Last updated: 25 July 2026. Plain English, no dark patterns — this describes exactly what happens to data, including the parts that aren't perfectly private.
The short version. Your family tree is stored in your own browser and is never uploaded to us — we have no database and could not read your tree if we wanted to. We do use a few normal third-party services to host the site, count page visits, relay feedback emails, and process donations. Those are all listed below. You can delete everything at any time with one click.
Bloomsly ("we", "us") is a free family tree web app operated by an individual developer and published at bloomsly.org. For any privacy question or request, contact damianwatt@icloud.com.
When you build or import a family tree, everything about it — names, birth and death years, relationships, notes, and photo links — is saved in your browser's local storage on the device you're using. It is not transmitted to us, and we operate no server that stores it. It stays there until you delete it or clear your browser data.
The optional free account (needed only to send feedback or make a donation) stores the name and email you type, again in your own browser's local storage. It is not sent to us when created.
familyTree3D.v3 — your family treearbora.account — your account name and emailfamilyTree3D.view, bloomsly.panels — display preferencesfamilyTree3D.helpSeen, arbora.betaDismissed, arbora.lastBackup, arbora.nudgeSnooze — small flags so we don't re-show notices or remindersWe do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or cross-site profiling of any kind.
We want to be precise here rather than claim more privacy than is true. Data leaves your device only in these situations:
Submitting the feedback form sends your name, email, chosen category, and message to FormSubmit.co, a third-party form-relay service, which forwards it to our inbox as an email. If you would rather not use a third party, email us directly instead.
Donation buttons open a hosted checkout page at Stripe. Stripe collects and processes your payment details under its own privacy policy — we never see or store card details. Once you are on Stripe's page, Stripe's own cookies and policies apply.
Share links carry the tree inside the link itself, and exports save a file to your computer. Both are created in your browser and are not uploaded to us. Note that if you send a share link to someone, you are giving them a copy of that data.
Like any website, loading a page means your browser contacts servers, which necessarily receive your IP address and browser type:
None of these requests contain your family tree data.
If you attach a photo by URL, your browser fetches that image from whichever server hosts it, and that server will see your IP address. That server is chosen by you and is outside our control.
Family trees inevitably contain information about other people, including living relatives who have not themselves agreed to anything. Because that data stays on your own device, you are effectively the custodian of it. For purely personal or household family history, data protection law generally treats this as your own private activity. If you go further — publishing a tree, or sharing it beyond your household — you take on more responsibility for that information, and we'd ask you to be thoughtful about living relatives, and to remove anyone who asks you to.
Under the GDPR, the UK GDPR, the CCPA/CPRA and similar laws you have rights to access, correct, delete, and port your data, and to object to processing. Because of how Bloomsly is built, most of these you can exercise instantly and without asking us:
This immediately erases your family tree, your account, and all preferences stored by Bloomsly on this device. It cannot be undone — consider exporting a backup from the app first.
Data in your browser stays until you delete it — we cannot expire it remotely. Feedback emails are kept in our inbox until they are no longer needed or you ask us to delete them.
Bloomsly is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information. Family trees may naturally mention children; that information stays on the tree owner's device.
The third parties above (Netlify, Cloudflare, FormSubmit, Stripe, Google, jsDelivr) operate globally and may process request data, including in the United States, under their own safeguards.
Bloomsly is early and evolving quickly. If this policy changes materially we'll update the date at the top of this page.
Questions, requests, or complaints: damianwatt@icloud.com. If you are in the UK or EU you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.