How can we help?

FamRoot is free to use, with every feature included. There's no separate sign-up page: every page on famroot.com has a short sign-up form.

1. Select Sign up for free and enter your name, email, mobile number and country.
2. Our team reviews each sign-up by hand.
3. Once approved, you'll get an email with an invite link to join FamRoot.

You need to be 18 or older to create an account.

FamRoot is a private network built around real families, so our team reviews and approves every sign-up by hand before sending the invite email. Once you're approved, the invite arrives at the email address you gave us.

Review is by hand, so timing varies; the invite is sent as soon as you're approved.

When you join from your invite link, we verify your mobile number with a one-time password (OTP) sent by SMS. Enter the code to confirm the number is yours.

Your mobile number is how you log in, and it's how your relatives' Smart Caller ID recognises you.

1. Go to the FamRoot login page and enter your mobile number.
2. The first time, sign in with the OTP we send by SMS.
3. Set a password. From then on, you log in with your mobile number and password.

Your tree starts with you. Add yourself first, then your closest family: parents, siblings, spouse and children. From there, keep adding relatives across multiple generations.

In the web app, open Connects and choose the Family view, then select Edit Family to start adding people.

Already have a tree in another app? Importing a GEDCOM file isn't available yet. It's in the pipeline, so for now relatives are added by hand.

You can add relatives before they have a FamRoot account. The tree supports spouses, adoptions and multiple marriages, so it can reflect your real family.

• When you add someone, Invite is selected by default, so they receive an invite link.
• If you untick it, the person is added to your tree but not notified.

Select Edit Family in the Family view, choose the relation (parent, child, spouse or sibling), then enter the person's first name and gender. Everything else, like date of birth and contact details, is optional.

Invite relatives so they can keep their own details current and add their side of the family. That's how the tree grows from every branch.

When you invite a family member, they get an SMS with an invite link to join your tree. WhatsApp invites are planned.

Add relatives from your own branch outward: parents, then grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and their families. Each person you add becomes part of your private family network.

Select that person in the Family view and add their relatives from there. The tree grows branch by branch, each new person anchored to someone already in it.

Got a relationship wrong? Any user of the tree can request to edit or remove it.

• If you're the only user in the tree, the change can go ahead.
• If the tree has more than one user, at least one other user must approve the request first.

This keeps one person from quietly rewriting the family.

Your network can include people who aren't relatives. When you add someone, choose the label that fits:

• Close friend
• Friend
• Just know

The fourth label, Knows me, is not one you pick. It lists the people who have added you to their network.

What friends see: your profile only, not your family tree. Sharing your immediate family with friends, and an expiring read-only tree link, are planned.

More on the Friends page.

Pets are family too, so they sit on your family tree alongside everyone else, with a pet profile of their own. A pet profile can hold:

• Name and gender
• A description
• Date of birth
• Date of death, if your pet has passed away
• Up to 3 profile pictures

More on the Pets page.

FamRoot shows how you're related to someone, and the full path that connects you, step by step.

Result: Cousin's wife, Level 5. Each step along the path is one relationship level. Your family content is visible to relatives connected within seven relationship levels.

Add a location by typing an address or by pinning it on a map. Locations power people search, so you can find relatives by place or distance, say everyone in Chicago before a visit.

A location is only as precise as what you enter. Settings to control who sees an address are planned.

Your relatives keep their own numbers current in FamRoot. When one of them calls, even from a number you never saved, Smart Caller ID shows their name and the relationship, such as "Aunt" or "Cousin's wife". Tap to see the full relationship path.

It recognises family and relatives in your network up to seven relationship levels away.

Android only. Smart Caller ID works in the FamRoot Android app, which is launching shortly. iOS is being evaluated.

• Only phone numbers are sent to our server, to look up the relationship.
• Your call logs never leave your device and are not stored on our server.

More in Data & Security.

Turn it on from More → Settings → Caller ID. Android then asks for access to your call log, permission to make and manage phone calls, and permission to display over other apps (so the caller card can appear on the incoming call screen). To turn it off, withdraw those permissions in your phone's settings.

A last message is for one or more people in your circle, delivered after you pass away. It can be text, a voice note, a photo, a video clip or a document. You can edit or delete it at any time.

How delivery is verified:

1. Someone in your first circle (parents, children, siblings) reports the death.
2. Two people from that circle must acknowledge the report, and everyone in it is notified.
3. If anyone in the circle marks the report as declined or spam, one more approval from the circle is needed.
4. Once verified, the family is informed and your last messages go to the people you chose.

More on the Last Message page.

Record a text, voice note or video now and schedule it for a date, a birthday, a wedding day, an anniversary or another milestone. You can also write to your future self, or to a future generation: "On his 18th birthday".

• You can edit or delete a future message at any time before it's delivered.
• Messages are attached to the recipient's family-member profile and are delivered only once that profile becomes a FamRoot user.
• For someone not yet born, the message waits until their profile is added and they become a user.

More on the Future Messages page.

A documents space for family papers and a private diary are planned. Today the Vault holds last messages and future messages. See the Vault page.

Every user gets 1 GB of Vault storage, free. Higher limits may come with paid plans in future.

The Vault accepts specific formats. Images: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP. Audio: MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC. Video: MP4, MOV, WebM, 3GP. Up to 100 MB per file; PDFs and documents aren't supported yet.

The Vault has its own password, separate from your login, as an extra layer of protection. If you delete your account, you'll be asked for your Vault password too.

You set it the first time you open the Vault, verified with an OTP sent to your registered mobile number. Forgot it? It can be reset the same way, with an OTP, and your Vault content is not lost.

Your family tree is private. There is no public link to it. It's visible to relatives connected to you within seven relationship levels. Friends see your profile, not your tree.

Vault messages go only to the people you choose.

No single 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. The creator lets another moderator in, those two let the next one in, and so on.

Changes to relationships in a shared tree need approval from at least one other user, so no one can rewrite the family alone.

There are no separate access settings today: your tree is visible to your connected family within seven relationship levels, and friends see only your profile. Finer-grained controls are planned.

You set your password after your first OTP sign-in.

To change it, open Settings and choose Change Password (you'll need your current password). If you've forgotten it, use Reset password on the login page: you'll receive an OTP on your registered mobile number, then set a new one.

1. Go to Settings, then Delete account.
2. Review the summary and tap Delete my account.
3. Confirm with the OTP sent to your registered mobile. If you've set up a Vault, enter your Vault password too.

Your account is deactivated and signed out everywhere immediately. This can't be undone. You can also email grievances@famroot.com from your account email or with your registered mobile number.

What's deleted, what's kept and when: Data Retention & Deletion.

Found your details on FamRoot without being a user? Email support@famroot.com or grievances@famroot.com. We verify the request using your mobile number, remove the details, and make sure they're not added again.

If no mobile number is on the profile, the user who created it must confirm.

Our Grievance Officer is Vivekananthan, at grievances@famroot.com. Grievances are acknowledged within 24 hours and resolved within 7 days.

For everyday help, email support@famroot.com. We reply within 15 working days.