Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Dearest Forever ("we," "us," "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use our family tree design application and related services (the "Service").

1. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Account information — email address and authentication-related identifiers
• Project/family tree data — names, relationships, dates, places, notes, and photos you choose to provide
• Order information — shipping address and details needed to fulfill physical print orders
• Support communications — information you share when contacting us

Information about other people

A family tree is mostly information about other people, and most of them will never use this service. When you add a relative you may record their name, their relationships, dates and places connected to them, notes, and photographs of them. We hold that information because you asked us to, in order to build and print the tree you are making.

We do not use it to build profiles, we do not combine trees from different accounts to make a larger record of anyone, and we do not make it searchable. A tree is visible to the account that made it, to anyone that account invites, and to anyone holding a link that account has shared. If you believe you appear on a tree and you want that changed, see “If you appear on someone else’s tree” below.

Information collected automatically

• Basic technical data — device and browser information, IP address, and diagnostic logs (primarily for security and reliability)

Payment information

Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store your full payment card number. Stripe may collect and process payment information under its own privacy policy.

2. How we use information

We use information to:

• Provide, operate, secure, and maintain the Service
• Create and render your family tree designs and previews
• Process transactions and fulfill physical print orders you request
• Provide customer support and communicate with you about your account or orders
• Prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents
• Comply with legal obligations

3. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information.

We share information only in limited circumstances:

Service providers

We use a small number of companies to run the service. They may only use what they receive to do work for us, and they must protect it:

• Supabase — database, sign-in, and file storage. Family tree content is encrypted at rest.
• Cloudflare — website hosting and delivery, and the challenge that protects our forms from bots
• Stripe — payments (see below)
• Postmark — sending email such as order confirmations and account messages
• EasyPost — shipping labels and delivery tracking
• Google — a private spreadsheet we use internally to manage orders, and web fonts used on the checkout page
• PostHog and HubSpot — analytics and live chat, described in section 6
• FamilySearch — only if you choose to connect it, and only to read the tree you authorise

Some pages embed video from Vimeo or YouTube. Playing one lets that provider see your IP address under its own privacy policy.

Where information is processed

We are based in the United States and our providers process information in the United States and other countries. If you are in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland, this means your information is transferred outside your country. Where that transfer needs a legal basis, we rely on our providers’ standard contractual clauses and equivalent safeguards.

Order fulfillment

If needed to produce and deliver your physical prints, we may share limited information (such as your shipping address and order details) with printing, framing, or shipping providers. We share only what is reasonably necessary to fulfill your request.

With your authorization

We may share information when you direct us to do so (for example, if you request a feature that sends information to a third party).

Legal and safety

We may disclose information if required by law or if we believe disclosure is necessary to comply with legal process, protect rights and safety, or prevent fraud and abuse.

Business transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction.

4. Your choices and controls

Project storage is optional

The Service may store your projects so you can return later. If you choose to keep your project data stored with us, you do so voluntarily. We use reasonable safeguards, but no system can guarantee absolute security.

Deleting a tree or your whole account

You can delete an individual family tree at any time from inside the designer, and you can delete your entire account from Account settings. Deleting the account removes your trees, their photos, and your sign-in. It takes effect straight away and does not need to go through us.

If you cannot sign in, email team@dearestforever.com from the address on the account and we will do it for you. We may ask you to verify your identity first.

We may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., transaction records, dispute resolution, and security logs). Backups may persist for a limited period.

Your rights over your information

Wherever you live, you may ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, or object to a particular use. Email team@dearestforever.com and we will respond within the time your local law allows. We will not treat you differently for asking.

If you are in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland, you also have the right to receive your information in a portable form, to withdraw consent where we rely on it, and to complain to your national data protection authority. If you are in California, we do not sell or share your personal information as those terms are defined by the CCPA, and we have not done so in the past twelve months.

If you appear on someone else’s tree

You can ask us to remove information about you from a tree you did not create. Email team@dearestforever.com and tell us as much as you can: the link you saw, the name shown, and who you believe entered it.

We ask for that detail for a reason worth stating plainly. Tree contents are encrypted, and we deliberately keep no searchable index of the people inside them, so we cannot look someone up by name across the service. Building that ability would mean creating exactly the searchable record of living people we do not want to hold. Given a link or an account we can act quickly; without one we may need to ask you for more before we can find the right record.

Email preferences

If you opt in to emails about future updates, you can opt out at any time by contacting us or using the unsubscribe link if one is provided.

5. Data retention

We retain information for as long as needed to provide the Service, fulfill orders, and meet legal and security obligations. You may request deletion as described above.

When a tree or an account is deleted, its photographs and any scans you uploaded are moved to private storage that only we can reach and are permanently destroyed 30 days later. That window exists so an accidental deletion can be undone; after it passes the files are gone and cannot be recovered by anyone, including us. Database backups are kept on a rolling basis for disaster recovery and age out on their own.

6. Analytics and cookies

Essential cookies. Some cookies are required for the Service to work at all: they keep you signed in, protect forms from abuse, and remember the analytics choice described below. These are always set, because without them the Service cannot function.

Analytics. We use PostHog to understand how the site is used. It records pages viewed, how long a visit lasts, basic device and browser information, page performance, and a small number of events we define ourselves, such as completing an order. We do not use its automatic click tracking. Requests are sent through our own domain rather than directly to PostHog, and PostHog sets a cookie so repeat visits are recognised as the same person.

Live chat. We use HubSpot to run the chat widget so you can reach us. It sets its own cookies. It does not appear during checkout, and it does not appear on pages reached through a private link.

Purchases. When an order completes, our server sends PostHog a record of the sale so we can see revenue accurately even if your browser blocked the page script. That record includes your email address, the amount, the currency, the product, and the payment reference. It does not include your name, your postal address, your payment details, or anything from your family tree.

Your choice. If you are in the UK, the EU or the European Economic Area, or in Switzerland, nothing above is loaded until you agree. Everywhere else, analytics and chat start when you arrive and you can switch them off at any time. In both cases the choice is offered on a banner the first time you visit, and it is remembered for a year.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. If your browser sends either signal, we treat it as a request not to be measured, we do not show you the banner, and we do not ask again. If you have an account, that choice is recorded on our side too, so it applies to the purchase records described above and not only to your browser.

Changing your mind. If you have an account, open Account settings and turn Analytics off or on. The change takes effect straight away, and applies to your account as well as this browser. Otherwise, clear this site's cookies to be asked again, or email team@dearestforever.com and we will switch analytics off for you.

Pages reached by a private link. A shared tree, an order status page, a gift link and a family calendar each carry a token in their address. We load no analytics and no chat on those pages at all, so the link itself is never sent anywhere.

7. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. Family tree contents are encrypted where they are stored. However, no online service can guarantee absolute security.

If we discover a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant regulators where the law requires it, without undue delay, and tell you what we know and what we are doing about it.

8. Children's privacy

The Service is not intended for use by children under 13, and we do not knowingly let a child under 13 create an account. If you believe a child under 13 has created one or provided personal information directly, contact us and we will take appropriate steps.

This is separate from the children who appear on a family tree. An adult building a tree will often record their own children and grandchildren, and that information is handled the same way as the rest of the tree described in section 1: held because the account holder entered it, never made searchable, and removable on request.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, via an in-app notice). Continued use after changes means you accept the revised policy.

10. Contact

Privacy questions or requests:
team@dearestforever.com

Dearest Forever