BanyanYour family tree

Banyan v1.34.1

What’s new

Every update to Banyan, newest first. Small fixes change the last number (v1.2.1); new features change the middle one (v1.3.0).

v1.34.1 Fixes from a full check of the site

2 November 2026 · current version

  • Opening a link in another language (for example a shared Help page) now shows just that page in that language, instead of switching your whole Banyan language
  • Photos on tree cards, lists and the family band now load as small copies, often about 9 times smaller, so the tree opens faster on phones; the full photo still shows on the person's page
  • "Add someone" at the top no longer wraps onto two lines on narrower windows; it shows a + instead
  • A person's edit page has one main heading, which helps screen readers
  • The first visit to a page in a new language is faster

v1.34.0 Family birthdays in your calendar

2 November 2026

  • Your profile has a new Family calendar: add your family's birthdays and remembrance days to Google Calendar, iPhone / Apple Calendar or Outlook in one tap
  • The dates keep themselves up to date as the family adds people, and say how each person is related to you, like "your sister"
  • You choose what to include: birthdays, remembrance days, how people are related, and which families
  • It follows the same rules as the tree: only your families, only your branch if you were invited to one, and only the birthdays your family lets you see. It never includes phones, emails or photos
  • "Make a new link" replaces the link if it was shared by mistake
  • "Coming up" on the tree links to it: "Add family birthdays to your calendar"
  • Your cards in Your profile now have a space between the name and the family

v1.33.1 A tidier "Add your father" card

2 November 2026

  • On a dashed card for a missing parent, "Not sure? Ask a relative" now has its own line under the name, instead of squeezing under the Add button. Clicking anywhere else on the card still adds the person

v1.33.0 Invite family

2 November 2026

  • A green "Invite family" button now sits next to Family on every tree page
  • It opens a short pop-up: who it is for, then "Help fill in the tree" or "Just look". A family leader's invite is ready straight away; anyone else's goes to a family leader to check first
  • Banyan writes a friendly message from you, which you can change before sending. Send it by WhatsApp, email, text or LINE, or copy the link; the link always stays in the message
  • Invite links now show a preview with a Family Banyan picture and "(your name) invited you to (family)", so relatives can see it is genuine
  • The invitation email Banyan sends now says who it is from: "(your name) invited you to (family) on Family Banyan"
  • Gentle nudges where help is needed: "Invite someone who knows" under For you, "Not sure? Ask a relative" on a dashed card for a missing parent, and an Invite box on the page of a relative who has not joined yet

v1.32.0 Born in, grew up in, lives in

2 November 2026

  • "From" is now "Born in": a plain fact anyone can fill in. Every card's earlier answer is kept as where they were born
  • A new optional "Grew up in", under More about them, for someone raised in a different country from where they were born
  • A person's page shows their places as a short journey: born in → grew up in → lives in now; the card pop-up shows all three too
  • Cards on the tree still show two flags at most: where they were born, then where they live
  • The Privacy notice now mentions the optional country where someone grew up

v1.31.2 Long names on tree cards

1 November 2026

  • A long name on a tree card now shows on one clean line ending in "…", instead of half of a second line showing through; rest the mouse on the card to see the full name

v1.31.1 Card pop-ups that always show

1 November 2026

  • Resting the mouse on any card on the tree now shows its pop-up; before, it only worked on your own card and was partly hidden
  • The pop-up sits above everything, opens above the card near the bottom of the screen, and now also shows where they are from and live, and their partner
  • The photo menu on a card also sits above everything, says whose photo it is, and stays open while you move the mouse onto it

v1.31.0 Find yourself on the tree

1 November 2026

  • In "Find someone on the tree", you now come first with the gold You tag, so you can jump back to yourself in one tap
  • Everyone else in that list shows their picture or initials and how they are related to you, like "Your mother" or "Your cousin"
  • When the tree is showing your part, the line under the search says "Showing people around you"
  • In full screen, Find someone also lists you first and shows how each person is related

v1.30.5 Smoother sign-in

1 November 2026

  • If a sign-in or sign-up page was left open too long, Banyan now simply refreshes it and asks you to try once more, instead of showing "Page expired"

v1.30.4 Updates no longer sign you out

1 November 2026

  • Updating Banyan no longer signs everyone out: sign-ins are now kept safely on the server between updates
  • "Stay signed in" keeps working when several Banyan pages open at the same moment, for example when your browser reopens your tabs

v1.30.3 A check of every page

1 November 2026

  • Members: the help icon sits next to "Role" and "What they can see", the role boxes are wide enough to read and sit in one row, and open invites have a space after the name
  • On a person's card on phones, the Add buttons line up neatly beside "Add" and "Further out"
  • What's new no longer shows words in curly brackets, and Admin → Versions says "1 change" and keeps version numbers on one line on phones

v1.30.2 Small finishing touches

1 November 2026

  • The family band is now the same height on every tree page, so the tabs stay in the same place when you switch between Tree, List, Map, Photos, Notes and Reports
  • Photos: the storage line and its bar sit together on the left, and "Choose files" is now a soft green button
  • List: the search is a full-width bar, like the search on the Tree page

v1.30.1 One left edge on the tree pages

1 November 2026

  • On wide screens, the family name, the tabs, For you and the search bar now line up with the page content below, so everything shares one left edge; the tree chart still uses the full width
  • Fixed: the "Trees you lead" bar on Your family trees now shows properly, and the small bar on Your plan looks as it did before

v1.30.0 A new "Your family trees" page

1 November 2026

  • "Your family trees" now opens with the same soft welcome band as the tree pages, and a "Start a family tree" button when you can start one
  • Each family is a card with a green cover, its picture or emblem, who leads it, how many people and when it changed, and a clear green "Open tree" button
  • A dashed "Start another family tree" card leads to the form, which now shows "Trees you lead" as a short bar
  • On computers, the family band is now the same width on every tree page, so the tabs never jump when you switch between Tree, List, Map, Photos, Notes and Reports
  • Behind the scenes: the deploy check now looks at familybanyan.com

v1.29.0 "For you" replaces Helpers

1 November 2026

  • A "For you" strip now sits just under the family name on the tree page. It shows the most useful thing first: a birthday or remembrance day this week, how the family should refer to you, or this week's question
  • Quick counts sit beside it, like photos to add, people without parents, and birth years to add; each opens the right page
  • "See all" opens the full list: getting started, how to refer to you, coming up, this week's question, things to fill in, and what the family just added. On a phone it slides up from the bottom
  • The side Helpers tab and the floating Helpers button on phones are gone, and the getting-started checklist no longer stacks above the tree, so the tree starts higher on the page

v1.28.2 The family band on every tree page

1 November 2026

  • List, Map, Photos, Notes and Reports now show the same welcome band as the Tree page: the family picture, name and tabs, so switching views feels like staying in one place
  • Each page keeps its own title just below the band

v1.28.1 No more Sideways

1 November 2026

  • The Sideways button is gone: every tree picture now reads from top to bottom, the way families read a family tree. Anyone who had turned their tree sideways sees it top to bottom again.

v1.28.0 Dashed cards show who is missing

1 November 2026

  • The tree now shows a dashed card where someone close to you is clearly missing: your other parent beside the one already there, and a first child under you
  • Tap Add on a dashed card and the Add someone form opens already filled in, for example "parent of Sheldon, called Father"
  • The line to you starts between your parent and the dashed card, like a couple, with a soft dashed join between them
  • Only people who can add to the whole tree see dashed cards; viewers and members limited to one branch do not, and they never print

v1.27.2 Folding phones and narrow screens

1 November 2026

  • On the narrowest folded phones (like the original Galaxy Fold), the top bar fits: the logo and tree name step aside, and "Banyan" in the breadcrumb still takes you home
  • On narrow phones, each getting-started step puts its button under the words, so the words are never squeezed or hidden

v1.27.1 Fits the smallest phones

1 November 2026

  • On the smallest phones (iPhone SE and similar), the top bar now fits on screen, so your account button is never cut off. Language is in the Text (Aa) panel there.

v1.27.0 A new look for the family tree page

1 November 2026

  • The top of each tree is now a soft welcome band, with the family name, picture and last change
  • Tree, List, Map, Photos, Notes and Reports are tabs with a green line under the one you are on; on phones they sit in one row you can swipe
  • Search, "how much to show" and More sit together in one white bar above the tree
  • The tree sits on soft dotted paper, with each generation gently shaded
  • Cards are white and gently raised, with a ringed face; the coloured strip on top is gone, since the flags already show the country
  • Your own card has a gold "You" tag, so you can find yourself at a glance
  • Tapping a card opens a cleaner panel with that person's family and buttons to add a parent, partner, child, brother or sister

v1.26.0 A warmer, calmer look everywhere

1 November 2026

  • Every page now uses the same warm look: a soft ivory background, white cards with gentle borders, and a deeper garden green
  • New, easier-to-read Figtree lettering throughout, with Fraunces kept for headings
  • Buttons, boxes and menus are rounder and clearer, and the box you are typing in now shows a green outline
  • The header and footer are lighter and calmer, and the footer text is a little bigger
  • In Admin, the page you are on is shown in solid green, and "Back to Banyan" is a clear button at the top of the menu
  • Emails use the same green as the app

v1.25.2 Back to Banyan at the top of the admin menu

1 November 2026

  • In Admin, the "Back to Banyan" link now sits at the top of the side menu, so you no longer scroll to the bottom to leave

v1.25.0 Live or test billing

30 October 2026

  • Admin → Billing can use live cards or Stripe’s test card. Each mode keeps its own keys, so a test does not replace the live ones. Switch back to live when the test is finished

v1.24.6 The welcome sits in the open space

30 October 2026

  • On a wide screen, the greeting sits in the open middle of the header, with room on either side of it

v1.24.5 Hello late at night

29 October 2026

  • From 10 at night until morning, the header says hello

v1.24.4 A welcome in the header

29 October 2026

  • On a wide screen, the header greets you by the time of day: good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or good night
  • The greeting follows the clock on your own computer or phone. It stays hidden when the header is too narrow to fit it

v1.24.3 One picture, from your card

29 October 2026

  • The picture next to your name is the photo on the card marked This is me
  • Your profile can turn that corner picture off, so your initials stay there. The family tree still shows the photo on your card
  • Change the photo on the card, not with a second upload on Your profile

v1.24.2 Phone flag on a person’s card

29 October 2026

  • More about them uses the same phone field as the rest of Banyan: a country flag, the code, then the rest of the number

v1.24.1 Sign out goes home

29 October 2026

  • Sign out takes you home. It no longer stops on "This page expired" when the page has been open for a while, or just after an update

v1.24.0 Several ways to see the tree

29 October 2026

  • A short list on the tree, How to see the tree: Family, Descendants, Hourglass, Pedigree, or Fan
  • Family is everyone, as before. Sideways turns that picture, or Descendants, from top-to-bottom to left-to-right
  • Descendants starts from the person you picked and shows their children, grandchildren, and spouses
  • Hourglass puts that person in the middle, with ancestors above and descendants below
  • Pedigree is the straight line of parents and grandparents. Fan draws those same ancestors in a semicircle
  • A step or adoptive parent is marked. An empty space is left where a parent has not been added yet
  • Whole tree, Around them, Ancestors, and Descendants in the search bar still filter the Family picture

v1.23.0 More room for the family tree

29 October 2026

  • The tree page uses nearly the full width of the screen so big charts are easier to see
  • Coming up, this week’s question, Things to fill in, and What the family just added moved into a Helpers panel beside the tree (closed until you open it, with a count badge)
  • Opening a person card closes Helpers; Esc closes Helpers; your choice is remembered on that device
  • On a phone, Helpers opens as a sheet from the bottom

v1.22.12 Shorter voice notes, and Remove a story

29 October 2026

  • In-browser voice recording stops at 1½ minutes (was 10 minutes)
  • An uploaded voice or music file must be under 5 MB
  • Remove on a story you saved; family leaders and editors can remove any story on the card

v1.22.11 Stories on a person card

29 October 2026

  • On a person card, the section is now Stories (not Memories): A short story, Save story, and matching wording for Ask a relative and the Stories page
  • Remembrance days still say Share a memory
  • Help and Terms use the same words

v1.22.10 Notes are not sent to those who have died

29 October 2026

  • Family notes cannot be addressed to a member whose person card on that tree shows they have died
  • The form explains the note was not delivered and suggests Family leaders, their partner, or another relative
  • You can still write a note about someone who has died; Help and Terms say the same

v1.22.9 List search works as you type

29 October 2026

  • Fixed: searching on List did nothing — list rows stayed visible because of CSS. Matches now appear as you type
  • If no name matches, the list says No one matches that name

v1.22.8 Lived in, for those who have died

29 October 2026

  • Someone who has died shows "Lived in" before their country instead of "Lives in"
  • On Edit, the country box says Lived in when They have died is ticked

v1.22.7 See the Family Tree

29 October 2026

  • The person-page button now says See the Family Tree, so it is clearer where it goes

v1.22.6 Age when they died

29 October 2026

  • Someone who has died shows their age at death next to the years, the same way living people show age (for example 1932 – 2010 · age 78)

v1.22.5 See the tree stands out

29 October 2026

  • See the tree sits top-right on a person page in green, separate from Edit and Add, so it is hard to miss
  • On a phone it is a full-width green button under the name

v1.22.4 See the tree from a person page

29 October 2026

  • Every person page has a See the tree button that opens the chart on that person
  • The family name in the header opens the chart, and stays visible on phones
  • After Add yourself, you land on the tree focused on your card, instead of a page with no clear way back

v1.22.3 Clearer heritage words

29 October 2026

  • Heritage words now include Mixed race, East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian / Indian, instead of one Asian box
  • A short note says you can tick more than one word; “Your own words” is now “Or say it in your own words”
  • Cards that already said Asian keep that meaning as East Asian

v1.22.2 Google button clickable again

28 October 2026

  • Fixed: Continue with Google / Sign up with Google still did nothing after v1.22.1 — the real Google button was stretched to 0px tall by CSS, so taps hit an empty overlay. The Google iframe fills the button again
  • Sign up puts Google at the top again (same as Log in), with the Terms tick just above it, instead of under the whole phone form

v1.22.1 Shorter settings, quicker edits

28 October 2026

  • Family settings is shorter: choosing a family picture from Photos, and “Need help with this family”, stay folded until you open them
  • On a person’s card, tap a detail (name, years, country, and so on) to open Edit on that box
  • When a relative answers about someone’s parents, Add mother / Add father fills in the names when the answer names them
  • If two people change the same box, the newer value stays, and a “Use mine instead” button puts yours back
  • Fixed: “1 … card(s)” now says “1 card” or “3 cards”
  • Fixed: Continue with Google / Sign up with Google did nothing — the real Google button was hidden off-screen, and Log in also waited for the human check meant for phone sign-in. Google works on its own again; the human check stays on phone and email

v1.22.0 Record a voice, add photos, tidier settings

28 October 2026

  • Fixed: adding a cousin, uncle or aunt through “I don’t know the people in between” could give someone a third parent when both parents were already on the tree. Banyan now goes through one of the parents instead
  • Record a voice memory right on a person’s card: press Record, talk, press Stop, then Save memory. Choosing a recording you already have still works
  • Photos has Add photos at the top, with the album to put them in (Unsorted unless you choose another). New album is just below
  • Family settings is shorter: Backup, importing a family file, Restore and Delete this family tree are on their own Backup and safety page
  • Viewers see a short note on cards saying they can look, and to ask a family leader to add or change something
  • Edit jumps straight to the form, and Remove this person sits apart from Save memory
  • When a relative answers a question about someone’s parents, Answers from relatives offers Add mother and Add father for the parents still missing

v1.21.1 Tidier tree, shorter edit

28 October 2026

  • Brothers and sisters whose parents are not on the tree now stand side by side, joined by a dashed line, instead of apart with nothing between them
  • Editing someone fits on about one screen: name, how to call them, birth year, where they live, whether they have died (the year appears when ticked) and photo. Where they are from, their birthday, “This is me” and the rest are under “More about them”, and nothing is lost
  • “Add a connection to someone on the tree” is folded away while editing; the “Who they are” button opens it straight away
  • The rows of Add buttons on a person’s page line up

v1.21.0 Someone further out

28 October 2026

  • Add a cousin, an uncle or aunt, a niece or nephew, a grandparent or a grandchild in one go, from Further out on anyone’s card (and on the phone’s family card)
  • Banyan asks who connects you, offering the people already on the tree. If you do not know, it adds a card marked “name not known yet” for each person in between, so the tree and every title are still right
  • Those cards show “?” and a note on their page. Press Edit and add the name when you know it; the card becomes a normal one and everyone’s titles update
  • Kinder words when nobody has said whether someone is a woman or a man: “aunt or uncle” instead of “parent’s sibling”, “niece or nephew” instead of “sibling’s child”

v1.20.4 A quicker start

28 October 2026

  • “Add yourself” fits on one screen: your name, I am a woman or a man, the year you were born, where you live, and a photo. Everything else (where you are from, birthday, other names, heritage, contact details) is under “More about you”, so nothing is lost
  • When you add yourself to a family that already has people, it asks it about you: “I am their child”, “I am their brother or sister”, and so on
  • After adding someone’s first parent, Banyan takes you back to that person, where Add Father or Add Mother is one tap away
  • Sign up: the “I agree” box now sits right above the Sign up button, with Sign up with Google just below, so it is next to both

v1.20.3 Easier for families, safer when editing together

28 October 2026

  • Two people can edit the same person at the same time without losing work. Banyan saves only what each person changed, so both changes are kept. If both changed the same thing, the newer one stays and the other person is told what happened and what they had typed
  • Adding a second parent asks “Rosa and this person are a couple?” (ticked already), so both parents sit together above their child. Parents who were added separately before now sit together on the tree too, instead of one standing apart
  • A person’s page has Add Wife, Husband or Partner, and Add Sister, Brother or Sibling, next to Add parent and Add child
  • The green “Saved” note fades without moving the page, so a tap never lands on the wrong button
  • The “Text too small?” tip no longer covers the Sign up tab or an invite on the sign-in pages
  • Members opens with Invite someone first, with an optional “Who is this for?” box so open invites are easy to tell apart. “Invite someone” on the tree goes straight to it
  • The reminder to name a second family leader waits until someone else has joined
  • The getting-started list shows only the steps still to do, so the tree comes into view sooner
  • “Add yourself” talks about you (“My own word”) and no longer asks whether you have died; the box for your own word, and Current or Former partner, show only when they apply
  • The “Banyan was updated” note is not shown to people who joined after the update
  • A family leader no longer sees “Tell a leader” on cards
  • On phones the Tree, List, Map, Photos, Notes, Reports and Family buttons wrap onto short rows, so none is hidden
  • Small fixes: the sign-up note names the Sign up button, the name box shows “Your full name” as its example, and Members puts a space between a name and the role

v1.20.2 Admin Guide for v1.20

28 October 2026

  • Admin Guide: What’s new now covers v1.20 and v1.20.1, and a new how-to explains how to stop a shared photo link (for the family, for a site admin, and for every link at once)

v1.20.1 Admin Guide fixes

28 October 2026

  • Fixed: the Print button in the Admin Guide did nothing. It works again
  • Fixed: some “Are you sure?” questions were skipped and the action went ahead straight away: deleting a family, an album or a photo, removing a profile photo in admin, signing someone out everywhere, and stopping a shared photo link. They ask first again
  • The Admin Guide now uses the full width of the page without the admin menu, like Help, with a Back to Admin link at the top
  • The section titles in the guide’s page list (Start here, How do I…, and the rest) are bolder with a green line under them, so they read as headings

v1.20.0 Share a moment and family leadership help

27 October 2026

  • Share outside Banyan: from a photo, create an expiring link (14 days) and send it on WhatsApp, LINE, Facebook, or copy; Save image for Stories. Not an invite. Family settings lists the open links with a Stop button (the person who shared a photo can stop their own link too), and turning sharing off stops every open link at once. The Privacy notice and Terms explain it
  • Leadership continuity: when a family has only one leader, a reminder asks them to name a second; Members already blocks removing the last leader
  • Family help: a member can ask Banyan for help from Family settings if the leader cannot continue; Admin → Family help (and Attention) for site admins to review and promote a proposed leader

v1.19.0 Admin Attention, and every email in one place

27 October 2026

  • Admin → Attention: one list of what needs you (privacy, email, jobs, disk, trials ending, backup), with urgent and soon, plus optional setup tips
  • The Attention menu shows a count when something is waiting, and Overview has a short “Needs attention” card so you do not have to open every section
  • Admin → Emails: every email Banyan sends in one list, grouped by where it comes from (sign-in and account, family, free trial, free membership, profile, emails for site admins), with when it is sent, who gets it, whether it is on, if it was edited, and how many went out in the last 30 days
  • Edit any email in a light editor: subject, preview line and message (bold, italic, heading, list, link, a green button, divider), with personal details such as their first name or trial end date filled in for each person. A live preview shows it at computer or phone width, in any language; Send me a test sends it to your own inbox; Reset to original brings back Banyan’s words. Parts an email needs, like the password reset link, cannot be removed
  • Every email now shares one professional design: the round Banyan logo, a clean white card with green buttons, and a footer with why the person got it, the support address, Help, Privacy and Terms, and Banyan’s social links. It works in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, on phones too
  • Emails are written in English and reach each person in their own language, translated within the hour; security alerts to admins stay in English
  • Emails that are not essential can be switched off (the trial notes keep their switches in Plans and limits too). The Email log now shows which email each one was, with a link to it
  • “Email” in the admin menu is now “Email sending” (the Amazon SES settings)

v1.18.1 Family cards in full screen

27 October 2026

  • Fixed: in full screen, clicking someone on the tree opened their family card hidden behind the tree. The card now shows on top of the full-screen tree; close it with × (or Esc, or by tapping the tree) and the tree stays full screen, ready for the next person. Tapping another person, or a relative inside the card, switches the card to them
  • On phones, tapping someone opens their family card as a sheet from the bottom over the tree, instead of leaving the tree; “Full page” in the card opens everything
  • Admin → People: the quick view opens in the middle of the screen on a computer, in two columns, with an Edit details button; each row has an Edit link
  • A person’s admin page shows their Profile photo at the top of the right-hand column

v1.18.0 Memories on the home page

27 October 2026

  • The banner near the bottom of the home page now shows three photo prints of a family like the visitor’s own: a grandmother, a grandfather and a mother, with handwritten captions. “Keep the stories, not just the names.”
  • The faces match the visitor’s country, like the sample family at the top of the page, and the captions use that family’s own words: Ya and Pu in Thailand, Lola and Lolo in the Philippines, Dadi and Dada in India, Ah Ma in Hong Kong and Malaysia, Obaachan in Japan, Nenek in Indonesia, and more. The words sit inside a sentence in the visitor’s language, in handwriting for each script
  • On phones one photo shows at a time and changes every few seconds, or when tapped (it stays still for people who prefer less motion)
  • “Grandma’s story” links to Help about voice memories
  • Admin → Sample families: change any family’s banner words without code
  • Every picture now lives in assets/images, one folder per job (brand, home, banners, share, guide), with a note saying what each is for. Old picture addresses still work

v1.17.1 Faces in the Admin Guide

27 October 2026

  • The Admin Guide pictures now show profile photos, like the real admin pages. The faces are the illustrated, made-up faces from the home page’s sample families, never real people
  • A new picture shows the Profile photo box and Remove photo

v1.17.0 Faces in the admin area

27 October 2026

  • Admin pages show each person’s profile photo instead of initials: People, the quick view, their admin page, Sales, Overview and Email lists
  • Someone with no profile photo of their own shows the photo from their card on a family tree; otherwise their initials
  • Photos are only shown to site admins, through a private address
  • A person’s admin page has a Profile photo box that says where the photo comes from, with Remove photo for one that does not suit a family website. They are told in their own language, and it is recorded in the security log. Admins cannot upload a photo for someone

v1.16.2 Every form lines up

27 October 2026

  • Text boxes and dropdowns are exactly the same height, so fields side by side line up (for example Month and Day when adding a person)
  • “(optional)” now stays on the same line as its label, so the boxes beside it start level (sign-up email, Ask a relative, family notes, branch names, family import)
  • Checked on 35 pages, on desktop and phone, in all eight languages

v1.16.1 Phone numbers, tidy forms, and YouTube

27 October 2026

  • Admin → Add person and the Account box on a person’s admin page now use the same phone field as sign-up: choose the country from the list (it follows the person’s language), then type the number as they would dial it at home
  • A leading 0 after the country code is dropped (081 234 5678 in Thailand is saved as +66 81 234 5678; Italy keeps its 0). People whose number was saved the old way can still sign in, and the same number cannot be used twice either way
  • The admin Account box now refuses a phone or email that already belongs to someone else
  • Fields side by side are always exactly the same width and height, and short notes like “(optional)” stay on the same line as their label
  • Social links: add Banyan’s YouTube channel; its icon appears at the bottom of every page beside Facebook and Instagram

v1.16.0 A proper Admin Guide

27 October 2026

  • Admin → Manual is now the Admin Guide: short pages with a menu and search instead of one long page, in plain English for new admins
  • Start here (welcome and a tour, rules for admins, what’s new for admins), How do I…? (13 step-by-step tasks, such as helping someone sign in, adding a person, free memberships, contacting a group, privacy requests, checking for attacks), a page for every admin screen, Problems and answers, and Technical notes (marked as technical)
  • Pictures of every main admin screen with numbered markers that match the steps. They show a made-up demo family, never real people
  • Every admin page has a Help button that opens its page of the guide
  • Print-friendly, and works on phones (the page list folds away)

v1.15.0 A stronger security log, and Hong Kong time

27 October 2026

  • Times everywhere are shown in Hong Kong time on the 12-hour clock (for example 3:05 pm), in emails too
  • The security log now records wrong passwords, sign-outs, password, email, phone and Google changes, family role changes, leaving a family, moving a family to trash, family downloads, and every support visit by a site admin to a private family
  • Each entry shows where and on what it happened: country and device (“Thailand · Safari on iPhone”) with the IP, and “New country” or “New device” when someone signs in from somewhere new
  • Admin edits show before → after (for example email: a@… → b@…)
  • Summary at the top (wrong passwords today, blocked bots, admin actions, new places), search by person, email, phone, IP or words, filters by country and dates, “only this person”, and a CSV download
  • Site admins are emailed about serious events: a new site admin, an admin signing in from a new country, 10 or more wrong passwords on one account in an hour, bulk deletes, billing or email settings changed, and log entries deleted
  • Admin entries are chained, so the log shows “Admin entries intact” or warns if any were changed outside Banyan
  • Keeping the log: automatic tidying (bots 90 days, other events 12 months, admin actions 3 years, all adjustable). Old entries can be deleted by hand with a preview, a CSV copy, typing DELETE and your password; the last 30 days and admin actions under a year old cannot be deleted, and each deletion is recorded for good
  • Your profile → Your account activity: your recent sign-ins with country and device, and Sign out everywhere else (with an email to confirm). Site admins can sign a person out everywhere from their page or the quick view
  • Each person’s admin page has a security timeline
  • Fixed: signing out or changing a password could fail for people using Banyan in a language other than English

v1.14.2 Add people, quick view, notes and undo for admins

27 October 2026

  • Fixed: choosing a language in the People filter also switched the admin’s own screen into that language. The filter now only filters
  • Admin → People: click a name to open a quick view beside the list, with their plan, families, contact details, recent activity and notes, plus quick actions (access on or off, free year or lifetime, sign-in link). Ctrl- or ⌘-click still opens the full page
  • Private notes on people, kept with the date and the admin who wrote them. Rows with notes show a small note mark, and the People search also looks inside notes. Only site admins see them, and they go when the account is deleted
  • Add person: site admins can set up an account for another admin, or for someone who could not get through sign-up, with their language, a family and role, a free membership, and a private note. The admin never sets or sees a password. Banyan sends a one-time sign-in link by email in their language, or gives you a WhatsApp message to send; on first sign-in they choose their own password and agree to the Terms, and their free trial starts then
  • People shows “Not signed in yet” for these accounts, with a filter and Send the sign-in link again
  • Admin → Families: click a family’s name to open its tree, as well as the Open button
  • Undo for bulk changes: after turning access off or on, or giving or removing free memberships, Undo puts everyone back for 10 minutes. Deleting accounts stays final

v1.14.1 A better People list for admins

27 October 2026

  • Admin → People: tick people (or everyone who matches) and act on them together: email them, copy their emails, give or remove free memberships, turn access off or on, download a CSV of just them, or delete accounts (type DELETE; it skips you, site admins, paying members, and the only leader of a family)
  • Email them shows every address ready to copy or open in your email app with everyone in BCC, and lists who has no email with a WhatsApp link
  • Each person’s email opens a new message, with a copy button beside it; phone numbers have a WhatsApp link
  • Click Name, Language, Joined or Last sign-in to sort, and again to reverse (A to Z, Z to A); an arrow shows which
  • Showing 1–25 of 80 at the top and bottom, a choice of 25, 50 or 100 per page, and page numbers
  • New filters: Paying, Trial running, Trial ended (not paying), Free members, Never signed in, No email, Joined last 7 or 30 days, and by language
  • New Plan and Language columns; the page remembers the filter, sort and page size you used last
  • On phones, each person is a card with a tick box, and the action bar stays at the bottom of the screen

v1.14.0 Free memberships

27 October 2026

  • Site admins can give chosen people a free membership, for one year or for life, from Admin → People → their name. A reason can be noted for the record; only admins see it
  • Free members have nothing to pay and see no billing: Your profile shows “Lifetime membership” or “Free membership until …”, and trial notes stop. They are told about the gift in Banyan and by email, in their own language
  • Lifetime members can lead up to 4 family trees (set in Plans and limits); one-year members get the normal 2
  • A free year sends reminders 30 and 7 days before it ends, then the usual grace days apply. Adding another year starts from the current end date
  • A free membership belongs to that one account: it cannot be moved to anyone else, and deleting the account ends it for good. Turning an account’s access off only pauses it
  • Admin → People has a Free members filter, and Sales counts free members apart from paid plans and trials

v1.13.0 Found in every language

27 October 2026

  • The public pages now have an address in each language: /hi/ for Hindi, /th/help for Help in Thai, /ja/privacy for the Privacy notice in Japanese, and so on. English keeps the plain address, and pages behind sign-in are unchanged
  • Search engines are told about every language version of each page, so people searching in Hindi, Thai, Indonesian or Tagalog can find Banyan in their own language
  • Sharing a Banyan link on WhatsApp, LINE or Facebook now shows a picture and words in the language of that page
  • A sitemap and robots file help search engines find the public pages and keep private pages out
  • The language menu on public pages goes to that page’s own address in your language

v1.12.1 The right family on the home page

26 October 2026

  • Visitors from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka now see the Indian family on the home page
  • When your country has no family of its own, the home page picks one from the language you read in, so a Hindi reader in Dubai sees the Indian family. Countries with their own family keep it

v1.12.0 Hindi, and help and billing contacts

26 October 2026

  • Banyan now speaks Hindi too, on the same pages as the other languages, with Devanagari fonts. It starts in preview for site admins; switch it to Live in Admin → Languages after translation finishes
  • Phones and browsers set to Hindi open Banyan in Hindi once it is live, and visitors in India whose browser is in English are offered it once
  • Help now ends with Still need help?: write to [email protected], or [email protected] for payments and your plan
  • The About page, Terms, and Plan & billing in Your profile show the same two addresses
  • Replies to Banyan emails reach support; replies to the trial-ending notes reach billing

v1.11.1 New contact addresses

26 October 2026

v1.11.0 A friendly free trial

26 October 2026

  • Free-trial messages, each sent once in your own language: a welcome, a tip on day 3 once your tree has people on it, a note two days before the trial ends, one on the day it ends, and a last note a week later. They show at the top of the page and on Notifications, and come by email when you gave an address
  • Grace days: when the trial ends you can keep adding for a few more days (3 to start with), with a countdown in the last days. After that a tree is look-only until a family leader subscribes. Nothing is ever deleted, and nothing locks while yearly billing is not set up
  • Admin → Plans and limits: set the grace days and switch each trial message on or off
  • Admin → Sales: Trials ending this week, with tree size, families, and a one-tap WhatsApp or email already written in the person’s language
  • Fixed: the “quick check that you are human” line on Log in, the open-notes count on Notifications, and a few plan lines in Your profile stayed in English

v1.10.1 Every legal paragraph translated

26 October 2026

  • Fixed: a few paragraphs with links in the Privacy notice, Terms, Cookies notice, and About page stayed in English, because the hourly job wrote their links differently from the website

v1.10.0 Bringing relatives in

26 October 2026

  • Ask a relative: on anyone’s card, send one question by WhatsApp or LINE, such as when they were born or a memory of them. Relatives answer on a simple page in their own language, with no account, and see only the question. Answers wait under Answers from relatives, where you keep them as a memory on the card or let them go
  • Invite from a card: “Invite Ana” on cards nobody has claimed. When Ana joins, Banyan asks “Is this you?” and opens the tree on her own card
  • The question of the week: the whole family gets the same question every Monday, on the tree, on the Stories page, and in the weekly email. Answers about someone are kept as a memory on their card. There are now 26 questions
  • Birthdays: Send wishes on WhatsApp or LINE, ready to go, on the tree and on their card; on a remembrance day, Share a memory
  • When you are signed in as a site admin, the home page shows languages in preview too
  • Dates, weekdays, and birthday lines in Coming up are in your language
  • The whole site is now in every language, not only the main screens: Photos, Family notes, Emblem, Family settings, Join two cards, Recent changes, How to call them, Reports, Quick add, and every form, tip, and button
  • Help, About, the Privacy notice, the Terms, the Cookies notice, and What’s new are translated paragraph by paragraph, with links kept exactly as they are. A note on those pages says the English version is the official one, with a link to it
  • Relationship words (grandmother, second cousin once removed, sister-in-law) and country names show in your language. Your own “How to call them” titles still come first
  • Recent changes, invite emails, password emails, the weekly email, and answers from relatives arrive in each person’s language
  • Words written by the page itself (password strength, Copied, Move on tree, fold and show on the chart) follow your language too

v1.9.5 Translations never get stuck

26 October 2026

  • Fixed: when the translation service sent back an answer that was cut off (Japanese runs longer than English), that language stopped until the next hour and then hit the same batch again. Now a failed batch is retried in smaller pieces, and replies have more room

v1.9.4 Languages in the footer

26 October 2026

  • The bottom of every page lists each language by its own name (English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · Bahasa Indonesia · 日本語 · ไทย · Tagalog), so anyone who lands in a language they cannot read can find their own. The globe at the top stays as the main switcher
  • Like the globe, the list shows only languages that are live, plus preview ones for site admins

v1.9.3 Tagalog

26 October 2026

  • Banyan now speaks Tagalog (Filipino) too, on the same pages as the other languages. It starts in preview for site admins; switch it to Live in Admin → Languages
  • Phones and browsers set to Filipino open Banyan in Tagalog once it is live, and visitors in the Philippines whose browser is in English are offered it once
  • Fixed: on mid-size screens the header could be wider than the page when the language menu showed. The language button shows just the globe there, and a long role under your name ends with “…”

v1.9.2 Log in and Sign up for free

26 October 2026

  • The buttons at the top of the home page now read Log in and Sign up for free
  • The sign-in page matches: its tabs, heading, and button say Log in and Sign up, in every language

v1.9.1 Faster translations

26 October 2026

  • New and changed words are saved in batches, so a new language or a big update is translated in one run instead of several hours

v1.9.0 Banyan in your language

26 October 2026

  • Banyan now speaks Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, and Thai on the pages families use most: the home page, signing in, your family trees, the tree, people, adding people, members, and your profile
  • A globe at the top of every page switches language. Banyan remembers your choice on that device and on your account. The first time, it follows your phone or browser language, and visitors in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, or Singapore whose browser is in English are offered their language once
  • The family's own names, stories, and notes stay exactly as they were written
  • New and changed English is translated automatically within the hour, so every language keeps up with updates
  • Admin → Languages: turn each language off, on for admins only (preview), or live for everyone; see how much is translated; translate now; and correct any translation. French and Spanish are ready to switch on later
  • Fonts chosen for each script: Thai uses looped letters (IBM Plex Sans Thai Looped), which older readers find easier; Japanese uses rounded Zen Maru Gothic; Chinese uses Noto Sans with Noto Serif headings, echoing Banyan's English headings. They load only when that language is on screen
  • The Privacy and Cookies notices explain the language choice and the translation service
  • New: Send on LINE on the invite card, next to WhatsApp, text, and email. In Thai, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese, LINE comes first. The invite card and the invite message are in your language
  • Facebook and Instagram icons at the bottom of every page, linked from Admin → Social links (they appear for everyone once a link is saved)

v1.8.0 A new admin dashboard

26 October 2026

  • The admin area has a side menu (a menu button on phones) grouped into Manage, Settings, and Site
  • Overview: members, families, people on trees, and yearly sales at a glance, with this week's changes, a Site setup check for email, the bot check, billing, and backups, plus new members and recent activity
  • Sales: yearly sales from paid plans, free trials running and ending this week, how many trials became paid plans, next renewals, and payment problems, with a link to Stripe
  • People: a searchable, sortable list with families, join date, last sign-in, and status, and filters for site admins, plans, and access off. Each person has a page with their account, families, plan, sign-in help, activity, and admin notes
  • Families: every family with its leaders, people, members, start date, and last change, and the families in trash
  • Security log: sign-ins, blocked attempts, invites, and admin support visits, with a filter
  • Email, Bot check, Billing, Versions, Sample families, Backup, and the Manual now sit in the same layout. Downloading a backup is remembered, so Overview can remind you when one is due
  • Fixed: the email page showed "NAN" for the Amazon sending quota
  • Site health on Overview: failed emails, whether the background jobs are running, how full the server disk is, and open or overdue privacy requests
  • Storage: server disk space, uploads, and the families using the most photo space against their limit, plus when the background jobs last ran and sent the weekly emails
  • Families in the trash can be restored, or deleted forever after downloading their backup and typing the family name
  • Download People and Families as CSV spreadsheets
  • Plans and limits: change the yearly price, the free trial length, how many trees a plan includes, and the photo space per family. Help, the Terms, and the Privacy notice follow the new values
  • Announcement: a short message at the top of every page, for everyone or signed-in members only, with an optional end date and link. People can close it
  • Email log: every email Banyan sent or tried to send in the last 90 days, with failures and their reason
  • Privacy requests: record requests to see, correct, or delete someone's data, matched to their account, with a due date 40 days later. An admin can delete an account from the person's page, the same way people delete their own

v1.7.1 A tidier phone number box on phones

26 October 2026

  • On phones, the phone number box on Sign in and Create account keeps the country code and the number side by side in one row, instead of a tall box with the code floating in the middle

v1.7.0 Invite someone to one branch, or start a new tree from it

25 October 2026

  • A family leader can now invite someone to just one branch, such as a cousin to the Baptiste side. On Members and invites, choose the branch under What they can see
  • A branch member sees and works on only the people in that branch: the tree, list, map, reports, and person pages. Branch editors and contributors add and update people there; branch viewers look
  • Family photos, notes, stories, recent changes, and the member list stay with the whole family. A branch member's weekly email lists only their branch's birthdays and dates
  • Leaders can change what any member sees at any time: Whole family, or Only one branch. The header shows it, for example Branch editor · The Baptiste side
  • A branch cannot be removed while members can see only that branch
  • New: Start a new tree from this branch, under an open branch. It copies the branch's people, how they are connected, and their card photos into a separate tree you lead. It is a one-time copy, and the original family is unchanged
  • Help, the Privacy notice, and the Terms explain branch invites and branch copies

v1.6.4 Fixes from a start-to-finish check

25 October 2026

  • Fixed: Delete my account showed an error page after removing your details. It now signs you out and says goodbye
  • Fixed: finishing a password reset showed an error page even though the new password was saved. It now signs you in
  • "Add yourself" now reads as being about you: the page is called Add yourself, explains that your card is where the tree starts, and asks how the family should refer to you
  • "Type DELETE to confirm" stays on one line on phones

v1.6.3 Full screen and an overview map for big trees

25 October 2026

  • The tree now sits in its own box that fits your screen, with a slider along the bottom and one down the side, so you can always move left, right, up, and down without hunting for the slider
  • On a computer, press on an empty part of the tree and drag it around, like a map
  • New Full screen button in the corner of the tree: only the tree, with no header, menus, or footer. Find someone jumps straight to a person, even inside a folded branch. Exit full screen, or the Esc key, takes you back
  • On computers and Android this is real full screen. On iPhone the tree fills the page instead
  • An overview map appears in the bottom corner when the tree is bigger than the screen: the whole tree, your card in gold, and a box for the part you are looking at. Click, tap, or drag in it to move. It can be hidden with − and brought back with Overview. Small families that fit on screen do not see it
  • The tree opens on your own card, both across and up and down
  • Help explains moving around, Full screen, and the overview map. The Cookies notice lists the new choices remembered on your device (folded branches, overview map, and "Later" on prompts)

v1.6.2 Generation labels never cover a card

25 October 2026

  • Generation labels such as "Great-great-grandparents" now sit in the space just above their row, so they never cover a person's card, however many "greats" there are, at any zoom, text size, or scroll position
  • A little more room between generations, so the labels and the Hide and Show buttons both fit
  • The map now says "Showing living relatives only"

v1.6.1 Where the family lives

25 October 2026

  • The Map page is now called "Where the family lives", and explains that each pin is a country where members of your family live today. Tap a pin to see who lives there
  • A line at the top counts it up, for example "46 family members in 4 countries", and links to relatives who don't have a country yet
  • The map shows living relatives only, so relatives we remember no longer appear as living somewhere
  • Each pin's card shows how many family members live in that country
  • Names on map pins are shown safely as plain text

v1.6.0 Branches for big families, and a more polished look

25 October 2026

  • Save a branch, such as "The Baptiste side", to see one part of a big family on its own. Nobody is copied or moved
  • Tabs above the tree: Whole family, each branch with how many people are in it, and New branch
  • A branch can be someone's whole side, their descendants, or their ancestors. Partners always come along
  • Banyan suggests your father's side and your mother's side once you are on a tree of 12 or more people
  • Focus on searches only the open branch. A person picked there is always shown, even inside a folded part
  • Hide and Show under each couple fold a branch away on the chart (Down and Across). Big trees open tidy, with your own line open, and what you fold is remembered on each device
  • On phones, the family card shows which branches a person belongs to. Opening a branch link starts on the whole chart
  • Removing a branch asks first, and never removes anyone from the tree
  • The tree comes first: a smaller family heading, one search row with a More menu, and zoom and layout buttons that float on the tree. On a computer the first cards now show without scrolling
  • One message at a time: "How should the family refer to you?" fits on one line and has a Later button, branch suggestions wait their turn, the update note is a small card in the corner, and "Saved" messages fade away by themselves
  • Cards: your own card has a gold outline, long titles get two lines, and the Hide and Show buttons are bigger. Small families show everyone, with no fold buttons
  • Your family trees: each card reads "Led by…", shows your role, when it last changed, and "Open tree", with a coloured tree tile when there is no emblem yet
  • Your profile: clear sections (Profile, Sign-in & password, Family email, Text size, Your cards, Plan & billing, Delete account) with a side menu on computers. The plan wording is fixed when you lead more trees than a plan includes
  • A new family sees a picture of the tree to come and one clear first step. Small families get "Grow your tree" cards to add a mother, father, partner, child, or brother or sister
  • Picking a name in Find someone shows them straight away
  • Bigger tick boxes and choice circles, one button style across the site, and fixes: "The Charles side (your mother's side)" spacing, people with the same name no longer repeat under Things to fill in, and clearer wording about titles
  • Tidier account menu under your name: every item lines up, the menu matches the width of your name, each item highlights when you point at it, the page you are on is marked, and Sign out sits below a divider

v1.5.0 A sample family that looks like yours

25 October 2026

  • The home page sample tree now matches the real tree: rows for grandparents, parents, your generation, and children
  • Illustrated faces replace initials, and the family matches the visitor's country: Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Malaysia, France, Spain, and four African regions, with a mixed family for everywhere else
  • Local names, skin tones, hair, and dress (for example hijab, peci, gele, kufi, turban, bindi), and flags that tell each family's story
  • Admin shows every sample family, which countries see it, and a preview link
  • Create account: the Terms and Privacy agreement now sits just above "Stay signed in", with a clear message under it if it is not ticked

v1.4.1 Friendlier expired pages and updated notices

25 October 2026

  • A form left open too long now shows a friendly "This page expired" page with the tree picture, instead of a server error
  • The Privacy notice, Terms of use, and Cookies notice now cover email sign-in, stay signed in, the weekly family email, birthdays, GEDCOM, text size, and Delete my account
  • The notices name our current service providers (Cloudflare and Amazon SES) and correct the hosting details
  • Fixed the section numbering in the Terms of use

v1.4.0 Easier to read for everyone

25 October 2026

  • A Text button (Aa) at the top of every page, including the home and sign-in pages: Normal, Large, Larger, or Largest
  • Bigger text grows everything together: words, buttons, menus, the family card, and the tree
  • High contrast mode: darker text, stronger outlines, and underlined links
  • Your choice is remembered on each device, and saved to your account when you are signed in so it follows you
  • Banyan follows the text size set on your phone or in your browser
  • A one-time tip on your first visit shows where the Text button is
  • Small grey notes and dates are darker, and no text is tiny any more

v1.3.1 Small touches

25 October 2026

  • The titles on the About, Privacy notice, Terms of use, and Cookies notice pages are underlined
  • Your name in the header now shows it opens a menu: a small arrow, and a green highlight on hover
  • Buttons, tabs, cards, and people on the chart react when the mouse is over them, so it is clear what you can click
  • A clear outline shows where you are when moving around with the keyboard
  • Removed old demo-user documents; test accounts are now created with a script and their logins kept private

v1.3.0 Faster, safer, and better for families

25 October 2026

  • Pages open much faster, and large families (hundreds of people) load in a moment
  • Relationship titles now include second and third cousins, "once removed", in-laws, step-family, and aunts and uncles by marriage
  • Each person's page shows how you are related, step by step
  • Coming up: birthdays and remembrance days under the tree
  • A weekly family email with what is new and birthdays coming up (turn it off in Your profile)
  • Leaders see when contributors have made changes, and Recent changes shows who made each one
  • Invite card: send on WhatsApp, by text, by email, or with your phone's share menu
  • On a computer, click a person on the chart to open their family beside the tree
  • Add Banyan to your phone's home screen like an app
  • Download your family as a GEDCOM file, or import one from Ancestry, FamilySearch, or MyHeritage
  • Print the chart as a poster or save it as a PDF
  • Stay signed in for 30 days on your own device
  • Delete my account, in Your profile
  • Family settings can keep exact birthdays of living relatives to leaders and editors
  • Security: error details hidden, map library integrity checks, no outside IP lookups

v1.2.1 Cleaner sign-in page

25 October 2026

  • Removed the "Back to Banyan home" button from the sign-in forms (the Banyan title still links home)

v1.2.0 New family chart and phone family card

25 October 2026

  • Desktop chart in labelled generation rows, with couples joined and children dropping from the couple
  • Phone family card: one person at a time, tap a relative to move to them
  • One-tap Mother / Father / Parent (and Daughter / Son / Child) when adding relatives
  • "How should the tree call them?" page, and a one-time question about how to refer to you
  • Flags read as a journey: where someone is from → where they live now
  • Sign in with your phone number or email
  • Human check (Cloudflare Turnstile) on sign-in, create account, and forgot password

v1.1.1 Tree page fixes

24 October 2026

  • Fixed the zoom bar and the branch controls on the tree page
  • Tidied the phone layout of the tree controls

v1.1.0 Welcome to Banyan

24 October 2026

  • A home page for first-time visitors explaining Banyan, with pricing and a sample tree
  • Create account opens first for new visitors; returning visitors go straight to Sign in
  • Invite links say who invited you and to which family
  • A getting-started checklist for new family leaders
  • The tree comes first on the family page, with one Family menu for everything else
  • A friendlier empty tree and a compact phone header