Privacy, in plain words

KnoBee is run by KnoBee Social India Private Limited. Last updated 10 October 2026.

KnoBee is a family tree and a family network. It works only if families trust it, so this page says exactly what we keep, who can see it, and how you can take it back.

Your consent

When you sign up we ask for your consent to use your information for the purposes on this page, as India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act expects. We use it only to run KnoBee for you and your family. You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account; see Delete account.

What we keep

  • Your mobile number. It signs you in with a one-time code. It is also how KnoBee recognises you when a relative has already added you to the tree, so that it can ask "Is this you?". If you sign in with Google instead, we receive your name, email address and profile photo from Google. If you sign in with Apple, we receive your name and an email address (or Apple's private relay address) from Apple.
  • Your family relations. The people you add as parents, brothers and sisters, spouse and children, and the details you fill in about yourself and them, such as name, gender, date of birth, city, profession, school or workplace.
  • Photos. Your profile photo and the photos you add to your profile, posts, family page and chats.
  • Blood group (optional). If you add it, it is shown to your family on your profile and goes with your SOS alert, so that in an emergency relatives can donate or ask for blood. You can remove it any time.
  • Posts, comments and reactions in the family feed and on family pages.
  • Chat messages and voice messages. Text, photos and the voice notes you record. If translation is available, the text of a message is sent to a translation service so that the reader can see it in their language.
  • Matrimony biodata, only if you or a relative create one.
  • Your location, only when you ask. KnoBee does not track where you are. When you send an emergency SOS, your location at that moment is sent with it. When you press "Use my location" by a city field, your approximate location is sent once to OpenStreetMap to find the city's name; only the city is saved, never the location.
  • Contacts you choose. When you pick a relative from your phone's address book, KnoBee reads only the name and mobile numbers of that one contact, so the number can be saved on the relative's entry and used to find them when they join. KnoBee does not upload or read your whole address book.
  • Email addresses and extra mobile numbers that you or a relative add to a profile. A number or email counts as yours for sign-in only after you confirm it with a code.
  • Notification address. If you allow notifications, a notification token for your phone, so we can send you chat messages, family news and SOS alerts.
  • Voice and video calls. When calls are available and you join one, your voice and video travel through KnoBee's own call server to the other people in the call. Calls are not recorded and nothing from them is kept. The microphone and camera are used only during a call you start or join.
  • Links. When a link is shared in a post or chat, our server opens it to show a title and picture.
  • Basic usage records, such as which screens are opened, to find problems and improve the app.

What we do not do

  • Face recognition ("Who is this?"). If you use it, KnoBee keeps a face print of you: numbers made from your face, not a photo. It also makes a face print from each profile photo in the family, so relatives can recognise each other with the camera. A picture taken to recognise someone is not kept. You can switch off being recognised, and delete your own face print, in Settings.
  • We do not sell your personal information.
  • There are no public profiles. Nothing you post can be found on a search engine.

Who can see what

  • Only people in your Hive can see you: people connected to you through a chain of family relations.
  • A post first reaches close relatives. It travels further through the family only when relatives react to it. Announcements such as a wedding, a birth or a death travel further. No post is public.
  • If you turn on Private profile, only your name and photo show in the tree. Everything else is hidden.
  • Marital status is private. It is shown only to you and to whoever manages your profile, and in matrimony only if you choose.
  • When someone sends a "nearby family" inquiry, they never learn who received it. They hear only from relatives who choose to answer.
  • An SOS goes to your close family and to Hive members in the same city, with your location, so that someone can reach you.
  • Someone outside your family can start a chat with you only if they already have your mobile number (typed, or picked from their address book). KnoBee never lets people outside your Hive find you by name. You can block anyone.

Relatives who are not on the app

A family tree includes elders who do not use a phone and relatives who have passed away, so members can add relatives who are not on KnoBee. If you have been added and you later sign up with the same mobile number, KnoBee shows you the entry and you can confirm or reject each relation. Relatives can object to an entry that is not real or needs correction. If you are not a member and want an entry about you corrected or removed, write to care@knobee.app and we will act on it.

Removing someone from the tree. A member of the family can ask to remove a person who is not related or was added by mistake. The request goes to every KnoBee member of that family. When at least half of them agree, the person is removed from the tree; if any relative says the person is family, the request stops and everyone is told. A removed member keeps their account and the relatives they added themselves, is told what happened, and can send the family an objection. Any relative can add them back.

Leaving a tree. If you were added to the wrong family, you can leave it yourself (Settings, then "This is not my family"). The links other people made to you are cut, what you added yourself stays with you, and you add your own father and mother so that your tree starts from your own family. Your close relatives are told.

Children

Accounts are for adults. Parents and relatives may add children to the family tree and share their photos and news inside the family. Those are seen only inside the Hive, under the rules above. A parent or guardian can ask us to remove a child's details at any time. See also our child safety standards.

Merging two entries

When two entries look like the same person, KnoBee suggests a merge. It never merges on its own. If a family member approves, the details of both entries are kept together, and the merge can be undone for 30 days.

Your rights

  • See and correct your details in your profile at any time.
  • Ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you.
  • Delete your account in the app (Settings, then Delete account) or on the Delete account page. This removes your profile, photos, posts, comments and chats.
  • Raise a complaint. Write to care@knobee.app and we will reply as soon as we can. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India.

Where it is stored

Your information is stored on our servers and sent over an encrypted connection. Only the small team that runs KnoBee can access it, and only to keep the service working, handle reports and answer your requests. We may share information when the law requires it.

A few services work for us and see only what they need to do their job: SMS and WhatsApp providers (your mobile number, to send sign-in codes), Google Firebase and Apple (a notification token, to deliver notifications), Google or Apple if you choose to sign in with them, and a translation service when translation is switched on (the text of a message, to translate it). They may not use the information for anything else.

Changes

If we change how we use your information in a way that matters, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.