Effective 27 October 2026 · RootTalk is operated by MJ APPLICATIONS LLC, a Texas limited liability company.
In short
We don’t store your ancestors’ information. Names, dates, places, and photos are read from FamilySearch, held in your browser’s memory while you use RootTalk, and gone when you reload. The one exception is a life summary you choose to share with friends: that text, as you approved it, is kept as your post until you delete it.
We keep no copy of your family tree. What we do store on our servers is small and never genealogical: your own progress — the FamilySearch IDs of ancestors you’ve viewed, the days you met your goal, badge IDs and favourite categories — so it follows you between devices; that you accepted these terms and FamilySearch’s upload agreement; whether an ancestor had parents recorded when we last looked; and, if you use friends and groups, your profile, your friends, and the notes and messages you wrote.
We never see your FamilySearch password. We write to your FamilySearch tree only when you explicitly save a life summary to an ancestor’s Memories.
This summary is for orientation only. The full text below is what governs.
RootTalk is operated by MJ APPLICATIONS LLC, a Texas limited liability company (“we”, “us”). We are the data controller for the limited information described here. You can reach us at support@mjapplications.com.
RootTalk is an independent application. It is not FamilySearch International, not affiliated with or endorsed by them beyond participation in their developer program, and not operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When you sign in with FamilySearch, RootTalk reads your tree through FamilySearch’s API in order to show it back to you. This is the most important thing to understand about how we handle that data:
Genealogical information is never written to durable storage — not on our servers, and not in your browser’s local storage. Names, dates, places, relationships, memories, and AI-generated narratives exist only in memory for the length of a page session and are discarded when you reload or close the tab.
We operate no database of tree data. If you stop using RootTalk, there is no copy of your family’s information for us to delete, because none was ever kept.
What we keep on our own servers is not genealogical: that you accepted our Terms, your progress, and — if you use them — your profile, friends, groups and the words you wrote there. See §4 below.
RootTalk deliberately begins its walk at your nearest deceased ancestor and never displays or transmits details of living relatives. We also do not read, display, store, or transmit Latter-day Saint temple ordinance information.
Images attached to your ancestors are displayed by referencing their FamilySearch URL directly. We never copy, proxy, or cache the image files. If a contributor removes or restricts an image on FamilySearch, it stops appearing in RootTalk as well.
RootTalk keeps a working copy of your progress in your browser’s localStorage, and synchronises it with the copy on our servers (section 4) so that it follows you between devices. It holds identifiers, dates and counts — not genealogical content:
| Key | What it holds |
|---|---|
| roottalk.sync.v1 | Your progress, as one document that is also kept on our servers: the FamilySearch person IDs you’ve unlocked and the day each was unlocked, the days you met your daily goal, where you left off, earned badge IDs, IDs of records and conversations you opened, and the ancestors you marked as favourites with the category names you gave them. Points and streak are worked out from these, not stored. |
| roottalk.summaries.v1 | Joyce’s introductions from this session, so going back to an ancestor doesn’t ask her again. AI-written text about your ancestors, kept in session storage only: the browser discards it when the app or tab is closed, and signing out clears it. |
| roottalk.quest.chatHistory.v1 | Conversations you had with Joyce, so you can re-read them. These do contain ancestor names and AI-written text, and are saved on your device only. |
| roottalk.settings.v1 | Your text size and theme, and — in the iOS and Android apps — whether you turned the streak reminder on and the device token that was registered for it |
| roottalk.consent.v1 | A copy of your terms acceptance (§4), so the app can answer instantly and still work if our server is unreachable |
All of it is scoped to the signed-in FamilySearch account and cleared automatically when a different account signs in on the same device.
You can erase it at any time: use Settings → Your data → Erase my RootTalk data inside RootTalk, which removes the copy on our servers, any reminder registrations, and the one on your device. Clearing site data in your browser removes only the local copy; it will be restored from your account the next time you sign in.
A handful of things, all of them identifiers, timestamps and counts. None contains a name, a date of birth, a place, or anything about a relationship.
The same document described in section 3, stored against your FamilySearch person ID so that it follows you between devices. Each device’s copy is merged into it rather than replacing it. It is removed when you erase your data in Settings.
Which plan you chose — Free or Plus — and when, stored against your FamilySearch person ID. It decides how many introductions and questions Joyce gives you each day. It is removed when you erase your data in Settings.
If you subscribe to Plus in the iPhone app, you pay Apple, not us: we never see your card or your Apple Account. Apple sends us a signed record of the subscription, and we keep its transaction number, whether it is a test purchase, and when the paid month ends, so renewals and cancellations reach the right RootTalk account. To tie the purchase to your account we give Apple a random-looking code derived from your FamilySearch person ID, never the ID itself. Erasing your data removes this record; Restore Purchases brings back a subscription you still pay for.
To keep RootTalk running and affordable we keep counts: how many introductions Joyce wrote and what they cost, how many sign-ins failed, how often a limit was reached. Each count is stored with a one-way keyed hash of your person ID, so we can tell distinct readers apart without being able to tell who you are, and with no names, no text and nothing about any ancestor. These rows are deleted after 90 days. The operator’s page that shows them is readable by one FamilySearch account, and every attempt to open it is recorded.
If you report a post, comment or person, we keep who reported it, what was reported and by whom, the reason you picked and any note you wrote, so we can review it. If you block someone, we keep that you blocked them, so their posts and comments stay hidden from you. Both are removed when you erase your data.
If you turn on notifications, we store the device token Apple or Google issued for your install, which platform it is, your device’s time zone, which kinds of notification you chose, and the last days a reminder and a recap were sent. There are three kinds, each with its own switch in Settings: an early-evening streak reminder on days you have a streak and have not yet met your daily goal; a weekly recap at the weekend with how many ancestors you met; and a notice when someone sends you a friend request or comments on your post, which names them by their RootTalk @handle. None of them ever names an ancestor or repeats what anyone wrote. We ask only after your first unlock, never on launch, and the token is deleted when you turn notifications off, sign out on that device, or erase your data.
When you accept the Terms of Service, we store a single row against your FamilySearch person ID: the version of the terms you accepted and the date and time you accepted it. That is the whole record — no name, no email, no ancestors, nothing about your family.
We keep it for two reasons. It means you are asked to agree once rather than on every device you sign in from, and it is the evidence that the agreement happened. We retain it for as long as your acceptance is current, and for a reasonable period afterwards to evidence that it was given. If we change the Terms materially, you will be asked again and a new record replaces the old one.
RootTalk can save an ancestor’s life summary to their Memories on FamilySearch. This only ever happens when you ask for it. Before your first upload we show you FamilySearch’s Content Submission Agreement and record that you accepted it — the same single row as above: your FamilySearch person ID, the version, and the date and time.
The summary opens in an editable box first. What is uploaded is the text as you left it, followed by a short note stating that Joyce, our AI guide, drafted it and that you read and verified it. That note is added by our server from your FamilySearch display name and cannot be edited out.
Uploading alone keeps no copy. The text passes through our server to FamilySearch and is not written to our database or our logs; we record only that an upload happened: your person ID, the ancestor’s ID, and the identifier FamilySearch returned. If you also share the summary with friends, the shared copy is your post (see “Friends, the Findings feed and groups” below). Once saved, the memory lives on FamilySearch under your account — to change or remove it, use FamilySearch.
If you add a friend, share a finding, or make a group, we store:
You can delete any post, leave any group and remove any friend at any time, and Settings → Your data → Erase my RootTalk data removes all of it along with your progress. Shared summaries you saved to FamilySearch Memories stay on FamilySearch, under your account there.
As you explore, RootTalk asks FamilySearch whether a given ancestor has parents recorded. We cache that answer as a FamilySearch person ID, one true/false, and the date we checked — so the same question isn’t re-asked on every visit.
This is our own observation, not a claim about anyone’s family, and it deliberately expires. FamilySearch’s tree is edited constantly: an ancestor with no recorded parents today may have two tomorrow. Any cached answer older than 30 days is discarded and checked again, so a line that grows is always rediscovered.
RootTalk sets exactly one cookie, roottalk_session. It is encrypted, httpOnly (unreadable by scripts), SameSite=Lax, and served only over HTTPS in production. It holds your FamilySearch access token, your person ID, and your display name.
On the web it is a session cookie: it is not written to disk and is discarded when you close your browser. In the RootTalk iPhone and Android apps it is kept on the device for at most 24 hours from sign-in, so switching to another app does not sign you out; signing out deletes it at once. Either way, the access token inside it stops working once FamilySearch expires it (after an hour unused, or 24 hours at most), after which you must sign in again.
We set no advertising, tracking, or analytics cookies, and there are no third-party trackers in RootTalk.
We use a small number of processors. Each receives only what it needs to perform its function:
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising or cross-context behavioural advertising.
To place ancestors on the map, RootTalk asks FamilySearch’s Place Authority for the coordinates of a place name. These are lookups of historical places, not of you, and the results are held in memory for the session only.
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we process your data to perform the service you asked for (Article 6(1)(b)) and, for the security measures described here, on the basis of our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)).
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, port, or restrict processing of your personal information, and to object to it. In RootTalk’s case most of these you can exercise directly and immediately: sign out to end the session, and erase your progress in Settings to remove it from your device and from our servers. For anything we hold, contact support@mjapplications.com. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
To correct or remove genealogical information itself, use FamilySearch — that is where the records live. RootTalk only reads them.
Genealogical data: not retained. Terms acceptance (§4): kept while current, then a reasonable period as evidence it was given. Cached parent-check answers (§4): 30 days, then discarded and re-checked. Session cookie: until you close your browser (in the apps, at most 24 hours) or the token expires. On-device progress: until you clear it. Your profile, friends, groups, posts and messages: until you delete them or erase your data. Operating counts (§4): 90 days. Server logs, if any are produced by our hosting provider, are retained only for operational and security purposes for a limited period.
RootTalk is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has used RootTalk in a way that provided us information, contact us and we will address it.
Our processors may handle data in the United States and other countries. Where required, transfers rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses.
We maintain a written, management-approved security policy covering access control, credential handling, and incident response. Traffic is served over TLS, access tokens never reach client-side JavaScript, and we hold no database of genealogical data to breach. No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim otherwise.
If we change this policy we will update the effective date above and, for material changes, surface a notice in the application before they take effect.
MJ APPLICATIONS LLC · support@mjapplications.com