Frequently asked questions

A private family tree your whole family builds together. Everyone can see how they're related, add photos and stories, and keep in touch, while the family decides who sees what.

Yes. The sample family lets you try every feature. Your changes stay only in your browser and disappear when you close the tab. There are American, Indian (Kerala), Hispanic and Chinese versions.

Hosted: Starter is $0.99 a month or $9.99 a year for up to 100 people. Unlimited is $4.99 a month, $39.99 a year, or $199 once for Lifetime. Self-hosted: $249 once, with 1 year of updates and email support. Prices are per family tree. See Pricing. You can ask for a full refund within 14 days of your first purchase.

Hosted is easiest: we run it and back it up, and you can use your own domain. Self-hosted is for families who want the data on their own server and are happy to look after it.

Yes. It works in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers. Phones open in the simple Focus view; the bigger views work best on a computer.

The tree's Super admin decides. People who aren't signed in see either only a sign-in page or a limited tree (by default first name and last initial, photo, nickname, house name and gender for living relatives). Contact details, notes and comments are never shown to visitors. See the Privacy Policy.

Super admin: everything, including settings and deleting the tree. Admin: edit the whole tree, invite people and give any role except Super admin. Family head: edit and invite within their branch. Historian: edit ancestors who have passed away. Moderator: hide notes and handle visitor messages. Member: see contacts, edit their own profile, spouse and parents, and add children and brothers or sisters. Role badges on cards are shown only to Admins and the Super admin.

Right-click a person (or open their profile) and choose Invite to join, or use Admin → Invitations. You can also invite someone who isn't in the tree yet; they place themselves when they join. The invite keeps the role you chose. If their card is added later with the same email, they're linked to it when they join, so no duplicate is created.

Yes. The Help guide has a 👪 For family members tab and a 🔐 For admins tab covering members and roles, invitations, import/export, profile fields, settings, family day emails, updates and billing.

Only when you ask us for help on a hosted tree. A red banner shows while support is inside, and support changes are kept in a separate admin record. They don't appear in your family's Activity.

Yes. Anyone can edit or remove their own details, and admins can remove a person. If you're listed and aren't a member, contact the tree's admin or us.

Sign in to your account and click Billing: card, invoices, cancel or renew, then Cancel subscription. Your plan keeps working until the end of the period you've paid for, and we email you 7, 3 and 1 days before it ends. You can turn renewal back on any time before then.

A hosted family tree is paused: your family can't sign in, but nothing is deleted, and you (the owner) can still sign in to renew. We never delete paused trees; subscribe again any time and the same tree reopens. A self-hosted copy keeps working; only updates and support stop.

Yes, within 14 days of your first payment: that's our money-back guarantee. Email support@familytreecircle.com. After 14 days payments aren't refundable, renewals aren't refundable, and there are no partial refunds or proration.

Plans renew automatically each month or year, depending on the plan you picked, on the date you first subscribed. Lifetime and self-host licences are paid once and never renew. We email you 7, 3 and 1 days before each renewal. Your next payment date and amount are on your account page.

We retry your card and email you. Your plan stays active for 14 days so you can update your card from your account. If it still isn't paid after 14 days, a hosted tree is paused until you renew; only the owner can sign in.

On your account page, the Payments and receipts table has a 📥 receipt for every payment (and a refund receipt if one was refunded). Hosted tree owners also see them in the tree under Admin → 💳 Billing & Receipts. Click Manage billing to change your card. Card details are kept securely by Stripe, our payment processor; we never store card numbers.

Sometimes. Any current offer is shown on the Pricing page, and you can enter a discount code at checkout.

You and your family do. We only store it and show it to the people your tree allows.

Yes. Admins can go to Admin → Import / Export. Import an Excel or CSV file (download the ready-made template, fill it in, send it back), or export everyone as Excel, CSV or a full backup file at any time.

Admins can open Admin → Activity to see recent changes, such as "Updated Rosamma: gender → Female". Phone, email and address values are never written into the log.

Hosted trees are paused, never deleted, so you can renew or ask for an export whenever you're ready. A self-hosted copy keeps working; updates and support stop until you renew.

Only if a tree's Super admin adds an AI key. Then features like "Ask the family", summaries and photo descriptions send the relevant text or photo to the AI provider. Results can contain mistakes, so please check them.

Open the 📖 Stories tab and tap ✍️ Write a Story. Add a title, pick a style (✂️ Scrapbook, 🎬 Cinematic Timeline or 📰 Magazine), then add chapters with a year, a heading, the text and up to 6 photos each. Tag the people in each chapter so their pictures appear when a chapter has no photo.

Everyone signed in to the tree can read them; visitors who aren't members can't. Any member can write a story. Only the writer and admins (Family head and up) can edit or delete it.

Yes. Open their profile and tap 📜 Ancestor Chart. It shows up to 6 generations as a half circle, father's side in blue and mother's side in pink, with empty slots for ancestors not added yet. You can print it.

For relatives who have passed away, the 🕯️ Memorial Page gathers their portrait, years, family, photos, stories, a life timeline with the history they lived through, and memories shared by the family. On the anniversary of their passing, the family day email can include a gentle remembrance card that links to it.

Two ways. It builds itself from the tree: their birth date and place, wedding date, children, and dates of passing for relatives, with history they lived through (like India's independence or the Moon landing) added for the years they were alive. And you can add your own milestones with + Life Event, in the side panel or on their Life Story page: a year, what happened ("Graduated from high school", "Moved to Dubai"), an icon and an optional story.

Three places: the 📜 Ancestor Chart button in the toolbar above the tree (it opens for whoever is selected, or for you), the side panel next to 👤 Open Profile, and inside any profile under the name.

Open People → 🔎 Missing Ancestors. It lists people whose parents aren't known yet, unknown generations, missing dates and missing photos, so the family can work through them together.

Yes. On a birthday or wedding anniversary, everyone in the tree with an email gets one greeting email with a card made from the person's photo, like "Happy 60th Birthday, Maria!". Several celebrations on the same day come in one email. Without a birth year it simply says "Happy Birthday".

Every living person in the tree with an email, plus every member. It's sent once with everyone in BCC, so nobody sees the others' addresses. The Super admin can turn it off for the whole tree, change the time zone, 👁️ preview it or ✉️ send a test under Admin → Settings → 🎂 Family day emails.

Open your account page (your photo at the top right → Account & security) and turn on 🔕 No family day emails under 📧 Email Preferences. The same switch is in your profile, in the Contact section under Email. Your family still gets them; you won't. Turn it off any time to get them again.

That person has no profile photo yet, so the card shows their initials as a gold monogram. Add a photo and use 👤 Use as Profile Picture, and the next card uses it.

Quotes show a nickname ("AKA"). If nobody has added one yet, their first name shows instead. Add a real nickname in the profile to replace it.

A paid receipt is attached to your welcome email and to each yearly renewal email. An invoice is only emailed if an automatic renewal payment fails, so you can see what's due.