COUSINS

Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 1, 2026
Publisher: Shake and Bake Labs

COUSINS ("the app") helps you keep track of your family's birthdays and gifts. We built it so your information stays on your device.

Information we collect

We do not sell any personal information. COUSINS has no user accounts, no advertising, and no analytics or tracking SDKs. Your family list lives on your device. The only information that ever passes through a server is an answer to an "Ask for their birthday" link, or a family tree you choose to share with "Share tree", both described below and both stored only temporarily.

Data stored on your device

The names, birthdays, relationships, notes, photos, gift log and preferences you enter are saved only in the app's local storage on your iPhone. They are not transmitted to us. Deleting the app deletes this data.

Permissions

Third-party services

"Ask for their birthday" links

You can send a relative or friend a private link (cousinsai.com/ask) so they can type in their own birthday. When they submit the form, their answer (the name they enter, their birthday month and day, an optional birth year, and any optional "things they love" or gift ideas) is stored briefly in Google Cloud Firestore, operated for us by Google, so it can be passed to your app. Each link contains a long random code that only you and the person you sent it to know; answers cannot be listed or searched. Your app downloads the answer the next time you open it and deletes it from the server as soon as you add or dismiss it, or when you cancel the link. Answers that are never collected are deleted automatically after 60 days. No IP addresses, device identifiers, cookies or tracking are collected by us on that page, and the answer is used only to add that person to your list. Google's privacy policy applies to its processing as our service provider.

"Share tree" links

If you tap "Share tree", the app uploads a snapshot of the people you select so you can send a relative one link (cousinsai.com/join). The snapshot contains your name and birthday plus, for each selected person, their name, birthday (and birth year if known), relationship, family side, and who they are married to or the child of. Notes are included only if you turn on "Include notes". Photos and gift information are never uploaded. The snapshot is stored in Google Cloud Firestore, operated for us by Google, under a long random code that only you and the people you send the link to know; it cannot be listed, searched or changed. Anyone who has the link can open it until it expires 30 days after you create it, so only send it to people you trust. Expired snapshots can no longer be opened and are purged from the server; email us at any time to have a shared snapshot deleted sooner. When someone adds your tree, the people are copied into the app on their device, which works like the rest of their family list and is not sent back to us.

Sharing by code

The older "Share as code" option creates a message or code that you send yourself using iOS sharing or the clipboard. We never receive it.

Children

COUSINS is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect information from anyone.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update this page and its effective date.

Contact

Questions? Email support@cousinsai.com.