Privacy Policy

Last updated: 9 November 2026

1. Privacy at FolioTree

FolioTree is a genealogy application. Your family-tree information is stored on your device. FolioTree does not receive or centrally store your family tree. This policy describes what is stored locally, what may be sent over the internet when you choose to use certain features or visit our sites, and how you can control your data.

This page is not legal advice. It does not mean we claim compliance with any particular law simply because it is published here.

2. Who operates FolioTree

FolioTree is provided by FolioTree Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17466819). Our registered office is 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. In this policy, “FolioTree”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to FolioTree Limited in connection with the FolioTree website, web app, Android app and related services.

FolioTree Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a data controller under registration reference ZC270961.

Under UK data protection law, there is an important distinction. Your locally stored family-tree information is not sent to FolioTree. FolioTree is not the data controller of that genealogy information merely because the FolioTree software stores it on your device—you control it through the local application.

FolioTree can receive limited personal information in other circumstances—for example when you contact FolioTree for support or privacy enquiries, when ordinary website or network information is processed to provide and secure our hosted website and web app (see section 9), and when you have not turned off usage analytics in the FolioTree application (see section 10). If you contact us directly, we receive what you choose to provide, such as your email address, your name if you supply it, and the contents of your message.

For personal information FolioTree Limited processes as the data controller (not genealogy data that stays only on your device), we explain our purposes and lawful bases in section 12. Nothing in this policy is intended to override your rights under UK data protection law where those rights apply.

3. The local-first principle

FolioTree is designed so your genealogy database stays on your device. There is no FolioTree user account and no FolioTree cloud service that stores your family tree. When you add or edit people, relationships, events, GEDCOM-related data, photos, research notes, and similar content, that information is kept in storage on your device (see below), not sent to FolioTree.

Because FolioTree does not receive that locally stored genealogy information, FolioTree cannot access, correct, or delete it for you—for example, records that exist only in your browser or on your phone. Managing that data is done by you on your device through the app.

4. Information stored by FolioTree

On your device, FolioTree may store information you enter or import, including for example:

• family trees and related app settings or preferences;
• people, names, dates, places, relationships, and life events;
• preserved GEDCOM and other genealogy record information;
• photos and other media you attach to your tree;
• research to-do or similar notes you create in the app.

This information is used only to provide the application on your device (displaying your tree, exports you request, search within your data, and similar functions). We do not use it to build advertising profiles or to sell genealogy data.

5. Where your genealogy data is stored

Web app (at app.foliotree.co.uk):

• Genealogy data is stored in browser storage on your device, including IndexedDB and localStorage. Storage is tied to the website origin; using another browser, device, or clearing site data affects what remains on that device.

Android app:

• Genealogy data is stored in the app’s local sandbox (WebView-related storage on your device). During import, export, backup, or similar actions you start, temporary files or cache may be used on the device for that operation.

IndexedDB, localStorage, and app sandbox storage are not the same as cookies. They are local storage mechanisms controlled by your device and browser or operating system settings.

6. Photos and camera access

Photos you add to FolioTree are stored with your FolioTree data on your device. FolioTree does not receive or store copies of those photos.

On Android, the app may request access to the camera when you choose to take a photo for your genealogy media. Camera access is optional—the device does not require a camera to install the app. You can also select existing photos or files where the app supports that. Photos taken through the app are not saved to your device’s public gallery by default as part of that flow.

On the web, adding media uses mechanisms your browser provides (such as choosing files from your device). Those files stay on your device in FolioTree’s storage; FolioTree does not receive copies of them.

7. Importing, exporting and backups

Importing a GEDCOM file is processed on your device. Exporting GEDCOM, creating FolioTree backup files, generating PDFs or other reports, and saving exported files are all user-initiated. FolioTree does not receive your exported files or backups. When you export data or create a backup, you choose where the file is saved (downloads folder, cloud drive, and so on). Once saved, those files are under your control.

If you share an export with someone else or store it in a third-party service, that service’s terms and privacy practices apply to the copy you placed there.

8. Optional web searches

FolioTree includes an optional, user-initiated “search the web” feature for genealogy research. If you use it, FolioTree opens a web search (via Google) using information such as a person’s name and possibly place details you already have in your tree. That query is sent to Google because you chose to start the search. Google is a separate third party; its privacy terms apply to that activity. FolioTree does not receive your Google search results or browsing on Google’s sites.

9. Website hosting and network information

Our marketing website (foliotree.co.uk) and the FolioTree web app are served using Cloudflare static hosting and content delivery. When you visit a website or load the web app, ordinary technical information is necessarily exposed to hosting and network infrastructure—for example your IP address, browser or user-agent string, and the URL requested. That is separate from FolioTree receiving your family tree; it is the normal behaviour of accessing pages over the internet. FolioTree does not upload or store your family-tree database on Cloudflare—only static site and application files and the technical request data involved in delivering them.

Cloudflare is a global provider. Technical information relating to your visit may be processed in or routed through locations outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area as well as within them. Where UK or EEA data protection law requires safeguards for such transfers, FolioTree relies on Cloudflare’s contractual data-processing terms, which include mechanisms for relevant restricted international transfers. We do not list every Cloudflare subprocessor in this policy.

We do not describe specific retention or internal processing practices of our hosting providers in this policy. For more detail about infrastructure processing, contact us (see section 18).

The FolioTree applications do not rely on a FolioTree genealogy API, Firebase, cloud genealogy storage, advertising networks, or user authentication services. We do not currently operate production crash reporting that sends your app contents to us.

10. Usage analytics and cookies

FolioTree application (web and Android): FolioTree uses Umami Cloud (analytics hosted in the European Union, with FolioTree’s Umami Cloud Hobby analytics configured for the EU region (Frankfurt)) to collect limited statistics about how the FolioTree application is used. FolioTree sends these statistics using its own application code over HTTPS (POST requests to Umami’s collection gateway). FolioTree does not embed the Umami JavaScript tracking script in the app. This information helps us understand which features are useful, identify areas that may need improvement, and understand whether certain actions succeed or fail. We use it to improve FolioTree—not for advertising, profiling, behavioural targeting, or automated decision-making about you.

What FolioTree includes in analytics requests: The event data FolioTree deliberately sends is limited. It may include:

• general feature usage—for example opening Search, To Do, Gallery, or Settings;
• which type of report is viewed or exported;
• whether certain operations succeed, fail, or are cancelled;
• broad, allowlisted categories relating to how a feature was used;
• whether FolioTree is being used on the web or on Android;
• coarse, allowlisted in-app routes (path only—for example /settings, not full URLs containing personal data);
• coarse outcomes of optional Premium purchase or restore flows on Android (for example succeeded, cancelled, or unavailable)—without product identifiers, purchase tokens, order IDs, prices, or currency.

FolioTree does not send your family-tree data to Umami. The analytics payloads FolioTree constructs do not include names, dates, places, relationships, notes, searches, media, GEDCOM contents, filenames, person IDs, or any persistent FolioTree analytics identifier chosen or stored by FolioTree for this purpose.

We do not use analytics to profile you, advertise to you, make decisions about you, or track you across other websites or applications.

Cookies and identifiers in FolioTree: FolioTree does not deliberately set analytics cookies for this feature, and FolioTree does not send stored user identifiers in the analytics payloads it builds. Analytics requests are sent without attaching FolioTree account credentials (there is no FolioTree login for genealogy data).

What Umami may receive with each request: When usage analytics have not been turned off and a request is sent, Umami’s gateway receives the limited event data described above together with ordinary HTTP request information, such as your IP address and User-Agent string. Umami has informed us that IP addresses may be processed briefly—for example to derive approximate location and to support session-related hashing for aggregate statistics—and that IP addresses may appear transiently in operational logs. Umami has informed us that IP addresses are not retained as part of the analytics records shown in the Umami product. Umami may apply session- or visit-related processing on its systems to produce aggregate metrics; FolioTree does not control those server-side mechanics and does not read or store Umami’s response tokens in the app. Umami’s published Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement describe how Umami processes Customer Personal Data when it acts as a processor on our behalf. FolioTree does not operate its own analytics database for these statistics.

Hosting, retention, and transfers: FolioTree’s Umami Cloud analytics are configured for EU-region storage. Umami’s public documentation states that selecting a data region governs where analytics are stored, while some supporting processing (for example content delivery, security, support, or operational logging) may involve services elsewhere; the applicable terms are set out in Umami’s DPA and related documents. A Data Processing Agreement applies to FolioTree’s Umami Cloud (Hobby) use and includes provisions intended to address restricted transfers where relevant. Published Umami materials describe analytics retention periods for Cloud accounts; FolioTree does not reproduce a fixed retention guarantee here—see Umami’s current documentation or contact us if you need help locating it.

Your choice: Usage analytics are used solely for aggregate service improvement. You can turn analytics off at any time in FolioTree: Settings → Privacy & data → Help improve FolioTree. When you turn it off, FolioTree stops sending usage analytics from that installation immediately. Turning analytics off does not affect FolioTree’s functionality or your family-tree data. It does not remove information Umami may already have processed or stored before you turned analytics off. See our Data deletion page for what we can and cannot delete. You can turn analytics back on at any time from the same place.

This marketing website (foliotree.co.uk): We do not run Umami or other analytics scripts on the marketing site itself. We do not use contact forms or third-party embeds on foliotree.co.uk. This marketing site does not set cookies. Umami analytics described above apply to the FolioTree application at app.foliotree.co.uk and to the Android app, not to browsing this marketing website unless you follow a link to the application.

Your browser or operating system may still handle caching, security, or other behaviour outside FolioTree’s control. Clearing site data or app data affects locally stored genealogy information as described elsewhere in this policy.

11. Children and information about living people

FolioTree is a general genealogy application. It is not specifically directed at children.

Genealogy trees often include information about living people, including children, because family history involves real people. FolioTree does not prevent you from recording such information and does not automatically detect whether a record relates to a child or a living person. If you create or share a tree, please consider whether it is appropriate to record, display, or share personal information about living people, and comply with any obligations that apply to you when handling others’ personal data.

12. Lawful bases for personal information we process

This section applies to personal information FolioTree Limited actually receives and processes—not to your family-tree database stored only on your device (see sections 2 and 3). Where UK data protection law requires a lawful basis, we rely on the following for current processing only.

A. Support and privacy correspondence

Purpose: to read and respond to your emails and messages, provide product support, handle privacy requests, administer FolioTree, and manage complaints or disputes relating to FolioTree.

Personal information: what you choose to send (for example your email address, your name if you give it, and the content of your message).

Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in operating FolioTree and communicating with users who contact us, where those interests are not overridden by your rights. Where processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation (for example certain record-keeping or regulatory duties), we may also rely on legal obligation for that specific processing.

B. Limited product usage analytics (Umami Cloud)

Purpose: to understand aggregate use of the FolioTree application—which features are used, which reports are viewed or exported, and whether certain operations succeed, fail, or are cancelled—so we can operate and improve FolioTree. Analytics are used only for aggregate product and service improvement, not for advertising, profiling, behavioural targeting, or automated decisions about you. Details and safeguards are in section 10.

Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in understanding and improving FolioTree, subject to the strict limits described in this policy and your ability to object (see section 17). We do not treat the analytics toggle as “consent” under UK GDPR; it is a practical way to stop future analytics from your installation.

C. Website and web-app hosting (network delivery)

Purpose: to make the marketing website and FolioTree web app available over the internet and to deliver static content securely through hosting infrastructure (see section 9).

Personal information: ordinary technical data necessarily processed when you request pages—for example IP address, browser or user-agent string, and the URL requested.

Lawful basis: our legitimate interests in providing and securing publicly accessible websites and the web application. We do not describe Cloudflare’s internal retention or log practices in this policy; if you need more detail about infrastructure processing, contact us (see section 18).

D. Optional FolioTree Premium on Android (Google Play)

Purpose: to offer an optional one-off Premium upgrade on the Android app (the web app remains free and does not offer this purchase at launch) and to unlock Premium features when you own them, including restore of a previous purchase through Google Play on the same Google account.

How payment works: Premium is purchased through Google Play Billing. Payment processing is handled by Google Play. FolioTree does not receive or store your card number or other payment credentials. Google may process purchase and payment information under Google’s own privacy terms.

FolioTree has no billing backend and does not operate a FolioTree server that stores your family tree or your Google Play purchase token for genealogy purposes. The app uses purchase and entitlement information on your device only, as needed to determine whether Premium is owned and to restore it. Purchase tokens used by the native billing implementation are not sent to a FolioTree server. Buying Premium does not send your genealogy data to FolioTree or to Google as part of the purchase. There is no FolioTree user account linked to Premium.

Lawful basis: performance of a contract when you choose to buy Premium, and our legitimate interests in providing and supporting the paid features you requested, where applicable.

13. How long information is kept and deleting your data

Genealogy data in the app remains on your device until you delete it within FolioTree, clear site or app data, or uninstall the Android app, as applicable. You can delete family trees from within the application where that feature is offered.

Files you export or back up remain wherever you saved them until you delete or manage them yourself. FolioTree cannot remotely delete copies on your computer, phone, or cloud storage.

If you email us, we keep correspondence only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected. We do not use fixed retention periods for every type of message; instead we consider criteria such as:

• how long the information is needed to respond to you and deal with your enquiry;
• whether follow-up or ongoing support is reasonably expected;
• whether the correspondence relates to a complaint, dispute, or privacy request that may need further handling;
• whether we have a legal obligation or reasonable business need to keep certain records (for example to demonstrate how we handled an issue).

Some correspondence may be kept longer where that is reasonably necessary for the reasons above. We do not use support or privacy email to ingest your genealogy database.

For step-by-step guidance on deleting local genealogy data and requesting deletion of information FolioTree Limited holds, see our Data deletion page.

14. Third-party services

Apart from infrastructure used to deliver our websites, the optional Google web search you initiate, Google Play when you choose to buy or restore FolioTree Premium on Android, and limited usage analytics sent to Umami Cloud when you have not turned analytics off (see section 10), FolioTree does not send your family tree to third-party services. Third parties you choose when exporting data, storing backups, or using Google search are governed by their own policies. Premium payments are processed by Google Play under Google’s privacy terms; FolioTree does not receive your payment credentials. Website and web-app delivery uses Cloudflare (see section 9). Umami’s handling of analytics requests on FolioTree’s behalf is described in section 10 and in Umami’s Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement.

15. Security and your responsibility

We take reasonable care in how we build and host FolioTree, but no system is perfectly secure. Because your tree lives on your device, you are responsible for securing your device (passcodes, updates, shared access) and for any exports or backups you create. Treat backup files with the same care you would other sensitive personal documents.

On Android, automatic backup of FolioTree app data through the device’s built-in backup features is turned off. That reduces accidental copying of app data via platform backup; it does not replace your own backup habits if you want copies of your tree.

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this policy when FolioTree or our practices change—for example if we change usage analytics, hosting, or related features. We will revise the “Last updated” date at the top when we do. Continued use of FolioTree after changes means you use it under the updated policy; for material changes we may also provide notice in the app or on the website where appropriate.

17. Your rights and the right to object

UK data protection law gives you rights in relation to personal information FolioTree Limited actually processes—for example in support or privacy correspondence, or in connection with limited product analytics described in this policy. Those rights do not give FolioTree access to, or control over, genealogy data that exists only on your device and was never sent to us. Depending on the circumstances, your rights may include:

• Access — to ask for confirmation of whether we process your personal information and, where applicable, a copy of that information.
• Rectification — to ask us to correct inaccurate personal information we hold about you.
• Erasure — to ask us to delete personal information we hold about you in certain circumstances.
• Restriction — to ask us to restrict processing in certain circumstances.
• Objection — to object to processing based on legitimate interests (see below).
• Data portability — where applicable, to receive personal information you provided to us in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, or to ask us to transmit it to another controller where technically feasible and the right applies.

Not every right applies in every situation. If you wish to exercise a right, contact privacy@foliotree.co.uk. We will respond in line with applicable law.

Right to object (including legitimate interests)

Where we process personal information on the basis of legitimate interests, you have the right to object to that processing. You are not required to use a particular form of words. If you object, we will consider your request and stop or limit processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or processing is needed for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims—again, depending on the circumstances and applicable law.

Usage analytics: The simplest immediate way to object to FolioTree sending product usage analytics from your installation is to turn analytics off in the app: Settings → Privacy & data → Help improve FolioTree. When you turn it off, FolioTree stops sending usage analytics from that installation immediately. This does not affect FolioTree’s functionality or your family-tree data on your device. It does not remove analytics information Umami may already hold from earlier requests. You can turn analytics back on from the same place. For erasure requests about historical analytics, see our Data deletion page.

Other processing on legitimate interests (for example support or privacy correspondence, or questions about hosting infrastructure): contact privacy@foliotree.co.uk with your objection and we will review it.

If you have concerns about FolioTree Limited’s handling of personal information it holds about you, you may complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

18. Contact

Privacy questions or requests relating to this policy: Contact us about privacy.

General product help: Contact FolioTree support or our Support page.

When you contact us by email, you choose what information to include. Please do not send genealogy databases, GEDCOM files, FolioTree backup ZIPs, photos or other sensitive family information to FolioTree support. FolioTree support will not ask you to send these files.