Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what information FamTree ("we", "us") collects, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using the FamTree app or website, you agree to the practices described here. This policy works alongside our Terms & Conditions.

1. Who We Are

FamTree is a private family networking application that lets you build family trees, share posts and photos, and message connected relatives. The app is available as a web app (PWA) and as an Android application. For any privacy question, contact us at support@myfamtree.app.

2. Information We Collect

• Account information — your name, email address, and (if you choose to verify) your phone number. You may sign in with Google, in which case we receive your name, email, and profile photo from Google.
• Profile & family data — names, birthdates, relationships, biographical details, and profile photos that you add for yourself and for family members in your tree.
• Content you create — posts, comments, photos, videos, album media, and chat messages.
• Phone number (optional) — if you verify your phone number, we store it as a one-way cryptographic hash (HMAC-SHA256 with a secret key held only on our servers) so that relatives who already have your number can find you. The hash cannot be read by other users or by the app itself, and you can use FamTree without verifying a number at all.
• Contacts (optional) — if you use "Connect Family" to find relatives who already use FamTree, the app reads your contacts on your device and sends the phone numbers to our server so we can check them for you. On the server each number is standardised, converted to the same one-way hash described above, and compared against registered users. We return only the matches. The numbers are used for that single check and are never written to our database or shared with anyone, and your contacts' names are never uploaded. This feature is entirely optional, is rate-limited to protect everyone's privacy, and is only used when you tap it.
• Device & usage data — basic technical information such as device type and app version, push-notification tokens if you enable notifications, crash diagnostics (including error messages and stack traces) when the app crashes, and anonymous product-usage events such as signing up, adding a relative, or viewing the upgrade screen. We use these only to fix problems and improve the app.
• Public tree summary (optional) — if you choose to create a public tree link, we publish a summary card containing your family name and aggregate statistics (member, generation, connection, and country counts). It never includes individual members' names, photos, or details, and is deleted when you revoke the link.
• Payment data — if you subscribe to a premium plan, payment is processed by Google Play Billing. We do not see or store your card details; we receive only your subscription status and plan type.

3. How We Use Your Information

• To create and operate your account and family tree.
• To display your posts, photos, and messages to the family members you are connected with.
• To send invites you initiate and to deliver push notifications you opt into — new messages, family celebrations such as birthdays and anniversaries, and, during your first two weeks, an occasional reminder to add another relative. You can turn all of these off in Settings.
• To process and maintain premium subscriptions.
• To keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and fix problems.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

4. Who Can See Your Data

Your family data and posts are private to your family group by default and are visible only to connected family members, according to the privacy settings you control in the app — including per-member visibility for connected families. FamTree never publishes your tree's contents. The only exception is the optional public tree link you can create yourself: it shows an aggregate summary (family name and counts) and nothing about individual members, and you can revoke it at any time.

5. Service Providers

We rely on trusted third parties to run the service. They process data only to provide their service to us:

• Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore database, Storage, Cloud Functions, Cloud Messaging, Remote Config) — stores your account, family data and media, runs our server-side logic, and delivers notifications.
• Firebase Crashlytics (Android app only) — receives crash reports so we can diagnose and fix errors.
• Google Analytics for Firebase — aggregate product-usage measurement. We do not use it for advertising.
• Google Play Billing — processes premium subscription payments.
• RevenueCat — manages subscription status on our behalf. It receives your FamTree account identifier and your purchase details from Google Play so we can unlock premium features on your account.
• Vercel — hosts our website and the small server functions behind public tree links and subscription updates.

These providers maintain their own privacy and security practices and may store data on servers operated by Google Cloud or Vercel.

6. Data Retention & Deletion

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time from Settings → Account Actions → Delete Account. Upon deletion, an automated server-side process permanently removes your profile, family tree, uploaded photos and videos, chat messages and media, pending invites, phone-verification records, any public tree summary, and your sign-in account, and unlinks any connected families. Deletion is completed within 30 days and cannot be undone, except where we are required to retain certain records by law.

Two things to be aware of. First, if a relative had added you as a person in their family tree, that entry belongs to their tree and remains there after you delete your account — but we sever the link to you and remove your photo and phone-verification record from it. Second, stories you post to the feed are temporary by design and are deleted automatically 24 hours after posting, along with their photos and videos. We recommend exporting your tree (Settings → Export Family Tree) before deleting if you want a copy. Full instructions, including how to request deletion without the app, are at myfamtree.app/delete-account.

7. Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can exercise most of these rights directly in the app, or by contacting us at support@myfamtree.app.

8. Children

FamTree is not intended for children under 13. If you add information about a child to a family tree, you confirm you have the right to do so and have obtained any necessary consent from a parent or guardian.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections and access controls. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. International Transfers

Your data may be stored and processed on servers located outside your country (including by Google Cloud). Where this happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards to protect your information.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised version here and update the "Last updated" date. Significant changes will be communicated in the app.

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