How is Kin different to other family tree apps?

• Visualisation: Kin uses a 3D visualisation to show more of your family at once than other apps, so you can explore the bigger picture of your family story.

• Inclusion: Kin aims to represent families the way you see them, allowing you to show the common complexities of families without adding rules, limits or expectations to what that should look like.

• Privacy: Your family tree data is private and you own it. Kin stores your data on your device, so it doesn’t require you to share your data or sign up to an online service.

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Where are my family trees stored?

• Family trees are saved to your device’s local storage, in a text file.

• Your family trees are not stored or backed up on servers or the cloud.

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How does Kin earn money? Are you selling my data?

• No, we are not selling your data. We don’t even have it!

• Kin is a paid app and that’s it.

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Can anyone else see my family trees?

• No one else can see your family trees, unless you send them a copy of your family tree, by using the share button or sending a family tree file.

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How can I back up my family trees, so I don’t lose them?

• You can use the share button to send your family tree to yourself or copy the family tree file to another device or storage service.

• Your family trees are local files on your device, so they can be lost if you:

  • Delete the family tree

  • Uninstall Kin

  • Lose or damage your device

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What data is collected from me?

• Only anonymised usage statistics are collected. This is to help improve the design of the Kin app and understand things like:

  • How long people use the app

  • Which features people use most and least

  • How many family trees people have.

  • The size of family trees people create.

  • Which countries Kin is used in.

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What format is my data stored as?

• Kin family trees are stored as .kin text files e.g. “MyFamily.kin” on your device’s local storage. These are in XML format.

• When sharing a tree, you are just sending them a copy of your family tree text file.

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How can I delete my data?

• If you want to delete a specific family tree, open the tree, then open the menu and use the delete button.

• If you want to delete everything, you can uninstall the app. All the data will be deleted when the app is removed.

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How can I send my family tree to someone else?

• With a family tree open, open the menu and press the share button to send a copy of your family tree file. The recipient can then open this family tree in their Kin app.

• Note that this is a copy of the file, so the recipient will not see future changes you make to the family tree.

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What if I have a suggestion, issue or complaint?

• We definitely want to hear from you, so that Kin can be improved.

• Please email us at kin.familytree@gmail.com and describe your suggestion, issue or complaint.