Email Registration: Enter your email and password, then verify your email to get started.
Sign in with Apple: Tap "Sign in with Apple" to quickly log in via Face ID or Touch ID.
Sign in with Google: Tap "Sign in with Google" and select your Google account.
💡 We recommend enabling two-step verification in Settings for enhanced account security.
Create Your First Family Tree
After logging in, tap "Create Circle".
Enter a circle name (e.g., "The Smiths").
Choose a type: Family or Friends.
Add the first member (usually yourself), and you're done!
Invite Family Members
You can invite family members in the following ways:
QR Code: Generate a QR code in your circle and have others scan it to join.
Invite Link: Share an invite link that others can tap to join.
2. Family Tree
Canvas Controls
Drag: Swipe with one finger to pan the canvas.
Zoom: Pinch with two fingers to zoom in or out.
Double-tap: Quickly zoom into a specific area.
Auto-center: Tap the center button in the toolbar to automatically adjust the canvas to the best view.
Tree Nodes
Each member is displayed as a card on the canvas, showing their avatar, name, and gender. If a member has posted new content within the last 72 hours, the node will show a pulse animation.
Collapse & Expand
Tap the collapse button on a member node to hide that branch and simplify the view. Tap again to expand. This is useful for focusing on specific branches in large families.
3. Member Management
Add Members
Tap an existing member and choose the relationship type to add:
Parents: Add a father or mother above.
Children: Add a son or daughter below.
Spouse: Add a spouse to the side.
💡 When adding a spouse, the system automatically suggests the opposite gender, but you can change it manually.
Edit Members
Tap a member card to access their profile, where you can edit:
Name, nickname, gender
Birthday (supports CE and ROC calendar), date of death
Personal bio
Contact info (phone, email, address, LINE ID, social links)
Custom title and status
Birth Order
Children of the same parents can have their birth order set. Birth order directly affects kinship title calculations, such as:
Father's brothers are automatically distinguished by birth order as eldest uncle, second uncle, etc.
Mother's sisters are distinguished as eldest aunt, second aunt, etc.
Siblings are also shown with birth order titles like eldest brother, second brother, eldest sister, etc.
There are two ways to set birth order:
Method 1: Profile
Tap a member card to open their profile.
Tap "Edit" and select the birth order (eldest, second, third, fourth, etc.).
Save and done.
Method 2: Settings → Sort Sibling Order
Go to Settings → Sort Sibling Order.
The system automatically groups children by their parents.
Use drag-and-drop to rearrange the order, handling all families at once.
Tap "Save" to update all birth orders at once.
💡 Once birth order is correctly set, the system can precisely distinguish kinship titles, making family relationships clear at a glance.
Kinship Titles
The system automatically calculates kinship relationships and titles between members, covering direct, collateral, and in-law relations, up to great-great-grandparents and great-great-grandchildren. Titles are displayed precisely based on gender, birth order, and generation.
4. Feed
The feed is a shared space within a circle where all members can share and interact.
Post Types
Note: Daily records or notes.
Post: Life updates with photos.
Announcement: Important messages that can be pinned.
Event: Create events with time and location; can be synced to your phone calendar.
Poll: Create single or multiple-choice polls with optional deadlines.
To-do: Assign tasks to members, track progress, with budget and currency support.
Safety Check: Initiate safety confirmations during emergencies; members can report "Safe" or "Need Help".
Create a Post
Tap the "+" button on the feed.
Choose a post type.
Enter content, optionally adding photos or a location.
Set visibility (Everyone / Members only / Custom).
Tap Publish.
Filtering & Interaction
Filter posts by type or member.
Comment on or interact with posts.
Important announcements can be pinned.
Hide posts you don't want to see.
All Circles Feed
Switch to "All Circles" mode to browse a combined feed from all your circles at once.
5. Chat
Group Chat
Each circle has a dedicated group chat room where all members can participate in real-time conversations. Supports text messages and shows typing indicators.
Direct Messages
Tap a member's avatar or select from the member list to start a one-on-one private conversation. Direct messages are only visible to both parties.
💡 Chat messages sync in real time. Messages sent while offline will be delivered automatically when you reconnect.
6. Profile
Avatar
Tap your avatar to select a photo from your album or take a new one with your camera. You can crop and adjust after uploading.
Privacy Settings
Profile information supports field-level privacy control. You can individually set the visibility of each field (such as phone, address, birthday) to decide what information to share with other members.
Status & Title
You can set a personal status text and emoji, as well as a custom title to help other members recognize your role more easily.
7. Permissions
Each member has a different permission level within a circle:
Role
View
Edit Self
Edit Spouse/Descendants
Edit All Members
Manage Circle
Owner
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Editor
✔
✔
✔
✔
✘
Self
✔
✔
✔
✘
✘
Viewer
✔
✘
✘
✘
✘
Member Linking & Claiming
After family members join a circle, their accounts can be linked to the corresponding member on the family tree. Once linked, they can edit their own profile based on their permission level. Members can also proactively claim an unlinked identity on the tree.
8. Multiple Trees & Linked Circles
Managing Multiple Circles
You can have multiple circles simultaneously, such as paternal family, maternal family, friend groups, etc., and switch between them at any time.
Linked Circles
Linked circles let you overlay other family trees on your canvas, making it easy to see cross-family relationships. This feature has two aspects:
Share Your Circle with Others
Only the circle owner can configure sharing.
Go to Settings → Sharing Settings.
Tap "Add Sharing Target".
Choose to share with a Circle (all members of that circle can see yours) or a Specific User.
Search and select the target, and you're done.
💡 After sharing, the other party can overlay your circle's structure on their family tree. You can swipe left to remove a sharing target at any time.
View Circles Shared with You
Go to Settings → Linked Circles.
You'll see all external circles shared with your tree, including their name, owner, and member count.
Toggle the switch to overlay that circle on your canvas.
Toggle off to hide it.
💡 Each linked circle is displayed in a different color (teal, orange, blue, purple, pink, green) to easily identify which members belong to which circle.
Fork a Branch
Create a new circle from an existing family tree, centered on a specific member and based on a degree-of-kinship range. This is useful for splitting large families into smaller branch groups.
On the family tree canvas, long-press the member node you want as the center.
In the menu, tap "Create new circle from this person".
The system will list members within range; you can select or deselect individually.
If there are in-law elders (spouse's parents) outside the selected range, they'll be listed separately for you to include optionally.
Confirm and tap "Create" to finish.
💡 Members with linked accounts will automatically join the new circle without needing a new invitation.
Duplicate Detection
When the same person appears in multiple circles, the system automatically detects and alerts you to prevent duplicates.
Shareable Family Web Links
If relatives don't have the app installed, you can generate a public web link for your family tree:
In the tree settings, tap "Generate Share Link".
Choose an expiration: 7 days / 30 days / Never.
Copy the link and share it with your recipients.
They can view the tree structure in any browser (private posts and chats are excluded).
💡 You can revoke the link from the same screen at any time, and it becomes invalid immediately.
9. Settings & Tools
Statistics Dashboard
View circle statistics in Settings:
Total member count
Number of generations
Gender distribution and ratio
Longest branch (deepest ancestor chain)
Average number of children
Import / Export
Export your family tree data in JSON format for backup, or import previously exported data.
Display Preferences
Toggle avatar display
Toggle in-law display
Toggle birth order title display
Calendar format: CE / ROC year
Block Management
Manage your block list in Settings, including blocking specific members (within a circle) or blocking accounts (globally).
Account Security
Two-step Verification: Enhance login security with email verification codes.
Delete Account: Permanently delete your account and all associated data in Settings.
Share Extension
When sharing content from other apps (such as Photos or a browser), you can select Kith&Kin as a share target to quickly post content to your feed.
10. Security & Privacy
End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)
Kith&Kin encrypts your chats and push notifications end-to-end. Your device generates an X25519 key pair — the public key is uploaded so others can encrypt messages to you; the private key never leaves your device. Message content is sealed with AES-256-GCM, so even if our servers were breached your content stays private. When you enable it for the first time, the app shows an E2EE intro screen to walk you through setup.
Multi-Device Authentication
You can sign in to Kith&Kin on multiple devices simultaneously (phones, tablets, old and new). Each device has its own key; a new device must be approved by an existing trusted device, preventing unauthorized sign-ins.
Under Settings → Device Management, review every active device and its last-seen time.
Revoke any device you lose or no longer use, at any time.
Once revoked, the device immediately loses access.
Key Backup & Account Recovery
We strongly recommend setting a Backup Password. It encrypts your private key and stores it safely, so if you lose every device or forget your login, you can use the backup password to restore your keys and decrypt past messages and family data. Only you know this password — the server never sees it.
💡 Keep your backup password somewhere safe — without it, encrypted content cannot be recovered.
11. Social Features
Friends Network
The Friends tab lets you find other users by email, name, or QR code and send friend requests.
Once accepted you can see each other's public profiles and follow activity.
You can add friends to your family tree.
Friendship is independent of family trees — you stay connected regardless of which tree anyone belongs to.
Notification Center
The Notification Center consolidates every interaction: new posts, replies, friend requests, family invites, safety alerts, and more.
Filter by type and mark items read/unread.
Toggle push per-type under Settings → Notification Settings.
Set quiet hours for do-not-disturb.
12. FAQ
Forgot your password?
If you registered with email:
On the login page, tap "Forgot Password?".
Enter your registered email and tap "Send Verification Code".
Check your inbox for the 6-digit code (valid for 10 minutes).
Enter the code and your new password, then tap "Reset Password".
You can now log in with your new password.
💡 If you use Apple or Google Sign-In, you don't need a password — just log in through those platforms directly. If you previously set a backup password, you can further use the recovery flow to restore your encryption keys and past messages.
Can I join multiple circles?
Yes! You can participate in multiple family or friend circles simultaneously and switch between them at any time.
I deleted a member. Can I undo it?
Within a short time after the action, you can use the "Undo" feature (supports up to 30 undo steps). Once you leave the page, undoing is no longer possible.
Can others see my profile?
You can control the visibility of each field individually in Privacy Settings. It's entirely up to you.
Are chat messages encrypted?
Yes. Chats and push notifications are end-to-end encrypted (X25519 + AES-256-GCM). Our servers only relay ciphertext and cannot read your content. See the "Security & Privacy" section or our Privacy Policy for details.
Can I leave a family tree?
Yes. There's a "Leave Family" option in family settings. After leaving, you'll stop receiving updates from that tree; whether your past posts are kept or removed depends on the tree owner's settings.
How do I keep my data when switching phones?
Sign in on the new phone and your existing trusted devices will receive an approval request; once approved, the new device syncs your family data. Encrypted message history is restored via key sync or the backup password. Before switching, confirm your backup password is set, and keep the old device until the new one has finished syncing.
How do I delete my account?
Go to Settings → Account Management → Delete Account. After deletion, all your data (including uploaded photos) will be permanently removed. This action cannot be undone.
Need More Help?
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us: