Family Tree Builder
A Story Worth Keeping.
Project Overview
Family Tree Builder is an app built around three connected ideas: a simple family tree, a photo and story archive attached to each person on that tree, and export options that turn the finished tree into something physical or shareable, like a hardcover book or a private family website. The app is positioned as an emotional keepsake tool rather than a research product, with a ten-minute setup, no subscriptions, and a one-time payment for the full version. It works across phone, tablet, and desktop, including offline use, and lets relatives be invited to add their own branch of the family.
The Challenge
Existing genealogy apps are largely built for professional researchers digging through census records to find strangers, not for a family that simply wants to save the people, photos, and voices they already have. That gap left an emotional need unaddressed: families who keep meaning to record a grandparent’s story or organize the thousands of untagged photos on their phone, but never find a simple enough tool to start.
The app also needed to earn trust around something deeply personal, family photos, voice recordings, and private history, while keeping the experience light enough that a child could use it. And it needed a pricing model that matched the emotional promise of the product: memories are not something a family should lose access to if they stop paying a monthly bill.
Our Approach
We built the app around three simple pillars, the Tree, the Archive, and the Legacy, each solving one part of the same problem: don’t let the people and stories your family already has slip away. The tree itself was designed to need no genealogy knowledge, no forms, and no menus, just tapping to add a name, so that a child could add a cousin without asking how.
We built the Archive to give every family photo somewhere to belong, with face tagging, voice memos, and a timeline view so photos become part of a person’s story rather than sitting unsorted in a camera roll. For the Legacy layer, we built export paths that turn digital effort into something lasting, a printed hardcover book, a museum quality poster, or a private password protected family website, and paired the whole product with a one-time $49 payment instead of a subscription, so a family’s memories are never held behind a bill they might forget to pay.
Core Principles
- Make it effortless — no forms, no genealogy jargon, just tapping to add a name
- Give photos a home — every photo can be tagged to a person and placed on a timeline
- Save the voices too — voice memos let a family record a story before it’s gone
- Let the whole family build it — relatives can be invited to add their own branch
- Make the payment match the promise — one-time payment, no subscription, no ads, no data selling
- Make it exportable, always — hardcover books, posters, private websites, and full data export
What We Built
The Tree
A tap-based family tree builder supporting unlimited generations and members, designed with no forms or genealogy terminology, usable on phone, tablet, or desktop, and functional offline.
Relative Invitations
An invite system letting family members add their own side of the tree from their own device, with the shared tree updating in real time.
The Archive
An unlimited photo and story archive attached to each family member, including voice memo recording, a timeline view of any relative’s life, and smart tagging that suggests who is in an uploaded photo.
The Legacy Exports
Export options including a print-ready hardcover book, a museum quality fine art poster, a password protected private family website, and full data export in PDF, GEDCOM, or HTML archive formats.
Tiered Pricing Structure
A free Starter plan covering up to 4 generations, 50 members, and 100 photo uploads, and a one-time $49 Legacy plan unlocking unlimited generations, members, photos, voice memos, smart tagging, all export formats, and priority support.
Privacy and Data Ownership
A stated privacy model in which trees are encrypted and invisible on the internet unless shared, data is never sold or used to train AI, and users can export their full family history at any time in multiple formats.
The Work (Visual Showcase)
Family Tree Builder homepage hero section (desktop and mobile)
Tree view showing a multi-generation family with search and tabs
Archive section with photo tagging and timeline view
Pricing section with Starter and Legacy plans
FAQ section addressing privacy, exports, and cross-device use
See It In Action
Results
Family Tree Builder launched as a live, actively available consumer app, so results are described using features visible on the live site. The app offers a free Starter plan and a one-time $49 Legacy plan backed by a 30 day money back guarantee, with availability across iPhone, Android, iPad, Mac, Windows, and web.
As a portfolio piece, the project demonstrates the ability to turn an emotionally driven, personal problem, families losing photos and stories over time, into a simple, well-priced consumer product spanning tree building, media archiving, and physical and digital legacy exports.
Technology Stack
- Platforms: iOS, Android, iPad, Mac, Windows, and web, with full cross-device sync
- Offline Support: Local data storage enabling offline tree editing
- Media: Photo storage and tagging, voice memo recording and playback
- Export Engine: PDF, GEDCOM, and HTML archive export, plus print-ready book and poster generation
- Payments: One-time payment processing, no subscription billing
- Distribution: App Store and Google Play listings
- Hosting: Managed web hosting for the marketing site and private family websites
Project Timeline
| Phase | Milestone | Duration | Key Activities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Discovery and Concept | Early development | Problem definition, competitor genealogy app research, core pillar planning |
| Phase 2 | Tree and Archive Build | Early to mid development | Tap-based tree builder, photo and voice memo archive, smart tagging |
| Phase 3 | Legacy Export Systems | Mid development | Hardcover book export, poster generation, private family website feature |
| Phase 4 | Pricing and Onboarding Polish | Late development | Starter and Legacy plan structure, ten-minute onboarding flow, invite system |
| Phase 5 | Launch and Iteration | Ongoing | App Store and Google Play release, ongoing feature refinement |
Have a similar project in mind?
Whether you’re building a consumer app, an emotionally driven product, or solving a real problem for families and the people they love, we’d love to talk about what we can build together.
AtaraxyDevelopers@gmail.com | WhatsApp: +92 312 5303767
