Banyan

Getting started

Banyan is a private family tree. The home of a family is the tree, and the main button is Add someone.

Sign in with Google, or with your name and phone number. A person can be on the tree without ever signing in.

The first person to sign in on a new site can open the admin page. Everyone else only sees the families they were invited to.

Signing in

There is no username. Sign in with your phone number or your email, plus your password — or with Google when it is turned on. Email sign-in works once an email is saved on your account.

Creating an account asks you to agree to the Terms and Privacy notice, then your name, phone, password (at least 8 characters), and an optional email. Saving an email lets you sign in with it and reset your password.

Forgot password? Use the link on Sign in and enter your phone or email. A reset link is sent only if the account has an email saved. Google users reset the password with Google.

Google accounts do not need a Banyan password. You can add a password later in Your profile if you also want phone sign-in.

The same phone number belongs to one account. An invite link opens one family only — sign in first, then accept. There is no public list of families.

The picture beside your name is the photo on the card you marked This is me. Change that photo on the card. In Your profile you can turn the corner picture off and keep your initials. The family tree still shows the photo on your card.

Your family trees

You can belong to more than one family. After sign-in, open one tree at a time from Your family trees. Each card shows when the tree was started, when it last changed, how many people are on it, and the family leaders’ names.

A yearly plan is US$25 a year and includes two family trees you lead, after a 7-day trial. Families you join by invite do not count, and people who never sign in are not charged. Your profile shows the trial, the plan, and a link to subscribe when billing is turned on.

During the trial Banyan sends a few short notes: a welcome, a tip on day 3, and reminders two days before and on the day the trial ends. They appear at the top of the page and on Notifications, and by email if you gave an address. When the trial ends you can keep adding for a few more days; after that, if no family leader has an active plan, the tree stays visible but look-only. Nothing is deleted. You cannot start a third tree you lead.

Some people are given a free membership by Banyan, for one year or for life. Your profile shows it under Plan & billing, with no price and nothing to pay. A free year sends reminders 30 and 7 days before it ends. A free membership belongs to your account only: it cannot be passed to anyone else, and it ends if the account is deleted.

A family leader sets the profile picture and a short description in Family settings. Both show under the family name on the tree. The picture also shows on the family card. Without a picture, the card shows the emblem or the family’s initials.

A family leader uses the button in the corner of a card. Edit changes the family name, description, and origin country. Delete asks you to type the family name, then moves that tree to trash so it can be restored. Delete forever is a later step from Trash.

The name in the header keeps a title for the family you have open: Family leader, Editor, Contributor, or Viewer. Site admin appears when you run Banyan, including beside a family title.

Each tree starts with one registered family leader. That leader invites everyone else.

A person card stays inside one tree. Joining a second family does not copy relatives, stories, or phone numbers into it.

If you lead a family and start another tree, Banyan asks whether it is a new family or one you already lead.

Adding someone

Add a name, then choose how they are connected: parent, adopted parent, step-parent, child, spouse or partner, or brother or sister. Uncle, aunt, cousin, niece, nephew, grandparent, great-grandparent, great-aunt, and in-laws are worked out from those links. Half brother and half sister appear when only one parent is shared. Mark This is me to see the title.

Know someone is your cousin, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, grandparent or grandchild, but not the people in between? Open your card and use Further out. Choose who connects you, or Banyan adds a card marked “name not known yet” for each person in between. Open that card and press Edit when you learn their name, and every title updates.

Call them sits with that connection. Woman or Man is what turns parent into mother or father, and child into daughter or son.

Adding someone puts them on the tree only. It does not let them sign in. A sign-in starts from Members, with an invite.

Born in is the country where they were born, shown with that flag. Grew up in is optional, for someone raised in a different country from where they were born. Lives in is where they are now, with that country’s flag. A card shows two flags at most (born in, then lives in); where they grew up shows on their page and when you rest the mouse on their card. Heritage words, under More about them, are for roots a flag cannot show.

Birth and death years are chosen from a list from 1700 to this year, so older relatives such as great-great-great-grandparents fit. Birth year can be unknown. You can still add a month and day so the birthday list works. If someone has died, add the year and the card shows the years of their life.

A photo is optional. It helps the family recognize them, and you can save without one.

More about them holds another name, heritage words, and optional email, phone, or Facebook. The phone uses the same country code and flag as sign-in. You choose whether the whole family can see contact details, or only the family leaders.

If the name, or the first name plus birth year, matches someone already in this tree, Banyan shows that card and asks you to use them or confirm this is someone else.

Seeing the tree

Move over a person on a computer, or tap them on a phone, to open their card. The trail at the top is Banyan, then Your family trees, then this family. On a person’s page their name is the last step.

On a computer, rest the mouse on anyone’s card for a short summary: how they are related, where they were born, grew up and live, and their partner. Click the card to open it.

Leaders and editors can tap or hover the round picture (or initials) on the tree to upload a photo, choose one from Photos, or remove it.

Zoom in, zoom out, and Fit float in the corner of the tree, like a map. Next to them, How to see the tree is a short list: Family, Descendants, Hourglass, Pedigree, or Fan. Family is everyone in the view. Descendants starts with the person you picked and shows their children and grandchildren. Hourglass puts that person in the middle, ancestors above and descendants below. Pedigree is the straight line of their parents and grandparents. Fan draws those ancestors in a semicircle. On a phone you can also pinch. Names stay upright.

The chart uses nearly the whole window so big families have room. Zoom in, zoom out, Fit, and Full screen still work as before.

Moving around a big tree: the tree sits in its own box with a slider along the bottom (left and right) and one down the side (up and down). On a computer you can also press on an empty part of the tree and drag it, like a map. On a phone, slide with one finger. The tree opens on your own card, which has a small gold You tag so you can find yourself at a glance.

Dashed cards: if you can add to the tree, a dashed card shows where someone close to you is still missing, like your other parent or your first child. Tap Add on it and the Add someone form opens already filled in. Viewers and members limited to one branch do not see them, and they never print.

For you, just under the family name at the top of the tree, shows the most useful thing first, like a birthday this week, a question to answer, or the next step, with quick counts such as photos to add. See all opens the full list: getting started, how the family should refer to you, Coming up, this week’s question, Things to fill in, and What the family just added. On a phone the list slides up from the bottom. Opening someone’s family card closes it so the chart stays clear.

Full screen shows only the tree: no header, menus, or footer. Press Full screen in the corner of the tree. Type a name in Find someone to jump straight to them, even inside a folded branch. Press Exit full screen, or the Esc key on a computer, to go back. On iPhone the tree fills the page instead, because iPhones do not allow full screen for web pages.

When the tree is bigger than the screen, a small overview map appears in the bottom corner. It shows the whole tree, with your card in gold and a box around the part you are looking at. Click or tap the map, or drag in it, to move there. Press − to hide it and Overview to bring it back. Small families that fit on the screen do not see it.

On a phone, open a person and use Add parent or Add child for someone new. To say who a person already on the tree is, open Edit. On a computer you can also press Move on tree, or press and hold a card, then drop them on the right person. The tree rearranges itself from that connection.

A card shows the years when they are known. Both years read 1921 – 1948. A living person shows the birth year and age. If neither year is known, that line is left off.

More, next to the search box, holds Move on tree, Quick add people (one or a few people at a time with a short form), Print poster, and How the tree works.

A larger tree opens around the person marked This is me. Type a name in Find someone and pick them to jump straight there. In that list you come first, with the gold You tag, and everyone else shows how they are related to you. Then choose Whole tree, Around them, Ancestors, or Descendants. That choice filters the Family picture. Descendants, Hourglass, Pedigree, and Fan follow the person you picked, and stay inside the branch you have open.

Family shows people in rows labelled by generation: grandparents, parents, your generation, children. Each label sits just above its row, so it never covers a card. Couples sit side by side with a dot between them, and children hang from that dot.

On a computer, click a card to open that person’s family beside the tree. On a phone, the tree opens on a family card: tap a relative to move to them, or switch to Whole chart.

Each person’s page shows how you are related, step by step — for example You → your mother → her brother → his daughter.

Big family? Save a branch, such as your father’s side, to see one part at a time. The tabs above the tree read Whole family, then each branch with how many people are in it, then New branch. Choose who it starts from and who is in it: their whole side, their descendants, or their ancestors. Partners always come along. Nobody is copied or moved, and removing a branch removes nobody from the tree.

Once you are on the tree, Banyan suggests your father’s side and your mother’s side. One tap saves either one. Inside a branch, Focus on searches only that branch. On a phone, the family card shows which branches a person is in. Tap one to open it.

Each couple with children has Hide and Show under it in Family, Descendants, and the lower part of Hourglass. A big tree opens with the line that leads to you open and other branches folded. What you fold is remembered on that device. Pedigree and Fan always show the ancestor line, a few generations back.

Print poster, under More, prints the chart on one landscape page, or saves it as a PDF for a reunion.

List is easier for search. Map, “Where the family lives”, shows one pin for each country where living relatives live today, with how many family members are in each. Tap a pin to see who lives there. Only living relatives are shown, and the line at the top links to anyone still missing a country. The tree can tint people by that country.

Banyan in your language: tap the globe at the top of any page and choose a language. Your choice is saved on that device, and to your account when you are signed in. The first time, Banyan follows your phone or browser language. The family’s own names, stories, and notes stay as they were written.

Text too small? Tap Text (the Aa button) at the top of any page and choose Normal, Large, Larger, or Largest. Everything grows together: words, buttons, and the tree. High contrast, in the same place, makes text darker and outlines stronger. Your choice is saved on that device, and to your account when you are signed in. Banyan also follows the text size set on your phone or in your browser.

Invites and roles

Only someone already in a family can invite a new person, and the invite names that one family.

To invite someone, press Invite family, the green button next to Family on every tree page. Say who it is for if you like, then choose Help fill in the tree or Just look. Banyan writes a short message from you, which you can change, and you send it yourself by WhatsApp, email, text or LINE, so they know it is from you. The link shows a Family Banyan picture and your name.

You will also see Invite someone who knows under For you when the tree has gaps, Not sure? Ask a relative on a dashed card for a missing parent, and an Invite button on the page of a relative who has not joined yet.

A family leader’s invite lets the person in at the role the leader chose. An invite from anyone else waits until a leader accepts it.

Family leader oversees the whole tree, including roles and removing access. A family can have a second leader. The last leader names someone else before leaving.

If this family has only one leader, Banyan reminds them to name a second. If something happens to the only leader, a member can ask Banyan for help from Family settings — for crisis only, not everyday tree edits.

Leaders can allow sharing one photo at a time outside Banyan (WhatsApp, LINE, Facebook, copy link). Shared links end after 14 days and are not invites to the tree. The person who shared a photo, or a leader, can stop the link sooner in Family settings, and turning sharing off stops every open link.

On a person’s page, tap a detail such as their name or birth year to open Edit on that box. Family settings keeps the long photo chooser and crisis help folded until you need them.

Editor can add, update, and delete. Contributor can add and update, and cannot delete. Viewer can look at the tree and cannot change anything — good for relatives who should only see.

A family leader can hide emails, phones, and Facebook from everyone except leaders, so viewers see the tree without private contact details.

Invite links expire after 14 days. Resend creates a fresh link you can send again.

Two people can edit the same person at once. Banyan keeps both changes. If you both changed the same thing, the newer one stays and Banyan tells you what you had typed. You can press Use mine instead to put yours back.

The invite says the tree is private to this family. Send the link yourself by text, WhatsApp, email, or Messenger.

Bringing relatives in

Ask a relative: on anyone’s card, choose Ask a relative, pick what you would like to know (when they were born, their parents, a story about them), and send the question by WhatsApp or LINE. Your relative answers on a simple page in their own language, with no account. Only your question is shown, never the family tree.

Answers wait under Answers from relatives. Keep one as a story on that person’s card, update their card, or let it go. A question link works for 30 days and can be answered once.

Invite from a card: on the card of someone who is not on Banyan yet, choose Invite. When they join, Banyan asks “Is this you?” and opens the tree on their own card.

The question of the week: every Monday the whole family gets the same question, on the tree, on the Stories page, and in the weekly email. If your answer is about someone, choose them and it is kept as a story on their card too.

Birthdays: on someone’s birthday, Send wishes opens WhatsApp or LINE with a message ready. On a remembrance day, Share a memory goes straight to the stories on their card.

Branch invites and new trees from a branch

A family leader can invite someone to one branch instead of the whole family, for example a cousin to the Baptiste side. Save the branch first, then on Members and invites choose it under What they can see.

A branch member sees only the people in that branch: on the tree, the list, the map, reports, and person pages. A branch editor or contributor adds and updates people there. A branch viewer only looks.

Family photos, notes, stories on person cards, recent changes, and the member list belong to the whole family, so a branch member does not see them. Their weekly email lists only birthdays and dates in their branch.

If a branch member adds someone who sits outside the branch, such as the parent of someone who married in, that person is still saved on the whole tree. The branch member stops seeing them.

A leader can change what any member sees at any time on Members and invites: Whole family, or Only one branch. A family leader always sees the whole family. A branch cannot be removed while members can see only that branch.

Start a new tree from this branch, in the line under an open branch, makes a separate family tree from it. Its people, how they are connected, and their card photos are copied once. The new tree is yours to lead and counts toward the two trees you can lead.

The copy does not stay in step with the original. Members, family photos, notes, stories on person cards, and voice notes are not copied. Nobody is removed from the original family.

Map, reports, photos, and the emblem

The map is another view of the countries already written on each person. It does not show a street address.

Reports cover birthdays this month, who lives in each country, people still missing a birth year or a parent, and a one-page tree for a reunion.

Coming up, in For you at the top of the tree, lists birthdays in the next month, and remembrance days for relatives who have died. A family leader can choose in Family settings whether everyone sees exact birthdays of living relatives, or only leaders and editors.

To see these dates in your phone’s calendar, open Your profile → Family calendar and choose Add to Google Calendar, Add to iPhone / Apple Calendar, or Add to Outlook. Birthdays and remembrance days then appear there and update themselves every few hours. The link is private to you; if you share it by mistake, choose Make a new link.

Everyone with an email on their profile gets a short weekly family email: what is new, and birthdays coming up. Turn it off in Your profile, or with the link at the bottom of the email.

Family settings → Backup and safety can download the family as a GEDCOM file, the standard family-tree format, and import a GEDCOM file from Ancestry, FamilySearch, or MyHeritage as a new family.

Add photos straight from the top of Photos, and choose the album (Unsorted if you are not sure). Photos is organized into albums the family creates — grandparents, reunions, past relatives, and more. Each photo lives in one album; Unsorted holds pictures that are not placed yet. Uploads can be up to 5 MB each; Banyan compresses them to WebP before they use space. Person photos on cards and the emblem upload also count toward the same 50 MB of photo space per family.

Each family can have one emblem. Upload arms you already have, or make a shield from the family’s origin country, a symbol, and the family name. A shield the app draws is labeled as the family’s own emblem.

The emblem appears at the top of the tree, on the reunion page, and on the invite card.

Stories, notes, and help from the tree

On a person card, Stories are short things the family keeps about someone: a few words, a photo you already added, or a voice note. Press Record on their card and talk (up to 1½ minutes), then Stop and Save story; you can also choose a recording under 5 MB. Your browser asks once before using the microphone. You can Remove a story you saved; family leaders and editors can remove any story on the card.

The Stories page asks one question at a time for the whole family. Those answers stay inside the family. If an answer is about someone, it can also be kept as a story on their card.

Family notes are short messages inside the tree — not email. Send one to Family leaders (or a member) when something needs fixing, such as a wrong name. Emoji are available on the note form.

Notes are not sent to someone whose card shows they have died. Choose Family leaders, their partner, or another relative instead. You can still write a note about someone who has died.

The bell in the header shows how many open notes need your attention. Leaders see notes sent to Family leaders.

On a person card, Tell a leader opens a note already about that person.

Suggestions point at gaps, such as a missing parent or a missing birth year. A short family story is written only from facts already in the tree. You can edit it before it is saved.

The family leader can see recent changes and undo the latest mistake, and can join two cards when the same person was added twice.

Download this family’s record from Family settings → Backup and safety when you want a copy that can leave with you. Restore that same file there to make a new private tree. The family you already have stays as it is. Photos and stories are not in the file. Site admins can download a full site backup, which is an operator copy and is not restored from Family settings.

Deleting a family moves it to trash first. Relatives who open it see that it was deleted. A leader can restore it, or delete it forever after a backup.

Privacy and security

Each family is private. Knowing the family name is not enough to enter. There is no public family directory.

Stay signed in keeps you signed in on that device for 30 days. Signing out, or changing your password, ends it. Leave it unticked on a shared computer.

Delete my account, at the bottom of Your profile, removes your sign-in and personal details. Person cards stay on family trees as part of the family’s record.

On a phone you can add Banyan to your home screen from the browser menu, so it opens like an app.

The same person in two trees is normal. The trees stay separate. Banyan does not tell one family that another tree exists.

If another family you belong to has a card with your name, only you are asked whether that is you.

Living people’s photos and contact details stay inside the family that saved them. Gallery photos are not meant to be open public URLs.

On Members and invites, a family leader can turn contact details off for the whole tree so only leaders see emails and phones.

Invite links are secrets that expire after 14 days. Share them one-to-one (text, WhatsApp, email) — do not post them publicly.

Banyan uses secure session cookies on HTTPS, CSRF protection on forms, hashed invite tokens, rate limits on sign-in and joins, and an audit log when a site admin opens a tree for support. Read the Privacy notice for the full list.

When the site owner turns on Cloudflare Turnstile, sign-in and join show a short human check so bots and automated agents cannot easily create accounts or probe invites.

Automated tools may see the public sign-in page. They cannot open a family tree, photos, or member list without an invite and membership.

Sign out on shared computers. If an invite looks wrong, ask a family leader to cancel it and send a new one.