Frequently asked questions

FamilyStories is a private family archive for life stories. In a family circle, you invite relatives, answer guided questions, and collect text, photos, and original voice recordings together in one protected place.

For full access to a family circle, each person needs the app and their own account. Without an account, someone can use a private browser link to answer the questions shared through that link and see their own previous answers. A browser guest cannot browse the family circle or other stories.

Yes. You can type or tell your story aloud. The app turns a recording into text directly on your device. If you keep the original voice recording, it is stored in encrypted form together with the answer.

FamilyStories will launch for iPhone and iPad. Android will follow soon.

Reading permissions in the family circle determine which signed-in members can open each story. If someone’s access is removed, they can no longer open the affected stories in FamilyStories. The app cannot remotely erase data that was previously saved on their device, but they still cannot access it within FamilyStories.

FamilyStories itself cannot read, listen to, or view the encrypted family content.

A paid plan applies to exactly one family circle. Every active member of that circle shares its benefits. The person who purchased the plan through Apple manages payment and cancellation.

With a paid plan, you can export stories as Word or PDF files. Photos and original voice recordings can also be downloaded.

Free: 1 story, 5 answered questions, and 1 GB of cloud storage.

Premium: 2 stories, all questions, and 50 GB.

Family: 5 stories, all questions, and 50 GB.

Lifetime access: pay once for unlimited stories, all questions, and 50 GB. It never expires.

You can cancel at any time in the App Store. Your plan stays active until the end of the period you have already paid for. The family circle then moves immediately to Free. If it uses 1 GB or less, the Free retention rules apply. If it uses more than 1 GB, new media uploads stop, while existing content remains accessible. Cloud media can be removed no earlier than after the circle has remained above the limit for 18 consecutive months, and only after prior warnings.

Restore Purchases checks the purchase with the same Apple Account and reconnects it to the paying person if needed. If the original family circle still exists, the plan stays there. After deleting your account, you can regain access to that circle only with a new FamilyStories account and a new invitation. The plan is not moved. Only if the original circle was permanently deleted can a verified active purchase be assigned once to a new circle that you own. Deleted content does not return.

The content belongs to your family. FamilyStories does not claim ownership of it and cannot read, listen to, or view it because it is end-to-end encrypted. We do not sell data, use it for advertising, or use it to train our own or third-party AI models.

On a new device, sign in with the same account. If the family circle does not open automatically, enter your personal recovery code. You can find it under Settings > Recovery code on a device where the same account already opens the circle. If no code is stored there, you can create a new personal recovery code on that device.

Alternatively, ask a family member who can invite people for the current Family Code. Choose “Open with Family Code” on the new device, then enter the code.

Without a recovery code, a Family Code, or access to a device where the circle is already unlocked, even FamilyStories cannot open the end-to-end encrypted content.

A free circle using up to 1 GB is kept as long as an active member continues to use it. After 6 months of inactivity, a 6-month warning period begins. You are reminded 180, 90, 30, and 7 days before possible deletion. Opening the circle or explicitly confirming that you want to keep it prevents deletion. The circle can only be permanently deleted after 12 months of inactivity in total.

When the paid period for a Premium or Family plan ends, the family circle moves immediately to Free. If it uses 1 GB or less, the Free retention rules apply. If it uses more than 1 GB, new media uploads stop immediately. Existing content remains accessible and can be deleted.

After the circle has remained above the limit for 12 consecutive months, a 6-month warning period begins. You are reminded 180, 90, 30, and 7 days before possible removal. Only after 18 consecutive months above the limit can cloud photos and voice recordings be removed. Text, transcripts, the account, and the family circle remain.

Your access ends immediately, even if you schedule final deletion for 30 days later. At final deletion, your account, sign-in details, device keys, and personal recovery data are removed. Contributions in circles that continue to exist remain, but are no longer linked to your profile. A circle you own is transferred to an active admin member, or deleted if there is no such member.

No. Deleting your account does not end an Apple subscription. You must cancel it separately in the App Store subscription settings. You can open those settings directly from the deletion flow. If you later create a new account, Restore Purchases reconnects only the verified Apple purchase, not the deleted account or deleted content. If the original circle still exists, you also need a new invitation.