The Living Family Graph
A private network built around the family you actually have. The people, the relationships between them, and the things worth passing on.
Every family knows a lot. It just isn't written down anywhere.
Who is related to whom. Which cousin moved to Seattle. Where the house deeds are. What your grandmother said about the day she got married.
Most of that knowledge lives inside individual people. Some of it sits in phones and chats. Some of it is in a cupboard. When a generation changes, a lot of it quietly disappears.
FamRoot gives that knowledge a living place to continue, kept current by the family itself.
Where family knowledge lives today
- People's memories. Often only one person knows the full story.
- Contact lists. A name, a number, no context.
- WhatsApp conversations. Useful today, buried next month.
- Photos. Thousands of them, few labelled with who is who.
- Old documents. Important, scattered, hard to find.
- Social networks. Built for audiences, not families.
- Genealogy records. Rich history, little of everyday life.
A family tree looks back. A family graph keeps going.
FamRoot still has a family tree at its heart. What changes is who keeps it current and what you can do with it.
Traditional genealogy
Built to research the past. Names, dates and records, usually maintained by one dedicated person, and mostly fixed once they are found.
The Living Family Graph
Built for the family you have today. Each person keeps their own corner up to date, so the whole network stays accurate and useful in everyday life.
Social networks
Built around people you choose to follow, and designed to make posts visible to an audience.
FamRoot
Built around the people you are actually connected to, and private to the family and friends in your network.
Real life doesn't fit neatly into a tree.
Some of the most important people in your life are not relatives. The school friend who is basically family. The neighbour who has known you since you were five. And the dog who has been there for every birthday is family, whatever a traditional tree says.
FamRoot lets you keep all of them in the same private network, each with a relationship that reflects how close you really are.
- Family across multiple generations, including spouses, adoptions and multiple marriages.
- Pets, on the family tree with everyone else, because they are part of the story too.
- Close friends and friends, alongside the people you just know, who see your profile but not your tree.
Some things should outlast the conversation.
FamRoot gives families a private place for what they want to keep and pass on.
- Memories. Photos and moments tagged to the people who were there.
- The Vault. A private, encrypted place for the messages that matter most, shared only with the people you choose. Storing family documents and a private diary there is planned.
- Future messages. A text, voice note or video written today and delivered on a birthday, a wedding day, or years from now.
- A last message. Words for the people you love, released only after close family verify your passing.
"By the time you open this, you'll be all grown up. Here's everything I hoped for you…"
"Look after each other, and keep Sunday lunch going…"
Family information should not become public by accident.
You are sharing relationships, phone numbers, photos and personal memories. That is why FamRoot is private by design.
Owned by the family, not one person
Every member of the tree is a moderator. Existing members approve who joins next, so the tree stays in the family's hands, not one person's. There is no public link to it.
You decide who sees what
Notes, memories and details can stay private or be shared with specific people.
Not for sale
We use your details to run FamRoot. Your family data is not sold.
Make family easier to understand, keep up and pass forward.
We think the relationships in a family are one of the most valuable things it has, and one of the least organised.
Our long-term aim is simple. A child growing up today should be able to see who their family is, how everyone is connected, and what the people before them wanted them to know. Not in a dusty archive, but in something the whole family uses and keeps alive.
FamRoot is available now, and we are improving it continuously. You can follow along on What's New.
Start with your branch.
Add yourself and the people closest to you. Then invite your family to add theirs.
Build your family network