Kin Nearby Privacy Statement

Last updated October 24, 2026. This describes how the app works as built.

The short version

• Kin Nearby has no account and no server of ours. Your family tree is read and kept on your device.
• It contains no analytics code and no advertising code, and it does not track you.
• Some features ask Apple for a map or a place. Each is listed below, with what is sent.
• The app never sends your file anywhere by itself. If a file could not be fully read, you may choose to email it to us so we can fix the problem. That is optional, and nothing is sent until you tap Send.

Your family tree

You pick a GEDCOM file and Kin Nearby reads it on your device. The result is saved only in the app's own storage on that iPhone or iPad, using iOS file protection. We never receive it.

A family tree can name people who are still living. Kin Nearby treats it that way: it is not uploaded, not logged, and not used for anything except answering your questions on your device. Deleting the app removes the saved tree.

Where the app uses the network

Kin Nearby has no networking code of its own. These are all the features that reach Apple through Apple's own frameworks:

• The Apple Maps style. Kin Nearby starts with Apple Maps. To draw it, Apple is sent the area you are looking at, and that area is where your tree's places are. Choose Globe (offline) in the View menu and no map request is made.
• Place search. When Apple Maps is your map, what you type in the place search is also sent to Apple Maps. With the offline globe, the search reads a place list stored in the app and sends nothing.
• The map on a share card. With Apple Maps as your map, the picture of the map on a share card is requested from Apple. With the offline globe, the card is made with a plain background and Apple is asked for nothing.
• The unlock purchase. A purchase goes through Apple's App Store. Your payment details are handled by Apple, not by us, and we do not receive them or run an account for you.

What Apple does with a request is covered by Apple's own privacy policy. Kin Nearby does not contact any other service.

Your location and Near me

Kin Nearby asks to use your location only when you tap Near me. It takes one approximate reading, uses it on the device to find which of your ancestors were nearby, and does not send it to us. Please note that after Near me the map shows the area around the nearest places, which may include where you are, so with Apple Maps as your map Apple is asked for the map of that area, as described above. The offline globe sends nothing.

Data bundled in the app

Place names and the map outlines used by the offline globe are stored inside the app. They are bundled data, not services the app contacts. They come from:

• GeoNames (geonames.org), licensed CC BY 4.0: place names and positions.
• The US Census Bureau (public domain): county areas and outlines, and city outlines.
• Natural Earth (public domain): country and region outlines.
• OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): some region, county and city outlines, simplified.
• geoBoundaries and national statistics and mapping agencies: county and city outlines in many countries, under the licence each gives.

The app's Credits screen lists each source with its licence. Where a licence asks us to share our modified outlines under the same terms, we publish them on the Map data page.

Sharing a file with us, only if you choose

Some files cannot be read completely. When an import does not fully read your file (some lines were skipped, the file has no trailer record, there are links to people who are not in the file, a zipped GEDCOM could not be unpacked, the file was not recognized, or no people were found), the import report or the failure screen asks whether you would be willing to share the file with squishLogic so we can find out why.

• It is your choice, and optional. You can say Not Now. The app works the same either way.
• Remember what a tree holds. A family tree can name living people. Share a file only if you are comfortable with that.
• Nothing is sent by the app itself. If you agree, Kin Nearby opens your device's mail composer, addressed to support@squishlogic.com, with the file attached and a message stating your permission to use it for diagnosis. Nothing is sent until you tap Send in that mail sheet, and you can cancel there.
• No mail account on the device? Kin Nearby shows you the address and the share sheet instead, so you can send the file yourself from another app. Again, nothing is sent unless you do it.
• What the email says. The message holds the file's name, the app version, and plain counts describing what was found, such as how many lines were skipped. It holds no names or places from your tree, apart from whatever is inside the attached file and its file name.
• Before you decide. While the report is on screen, the app keeps a temporary copy of the file so it can be attached. The copy is removed when you choose Not Now, when the email is sent, or when you close the import.
• How we use it. Only to diagnose why Kin Nearby could not fully read it. We keep it confidential and delete it once we have finished diagnosing the problem.
• Asking for it to be deleted sooner. Email support@squishlogic.com and name the file.

Like any email, a shared file passes through your email provider's systems on its way to us.

What Kin Nearby does not do

• No account, no sign-in, no profile.
• No analytics, advertising or tracking code. The app uses one open-source library, FlatBuffers, to read its bundled map files on your device. It makes no network requests.
• No sending of your tree, your location or your places to us.

Changes and questions

If the app's behavior changes in a way that affects this statement, this page is updated before the change ships. Questions: email support@squishlogic.com.