Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 9, 2026

This Family is a private, invite-only app where families keep their family tree, stories, photos and conversations. This Family is operated by Jon Aaron ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices you have. It covers our website at www.thisfamily.app, our apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, and our web app (together, the "Service").

The short version: your family's information is for your family. We don't sell it, we don't show ads, and you control which relatives can see what.

1. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Account details: your name, email address, phone number (if you sign in by text or share it with relatives), and the sign-in method you use. If you sign in with Apple or Google, we receive the name and email address you allow them to share.
• Profile and family tree: names (including earlier names), birth dates, photos, relationships to other people, places, and anything else you add to your profile or to the profiles of relatives you manage.
• Content you share: stories, photos, videos, audio recordings, recipes, documents, comments, reactions, and the people you tag in them.
• Messages and calls: the chats and voice messages you send. Video calls are connected in real time and are not recorded unless everyone on the call is shown that recording is on (a feature offered on some plans).
• Support requests: what you tell us when you contact us.

Information other family members give us about you

A relative may add you to the family tree, with your name, relationship and other details, before you join, or invite you using your email address or phone number. Once you join you can review and correct what's in your profile. If you never join and want information about you removed, write to privacy@thisfamily.app.

Information collected automatically

• Device and usage information in our apps: device type, operating system, app version, IP address, and which features you use, so we can keep the Service working and improve it.
• Error reports when something goes wrong, with personal details removed before they are sent.
• Photo and video metadata: we remove location (GPS) and other embedded camera data from every photo and video when it's uploaded, and we don't keep it.

This website does not use advertising or tracking cookies. We don't collect your precise location.

2. How we use information

• To provide the Service: build your family tree, show you the content you're allowed to see, deliver messages, and connect calls.
• To sign you in and keep your account secure, including sending one-time sign-in codes by email or text message.
• To send the email invitations, reminders and notifications you or your relatives have asked for. You can turn notifications off in Settings.
• To provide optional AI features when you or your family use them (see section 5).
• To keep families safe: enforce blocks, hidden relationships, safety mode and content ratings, and review reports of misuse.
• To process subscriptions and purchases.
• To fix problems, understand which features are used, and improve the Service.
• To comply with the law and protect the rights and safety of our users and others.

We do not sell your personal information, share it for targeted advertising, or use it to build advertising profiles.

3. Who can see your information

Your family

What relatives see depends on your settings and your place in the tree. You choose, field by field, whether a detail is visible to everyone in the family, only close family, or only you. Content ratings limit what younger family members see. You can block someone or hide a relationship, and safety mode can make you invisible to a specific person.

Service providers

We use the companies below to run the Service. They process information only on our instructions and only to provide their service to us.

Legal reasons

We may disclose information if the law requires it, to respond to valid legal process, or to protect someone from serious harm. We report apparent child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as the law requires.

If the business changes

If This Family is transferred to a company or another owner, your information would transfer under this policy, and we would tell you before it became subject to a different one.

4. Text messages (SMS)

If you sign in with your phone number, we send one-time sign-in codes by text message through our provider, Telnyx. We send a sign-in code only when you ask for one, and only to a phone number already attached to an invitation or account. We don't send marketing texts. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to stop receiving texts and HELP for help. Details are in our SMS Terms.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties. We share your phone number only with the provider that delivers our messages, for that purpose.

5. AI features

Some features use AI: suggesting a content rating for something you upload, weekly story prompts, summaries and titles, transcribing recordings, reading stories aloud, and an AI interviewer that helps you tell your story. When you use one, the content involved is sent to the provider listed in section 3 to produce the result. Our agreements with these providers don't allow them to use your content to train their models. We always show you when a feature uses AI. A copy of someone's voice is only ever made with that person's recorded consent.

6. Children

Children under 13 can use This Family only through a profile that a parent or guardian creates and manages, and only with that parent's consent. For these profiles:

• We collect only what the child's profile and the features their parent turns on need.
• Children can message and call only the contacts their parent approves, and their posts wait for a parent's approval.
• The kids app shows no ads, offers no purchases, and has no third-party analytics.
• A parent can review the child's information, change it, stop further collection, or have it deleted at any time, in the app or by writing to privacy@thisfamily.app.

Teens 13 to 17 can have their own sign-in. If you believe a child under 13 has an account without a parent's consent, contact us and we will delete it.

7. How long we keep information

We keep your information while your account is open. Family stories are meant to last, so content stays until you or your family delete it. When you delete your account, you choose for each of your posts whether to delete it or give it to your family. Your place in the tree remains as a name only, and you can ask us to remove your name too. We delete account data within 30 days, and it leaves our backups within 90 days after that, except where the law requires us to keep it longer.

8. Your choices and rights

• Access and download: you can export everything you've shared at any time.
• Correct: you can edit your profile and content in the app.
• Delete: you can delete individual items or your whole account. See how to delete your account.
• Control visibility: choose who sees each part of your profile, and block or hide relatives.
• Notifications: turn emails, texts and push notifications on or off in Settings. Reply STOP to any text.

Depending on where you live, including Utah and other US states, you may have additional rights to know, access, correct, delete or move your personal information, and to opt out of its sale or use for targeted advertising. We don't sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising. To make a request, write to privacy@thisfamily.app. We'll confirm your identity, respond within 45 days, and won't treat you differently for using your rights.

9. Security

We encrypt information in transit and at rest, limit who on our side can access it, and check every request against your family's privacy settings before returning any information. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affecting your information occurs, we'll tell you as the law requires.

10. Where information is stored

This Family is run from the United States, and information is stored and processed in the United States. If you use the Service from another country, your information will be transferred to the United States.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

12. Contact us

Questions or requests about privacy: privacy@thisfamily.app.
Everything else: support@thisfamily.app.