Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 17, 2026.
Family Visits is built so a family can coordinate visits to a loved one without losing the plan in a group chat. This page explains, in plain English, what the app collects, why, who sees it, and how to make it stop.
The short version
- We sell nothing. Your information is never sold or shared with advertisers, data brokers, or any third party for marketing.
- We track no one across apps or websites. The "Tracking" Apple defines does not apply to anything we do.
- Location is opt-in and off by default. It only watches the address of the relative you're visiting, and only when you've already claimed a visit there.
- Contacts are read, never uploaded. When you tap "Add member from contacts," the lookup happens on your phone. Nothing leaves the device.
- Analytics exist only to make the app better. They are never used for advertising.
- You can delete your account from inside the app at any time.
What we collect
Account info
Your display name. Your email or phone number — whichever you used to sign in. That's it. We do not ask for a date of birth, address, or any other profile field unless you choose to add one.
Family circle content
The data your family creates inside the app: circle names, scheduled visits, comments, post-visit notes, photos you upload, and the addresses you save for a relative. This content is visible only to members of the family circle it belongs to. We treat it as private.
Location (opt-in)
If you turn on arrival pings, Family Visits monitors only the saved address of the relative you've claimed a visit with. When you arrive, the family circle gets a soft "Sarah just arrived" notification. We do not log location history, we do not store breadcrumbs, and we never share your location outside the circle. You can revoke this anytime in iOS Settings → Family Visits → Location.
Contacts (on-device only)
If you grant contacts access, the app reads your address book on the device so you can pick someone to invite into a circle. Selected contacts are never uploaded to our servers. The contact disappears from our flow the moment the invitation is sent (via SMS or share sheet).
Calendar
If you turn on Google Calendar sync, we read and write visits to your Google Calendar via Google's official Calendar API. Family Visits never reads other events in your calendar — only ones we created. You can disconnect anytime.
Diagnostics & analytics
To find bugs and understand what features get used, we use two analytics tools:
- Sentry — crash reports and performance traces. Tied to your Family Visits user ID. We do not send Sentry your name, email, IP, or any personal info beyond the ID.
- PostHog — product events (e.g., "circle_created", "visit_claimed"). Tied to your Family Visits user ID. We do not capture screen views or session replays.
Both are first-party analytics. Neither is shared with advertisers. Both honor account-deletion requests.
What we never collect
- Health records, medications, conditions, or anything medical. Family Visits is a visit-coordination app, not a health app.
- Browsing history outside the app.
- Advertising identifiers (IDFA).
- Your contacts list, beyond the moment you tap one to invite.
- Your location, unless you explicitly opt in to arrival pings.
- Anything from your relative's phone. We never message your relative. The family does.
Who can see what
- Members of a family circle see all visits, posts, notes, and photos in that circle. No member can see another circle.
- Family Visits staff can read aggregate metrics and crash reports. We do not read your circle content unless you explicitly ask for support help and grant access.
- Apple sees crash data through the standard iOS crash-reporting pipeline if you have crash sharing enabled in iOS Settings.
- Google sees only the events you choose to sync to Google Calendar, under Google's own privacy terms.
Service providers we use
| Provider | What we send |
|---|---|
| Firebase (Google) | Authentication, encrypted storage of circle content, push delivery, anti-abuse attestation. |
| Sentry | Crashes, stack traces, performance traces — linked to your user ID. |
| PostHog | Named product events linked to your user ID. |
| Twilio | SMS invites only. We send the invitee's phone number to deliver the invite text. |
| Daily.co | Video check-in feature only. Rooms are ephemeral and torn down after the call. |
Memorial Mode
When you archive a circle in Memorial Mode, the data inside that circle is preserved forever. We never delete it. New visits stop, reminders go quiet, and the photo feed becomes read-only. If you ever want the data removed, contact support@familyvisits.app and we'll honor the request within 30 days.
Deleting your account
Open the app → You → Privacy → Delete my account. We will:
- Delete your Firebase Auth account.
- Delete your user profile.
- Remove your push and analytics IDs.
- Leave content you authored in shared circles attributed to "Former member" (so the family's record stays intact) unless you ask us to remove it specifically.
Memorial-mode content is preserved by design. To delete it, email support@familyvisits.app.
Children
Family Visits is not designed for children under 13. If you believe a child has signed up, email support@familyvisits.app and we will close the account.
International use
Family Visits is operated from the United States. Data is stored on Google's servers in the US region. If you are in the EU or UK, your use of the app constitutes consent to this transfer. We honor data-access and deletion requests from anywhere.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page when the practices change. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent change. If we ever make a change that materially expands what we collect, we will notify you in-app before it takes effect.
Contact
Privacy questions: privacy@familyvisits.app
General support: support@familyvisits.app