Your family’s stories deserve care.

What we save and why

FamilyRetold keeps family stories, recordings, photographs, reviewed text, questions and keepsake notes so you can build and use your archive. Hosted archives also store the owner’s account identifier and the names and contact details you choose to provide. Record or upload someone’s story only with their permission.

On your iPhone

The native app can record and keep stories locally without an account. Recordings, selected photographs and text stay in the app’s storage until you choose to export or send them to a connected family archive. Device backups may include app files according to your Apple settings. Removing the app can remove local stories; keep an export of important material.

Your hosted family archive

The website uses ChatGPT sign-in for archive owners and the Sites platform’s Cloudflare database and file storage. A personal studio link lets its holder contribute to that archive. A listening link lets its holder read that story and access its attached media. Treat these links as private.

Connecting an iPhone is optional. The signed-in archive owner approves a matching code and chooses one archive. A device connection may read and add stories, access original media and export that archive for up to 90 days. Its credential is stored in the iPhone Keychain; the server stores a hash. The owner can revoke a connection in Settings. Revocation stops future access; it cannot remove copies already downloaded.

An owner can also create a private connection invitation for one archive, with an expiry and a limit on the number of devices. Its holder enters the invitation on the app’s connection page, checks the matching device code and confirms access. The server stores a hash of the invitation; the full invitation is shown to its owner only when created. It is kept in page memory while being used, not in persistent browser storage. An invitation does not provide website owner sign-in or access to other archives. Revoking it disconnects the devices connected through it, and those connections also end when the invitation expires. Keep connection invitations private and share them only with people you trust.

Recording and transcription

Your device asks before microphone use. Native recordings are not automatically transcribed or sent to an AI editing service. If you choose Transcribe on this iPhone, FamilyRetold uses Apple’s on-device speech recognizer only when that language is supported on your device. You grant Speech permission, review the draft, and choose whether to use it. There is no online transcription fallback. Browser live transcription depends on the browser and may send speech to its vendor’s speech service. You can type or review the words yourself instead. Computer read-aloud is separate from the original recording.

Drafts and exports

The web studio can keep unfinished drafts and recordings in browser storage on the same device. Clearing that storage can remove unsaved work. Exported backups and PDFs are files you control; anyone you share a backup with may be able to read its contents. Keep private copies somewhere you trust.

Support requests

If you use the support form, we save your name, reply email, topic and message in a private inbox accessible to the FamilyRetold owner. If signed in, your account identifier may be attached to the request. This information is used to review and respond to your request. Please exclude private studio links, passwords and unnecessary family details. You can request correction or removal through the same form.

Your choices

Use your account page to export or remove your FamilyRetold data, including hosted archives and support requests linked to your account or verified email, and Settings to disconnect devices. Delete local stories in the native app separately. Deleting a hosted story removes its story link and original media that are no longer used elsewhere in the archive. Copies already exported or downloaded remain with their recipients. For other privacy requests, use FamilyRetold support.

We do not sell family archive content, use advertising trackers or use your stories to train an AI model through FamilyRetold. Hosted content is retained while your archive is active, unless you delete it. Support information is retained for handling your request and may be removed on request.