Why Kumbaa exists
Kumbaa started with a conversation with my dad. He was telling me stories about his life, his parents and the elders in our family, many of which I'd never heard before. It made me wonder: if I don't know these stories, how many others in our family do? And what happens when there's no one left to tell them?
Our family's photographs were scattered across albums, phones and WhatsApp groups. The tree lived in one uncle's head. Genealogy sites are built for records searches and DNA, and put trees in public; photo apps don't know who anyone is. So I built the place I wanted: our tree with everyone's faces in it, each person's story and every photo of them, private to the family, and easy enough that my parents add to it.
— Sanjay Bhagia, founder
What we promise
- Private by default. Each archive is behind sign-in, at its own address. Search engines and crawlers are shut out, and nothing in it is ever public.
- Not training data. Your family's photographs and stories are never used to train AI models.
- No ads, no selling. Kumbaa is paid for by family plans, and that's all.
- Yours to take away. Download a backup, any photo, or a whole album, whenever you like.
Who we are
Kumbaa is made in Sydney, Australia, by Arigato Consulting Pty Ltd. Write to support@kumbaa.app or find me on X at @bhagiasanjay. Every email is read by a person.