wish someone had asked you sooner?

Want more? Read questions to ask grandparents before it's too late for another 40+ prompts.

How to record the video call

The video is nice. The audio is what matters. In 30 years, the audio is what you will play. Make sure it records.

Zoom: Free accounts can record locally on the desktop app. Click Record, choose "Record on this computer," and confirm both audio and video are checked. Save the MP4 immediately after the call ends.

FaceTime: On a Mac, use the built-in Screen Recording (Cmd+Shift+5) with microphone audio enabled. On iPhone, use Screen Recording from Control Center — test first, since audio behavior varies by iOS version.

WhatsApp video: Does not record natively. Use your phone's screen recorder (built into iOS and Android). Test the day before to confirm audio is captured.

Backup rule: Save the recording in three places within 24 hours. Your computer, cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox), and a USB stick tucked in a drawer. Files disappear. Grandparents do too.

The part nobody warns you about

Hosting a good interview is harder than it looks. You will get nervous. She will get nervous. Silences will feel awkward and you will fill them by talking about yourself. She will answer a question in one sentence and you will not know how to follow up. You will forget to ask about the things you most wanted to know.

The recording will end, you will listen back, and you will realize she barely said anything about her father — and you cannot call back and redo it, because she is tired and it took a week to work up to this.

This is the honest truth about DIY interviews. They are beautiful when they work. They are heartbreaking when they do not.

An easier option: let a warm AI host do the interview

Gift Podcast is the alternative for people who love their grandparents but do not want to be their interviewer. You buy a Life Story Interview for $79, send Grandma a beautifully designed gift link, and she clicks it whenever she is ready. A warm, empathetic AI host (built on ElevenLabs conversational AI) asks her questions for 25 to 35 minutes. She just talks.

The interview never gets awkward. The AI never runs out of follow-up questions. It does not get tired. It does not miss what she said because it was thinking about what to ask next. When it is done, you receive a professionally mastered podcast episode of her life story — a downloadable MP3, yours to keep forever.

Grandma does not need to install anything, sign up for anything, or type anything. She clicks the link and talks. It works on any device with a microphone. If she can hold a phone to her ear, she can do this.

The whole thing costs the same as taking your family out to dinner. There is a 100% money-back guarantee before the interview starts. See exactly how Gift Podcast works.

After the interview: preserve it like it matters

Whichever route you take, the recording is only valuable if it survives. Do these four things this week:

Save the file in three locations (computer, cloud, physical drive).
Write a one-page summary — date, questions asked, standout stories — and store it with the file.
Share a copy with one sibling or cousin. Distributed backup beats a single hard drive.
Play a favorite five-minute clip at her next birthday. Recordings that get listened to get preserved.

For a full preservation workflow, read how to save your loved one's voice forever.

Do not wait for the "right" time

The right time was ten years ago. The next best time is this Sunday afternoon, at 2 p.m. her time, on whatever platform she already uses. Whether you host the interview yourself or let Gift Podcast do it, the important thing is that it happens. Voices do not come back. Stories do not record themselves.

Gift a Life Story Interview — $79. The link never expires. Neither should her stories.