Privacy Policy

Last updated: May 18, 2026

1. Overview

Family Guardian ("the Platform") is a self-hosted, open-source family safety application. It consists of a server component (Fastify + SQLite) that you deploy on your own infrastructure, and an optional Android companion app. Because the Platform is fully self-hosted, no data is transmitted to the developers, any cloud service, or any third party as part of normal operation.

2. Data Controller

When you deploy Family Guardian on your own server, you are the data controller. The developers of Family Guardian do not operate any hosted service, do not have access to your server, and do not collect, process, or store any personal data from your deployment.

3. What Data Is Collected

The following data is stored locally on your server's SQLite database:

  • Account credentials: Email address and an argon2id-hashed password. Passwords are never stored in plaintext.
  • Session tokens: Opaque random tokens used for authentication, stored in the sessions table.
  • Location data: GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude), accuracy, speed, bearing, and timestamp, reported by the Android app for each circle member.
  • Circle and membership data: Circle names, member roles, and invite codes with expiration times.
  • Safety places (geofences): User-defined geographic areas with names and radii.
  • SOS events: Activation and resolution timestamps for emergency alerts.

All data resides in a single SQLite file on your server's filesystem (typically at /data/guardian.db inside the Docker container).

4. How Data Is Used

Data is used exclusively to provide the Platform's core functionality:

  • Authentication: Verifying identity and managing sessions.
  • Real-time location sharing: Displaying family member positions on the dashboard map.
  • Geofence monitoring: Detecting arrivals and departures from safety places.
  • Emergency alerts: Activating and resolving SOS events.
  • Circle management: Organizing family members and controlling access via invite codes.

5. Data Sharing and Third Parties

Family Guardian does not share any data with third parties. The Platform operates entirely within your infrastructure. There are:

  • No analytics services (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, etc.)
  • No crash reporting services (Sentry, Crashlytics, etc.)
  • No advertising or tracking SDKs
  • No cloud backup or synchronization services
  • No external API calls to third-party servers

6. Data Transmission

Data is transmitted only between three endpoints that you control:

  • Android app to your server: GPS data, authentication requests, and SOS activations are sent over HTTP/HTTPS to your server.
  • Web browser to your server: Dashboard access, authentication, and configuration are served from your server.
  • WebSocket connections: Real-time location updates are broadcast via WebSocket between authenticated clients connected to your server.

Important: The server supports HTTP connections. Before deploying outside your local network, you should configure TLS termination (via a reverse proxy such as Caddy, nginx, or Traefik) to encrypt data in transit.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

Since you operate the server, you have full control over data retention:

  • The SQLite database can be inspected, backed up, or deleted at any time.
  • Invite codes automatically expire after 24 hours.
  • Session tokens are invalidated on logout.
  • To delete all data, remove the Docker volume or delete the database file.

8. Security Measures

The Platform implements the following security measures:

  • Password hashing: Argon2id, the winner of the Password Hashing Competition (2015).
  • Session management: Opaque random tokens stored server-side, served as HttpOnly cookies (web) or Bearer tokens (API).
  • Authentication: All location, circle, and SOS endpoints require valid authentication.
  • Invite-only access: After the initial admin bootstrap, new members can only join via time-limited invite codes.
  • SQLite hardening: WAL mode with foreign key enforcement enabled by default.

9. Android App Permissions

The Android companion app requests the following permissions:

  • Location (foreground and background): Required to report GPS coordinates to your server. Location data is only sent to the server URL you configure.
  • Notifications: Required to display geofence and SOS alerts as Android notifications.
  • Foreground service: Required to maintain reliable background location reporting.

The Android app does not include any third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking SDKs. It communicates exclusively with the server URL you provide.

10. Children's Privacy

Family Guardian is designed for families and may be used by minors under parental supervision. Location data of minors is stored on the parent-controlled server. The Platform does not contact or interact with any child directly. All data remains under the control of the family administrator who deployed the server.

11. Open Source

Family Guardian is open-source software. The complete source code is available for independent security audit and verification at github.com/chartmann1590/family-guardian.

12. Changes to This Policy

This privacy policy may be updated as the Platform evolves. Changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above. Since the Platform is self-hosted, you can always inspect the source code to verify data handling practices.

13. Contact

For questions about this privacy policy or the Platform's data practices, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

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