Your DNA is yours. We mean that literally.

We collect the DNA file or GEDCOM tree you choose to upload, the account information you provide (email and authentication details), and the records and narrative we generate on your behalf. We do not purchase DNA data, and we do not ingest your data from other services without your explicit upload.

Your data is used solely to build your cited family-history narrative and to match you against historical and ancient-DNA records. It is not sold, rented, or shared with advertisers. It is not used to train AI models. Processing is performed under per-tenant isolation, and raw personally identifying information does not leave our perimeter for third-party processing (our PII-egress diode strips it first).

Your DNA chip and the details of living persons are treated as private and are visible only within your account. Historical archive records are public records; when they appear in your narrative they are presented as cited proof with a link back to the source archive. Records that memorialize victims are held to our dignity commitments — never paywalled, never used in advertising, always linked to their source.

Data is stored with per-tenant isolation. Access is restricted, audited, and limited to what is necessary to operate your account. We describe our security model in more detail on our trust & security page.

We do not use advertising, analytics, or third-party tracking cookies. Because the only cookie we set is strictly necessary to run the service, we do not show a cookie consent banner — under EU/UK rules, strictly-necessary cookies do not require prior consent.

What we actually set, and why:

• Session cookie (strictly necessary). When you sign in, we set a single secure, HttpOnly session cookie so the browser can prove you are logged in on each request. It carries no advertising identifier and is not readable by JavaScript. It is removed when you sign out or it expires.
• Local storage (functional). We use your browser’s local and session storage to remember your sign-in and small preferences on your own device. This is first-party functional storage, not a cookie, and is never sent to advertisers.

We do not sell or share any of this with third parties for advertising. If we ever add non-essential cookies, we will ask for your consent first.

You may access, export, correct, or delete your data at any time. For users in the EU/UK, this includes your rights under the GDPR and equivalent laws: the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), the right to data portability, and the right to restrict or object to processing.

When you delete your account or your uploaded data, deletion is real: your raw DNA file and private data are removed from active systems, and from backups on our standard backup rotation thereafter. Public archive records cited in your narrative are not “your data” to delete — they remain public records at their source archives — but your personal narrative and uploads are removed.

The service is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect data directly from children. Information about deceased ancestors, including minors, may appear in historical records where it is part of the public archival record.

If we change this policy in a way that affects how your data is handled, we will update the date above and, for material changes, notify you. We will never change this policy to permit selling your DNA data, training models on it, or paywalling victim records.

Questions about your privacy or a data request? Reach us through your account or at the contact address listed there, and we will respond.