Privacy

famsecrets is a private space for a family or a close group, called a fam. It is run by Development Partners Software LLC ("DevPartners"). This page says what famsecrets keeps about you, who can see it, which companies help us run it, and how to delete it. We don't sell your data, and we don't use it for advertising.

What we keep about you

• Your account: your email address, your name, your photo if you add one, what you write about yourself, and whether you want your fams' news by email.
• What you keep and share: stories, about-me entries and passwords, and who you chose to share each one with. When someone reveals a password you shared, we record who did and when.
• Your fams: which fams you are in, your role in each, and each fam's history: who joined, who became a steward, constitution changes and the like.
• What you send us: messages from the feedback form, and email you send to feedback@, privacy@ or security@famsecrets.com.
• How the service is used: logs of requests and errors, with their time, the page or action, how long it took, your browser and your approximate location (country and city). Your IP address is used only to work out that location and is then stored as 0.0.0.0.
• This site's edge log: on famsecrets.com, requests for the files that search engines and other automated readers fetch (such as robots.txt and sitemap.xml), and probes for common attack paths, are logged with the IP address and browser identification. A summary without the IP address (the path, the country, and whether the requester is a known search engine) is kept too. Ordinary page visits are in neither, and the app is not covered.

Who can see it

A fam is closed. Only its members can open it, and each member chooses who sees each thing they share: nobody else, named people, whole fams, or a mix. Stewards, who look after a fam, get no extra access to what members share.

The DevPartners staff who run famsecrets, called operators, can see each fam's name and constitution, and its members' names, email addresses and roles, so that they can set fams up and help when one has no steward. They do not read what members share, and the operator console doesn't show it. Passwords are also encrypted with a key held in Azure Key Vault, and everything is encrypted on disk.

Companies that help run famsecrets

WorkOS · Signing in

WorkOS emails you a one-time code and checks it. It holds your email address and a record of your sign-ins. WorkOS's privacy policy.

Microsoft Azure · Hosting

The app, its database, its encryption keys and this site run on Microsoft Azure in its Central US region. Our logs are kept in its Canada Central region, this site's edge log in its East US 2 region, and database backups are copied to the US region paired with Central US. Microsoft Azure's privacy policy.

Cloudflare · Domain, this site's network, and incoming email

Cloudflare runs the famsecrets.com domain, carries this public site to your browser, runs the small program that writes this site's edge log, keeps that log's summary, and forwards email you send to feedback@, privacy@ or security@famsecrets.com to the famsecrets team's mailbox. Cloudflare's privacy policy.

Google Workspace · The team's mailbox

Email you send to feedback@, privacy@ or security@famsecrets.com arrives in a Google Group on DevPartners' Google Workspace, where the famsecrets team reads and answers it. Google Workspace's privacy policy.

Resend · Email from famsecrets

Resend delivers the email famsecrets sends you, from its US region. It receives your email address and the email itself, which names people and the fam, never what anyone shares. Resend's privacy policy.

PostHog · Product analytics

PostHog, on its US cloud, counts page views on this site and the actions people take in the app, such as joining a fam or saving a share, so we can see what works. It is set to discard IP addresses, and its events never contain names, titles or anything you write. In the app, the event names you only by a random account number. PostHog's privacy policy.

We share your data with nobody else, unless the law requires it.

Email we send

famsecrets emails you from notifications@famsecrets.com: when someone asks to join a fam you look after as a steward, when a steward approves your request to join, when you are removed from a fam, and, if you want it, your fams' news. Operators also get an email when a fam with no steward asks for help. You can turn the news off in your profile. Sign-in codes come from WorkOS.

Cookies

famsecrets uses no advertising or third-party cookies. It sets these:

__Host-famsecrets· app.famsecrets.com, operator.famsecrets.com

Keeps you signed in. Your browser can't read it from a page. It ends after 14 days without a visit, and 30 days after you signed in, whichever comes first.

__Host-famsecrets-signin· app.famsecrets.com, operator.famsecrets.com

Ties the sign-in page to your sign-in, for up to 10 minutes, so nobody else can finish it.

__Host-famsecrets-af· app.famsecrets.com, operator.famsecrets.com

Protects your actions from forged requests by other sites.

famsecrets-signed-in· famsecrets.com and the app

Holds only the number 1, so this site can offer “Go to your fams” instead of “Sign in”. It goes when you sign out.

ph_… (PostHog)· famsecrets.com

A random number, also kept in your browser's local storage, so PostHog can count repeat visits to this site. The app keeps PostHog's number in memory only and stores nothing.

How long we keep it

• Your account and what you keep, until you delete them. A share you delete waits 30 days in your trash, then is deleted for good.
• Request and error logs, up to 90 days.
• This site's edge log is deleted after 10 days. Its summary without IP addresses is kept for about three months.
• Database backups: we can restore the database to any moment in the last 7 days, and Azure keeps those backups up to a week longer. Anything deleted is gone from the backups within about two weeks.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account at any time from your profile. That deletes your profile, photo, about-me entries, everything you keep and share, and your sign-in link, here and at WorkOS. Each fam's history keeps what happened, but names you only as “a former member”. Feedback you sent stays, without your name. PostHog's usage events stay too: they name you only by a random account number, never by your name or email address. To have them removed, email privacy@famsecrets.com. It is gone from our database backups within about two weeks.

Children

You must be 13 or older to have a famsecrets account. If you think a child under 13 has one, tell us at the address below.

Changes

When this policy changes, we update this page and the date at the top.

Questions

Email privacy@famsecrets.com. It reaches the people who run famsecrets.