Privacy Policy

Viewfore is built around one promise: we never keep a searchable database of the people in your family tree. This page explains what that means, what we do store, who else sees anything, and the choices you control.

The short version

• Upload a GEDCOM file and we read it to draw your map and charts, then discard it.
• We never keep a searchable database of the people in your tree.
• The only trees we store are ones you choose to save or share, and only as your original file on disk.
• Viewers of a shared tree never sign in and never pay.
• Places are matched using our own copy of public geographic data. Your tree is never sent to an outside geocoding service.
• You can delete any tree, or your whole account, yourself at any time.

Your uploaded family tree

When you upload a GEDCOM file, our server reads it during that request to work out places, dates, names, and relationships. It streams the result back to your browser and then discards the file. We do not copy the people or places from your tree into a searchable database.

There is one exception, and it only happens when you ask for it. If you have an account and you Save a tree (private) or Share a tree (public link or embed), we store your original GEDCOM file plus a small settings file on disk so the tree can be loaded again. A private tree can be opened only by you. A public tree is open to anyone with the link, or to anyone who knows the password if you set one. You can delete a saved or shared tree at any time, which removes the stored file.

Living people in shared trees

When you publish a public share, people who may still be living are hidden by default. Someone counts as possibly living when they have no death recorded and were born within the last 100 years, or, when their birth date is missing, when their close relatives suggest they were. A hidden person appears as “Living” with no dates or places, and no estimated location is shown for them. You can turn this off for a share meant only for close family. You are responsible for the data in the trees you choose to share, and we ask you to be thoughtful about sharing information on people who are still living.

Accounts

You only need an account to save or share a tree. To create one we store your email address, a securely hashed password, and, if you enter it, your name. We use your email to sign you in, to send password resets, and to send service notices about your shares and billing, such as a payment confirmation, a warning before a 30-day share ends, or a notice that a share has been paused. These are not marketing messages, and we do not sell your email address. We email you news only if you ask for updates (see below). Viewers of a shared tree do not have accounts.

Payments

Viewing your own tree is free. Publishing a public share or embed is paid. Payments are handled by Stripe, which acts as the merchant of record and handles applicable sales tax. We never see or store your full card details. We store only what we need to know whether a share is paid and current: a Stripe customer reference, a subscription status and paid-through date, and the end date of any 30-day pass. Stripe's own privacy policy governs the data it collects, and Stripe may email you a receipt directly.

Updates and feedback

If you ask for updates, on the site or by ticking the box when you create an account, we store that email address and when you joined. We use it only to email you news about Viewfore, and every one of those emails has an unsubscribe link. If you send feedback, we store your message, your email address if you leave one, and a few facts about where you sent it from: which view you were on, whether you were on a phone or a computer, and the rough size of the tree you had open, such as “100 to 999 people”. We never store the tree itself or anyone in it. Neither is linked to an uploaded file or to an account, and we never sell or share these addresses.

Cookies and browser storage

If you sign in, we set one cookie that keeps you signed in for up to 30 days. It is used for nothing else. Your browser also remembers a few display choices in its local storage, such as your colour theme, your fan chart settings, and whether you have closed a help card or the updates card. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies, so Viewfore does not show a cookie consent banner.

Analytics and error logs

We use Umami, a privacy-friendly analytics service, to count page views and visits. It does not use cookies, does not keep your IP address, and does not follow you across other sites. When something goes wrong on our server we record the error and the page address, never the contents of a request, so an uploaded tree is never written to a log.

Companies that help us run Viewfore

A few companies handle data for us, only to provide the service. Each is bound by a data processing agreement that requires it to protect that data and use it for nothing else.

• Hetzner hosts our servers in the United States. Saved and shared trees and account records are stored there.
• Mailgun sends our emails, so it receives the address and the message for each email we send.
• Stripe takes payments (see Payments above).
• Umami counts page views (see Analytics above).

Some parts of the page also load from other companies, and loading them sends your browser's IP address to that company, the same as loading any image on the web. These are map background tiles from Esri, and the Stripe checkout page when you pay. Fonts are served from our own server. The place names in your tree are matched to coordinates on our own server, so your tree itself is not sent to any of these companies.

Our servers are in the United States, so your data is processed and stored there. If you are in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, this means your data is transferred to the United States. Our providers' data processing agreements cover these transfers.

Embedded trees

If you embed a shared tree on your own website, the tree loads inside a frame from Viewfore. We see the same things we see for any visitor to a shared link: a page view and the visitor's IP address while the page loads. We do not see anything else about the site hosting the embed.

Data retention

Uploaded files that you do not save are discarded after the request. Saved and shared files stay on disk until you delete them or delete your account, and are then removed right away. We keep short-lived backups of our server for disaster recovery, so a copy of a deleted file may remain in a backup for up to about two weeks before it is gone for good. Account and billing records are kept while your account is open and for as long as needed to meet legal and accounting obligations, which Stripe keeps on its side for payments. An updates address is kept until you unsubscribe; after that we keep it marked as unsubscribed, only so we never add it back by mistake. Feedback is kept while it helps us improve Viewfore, and we will delete yours if you ask.

Your choices and rights

• Delete any saved or shared tree from your account, which removes the stored file.
• Close your account from the Profile tab of your account page. This deletes your trees, share links, and account details.
• Stop update emails with the unsubscribe link in any of them.
• Ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or ask any other question, using the contact page. We will answer within 30 days.

If you are in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, those rights include access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection, and portability (a copy of your data in a common format), and you can also complain to your local data protection authority. We rely on our contract with you to provide the service, on our legitimate interest in keeping it secure and working, and on your consent for update emails. You can withdraw that consent at any time with the unsubscribe link.

Children

Viewfore is not directed at children and is not intended for use by anyone under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes

We may update this policy as the product grows. When we make a meaningful change we will update the date at the top of this page, and, for changes that affect how we use your data, email account holders.

Who we are and how to reach us

Viewfore is operated by 5 Lights LLC, a California company, which is responsible for the information described here (its data controller). “We” and “us” on this page mean 5 Lights LLC. Questions about privacy? See our contact page.