"I spent decades building large expert systems for healthcare — the kind of work where incomplete records, conflicting data, and missing links aren't edge cases, they're the job. A few years ago I started wondering why genealogy software hadn't caught up. WitnessLives is my answer."
Ask your tree a question, instead of just scrolling it.
Witness includes a library of 39 ready-made questions you can ask of your own family data — who was alive during the American Revolution, who lived through the Great Depression, whose life was the most remarkable — alongside 48 historical events you can check your family against, listed by century. Every question shows a real, live count from your own tree before you open it, and the library grows without waiting for an app update.
A rigorous research companion, not just a place to store names.
Every fact in Witness carries its source and citation, carried over directly from your GEDCOM file.
A built-in Tree Health check — built on 22 professional-grade rules adapted from FTAnalyzer, a tool well known among serious genealogists — quietly flags problems as you build, instead of surfacing them after years of work.
Most tools treat the finished tree as the end product. We treat it as the beginning of the question.
A plain list, so you know what you're getting.
Upload a GEDCOM file. That's it.
We store your file. We genuinely cannot read it.
That is a technical claim, not a promise about our intentions — so here is exactly how it works.
$19.99 a year. Everything included.
One subscription, one price — every feature on this page, on every device you sign in on. The first week is free, and if you cancel during it you are not charged.
The things people ask first.
Does Witness work with Ancestry, MyHeritage, or my desktop software?
Yes — through the GEDCOM file each of them exports. GEDCOM is the standard interchange format for family trees, and Witness reads it from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, Gramps, or anything else that produces one. Witness has step-by-step export instructions for the main platforms built into the app. There is no account linking and no password sharing: you export a file, you import a file.
Will Witness ever change my tree?
Never. Witness is read-only by design — your GEDCOM file and your tree on Ancestry, FamilySearch, or anywhere else are untouched. When your research grows, export a fresh GEDCOM and re-import it.
Where is my GEDCOM data stored, and can you read it?
Your original file is encrypted on your iPhone with an AES-256 key that is created there and never sent anywhere, then uploaded as an unreadable blob. We store it and cannot open it. The tree's structured facts — names, dates, places, sources — are held in your account so the app can query them, protected by per-account access rules. Living people are excluded from AI-written stories and anything shareable.
What does Witness cost?
$19.99 per year, with a 1-week free trial for new subscribers. That is the only price — there is no free tier, no per-feature upgrade, and no add-on. Cancel during the trial and you are not charged.
Is there an Android version?
Not as a native app. Witness ships on iPhone and iPad, and there is a browser version at app.witnesslives.com that works on Android and desktop. The main difference is the encrypted vault for your original file, which depends on the iOS Keychain and so is iPhone and iPad only — everything else works in the browser.
What happens if I lose my recovery code?
If you lose both your device and your recovery code, the stored copy of your original GEDCOM file cannot be recovered — by you or by us. That is the direct cost of us not holding a key. Your imported tree is still in your account and still works; it is the archived original file that becomes unreadable. Save the recovery code somewhere you would keep a password, and re-import from your own GEDCOM if you ever need to start again.
What is Tree Health?
Twenty-two data-integrity checks, adapted from the FTAnalyzer catalog used by serious desktop researchers, run over every person, family, and date in your file. They catch the things that are impossible rather than merely unlikely — a person recorded as dying before they were born, a marriage after a death, siblings born impossibly close together, a date in the future. Each finding is one tap from the person it concerns.
Do my photos come across?
No — photos do not travel in a GEDCOM file. The file carries your tree's facts and structure; images stay on the platform where you added them. Witness illustrates your family with maps, timelines, and historical context rather than with pictures you would have to re-upload.
Why is the Map sparse right after I import?
Place coordinates are worked out after the import finishes, and the geocoding service runs at a deliberate pace — a large tree with thousands of places can take a couple of hours to fully light up, while a small export takes minutes. Everything else works immediately: the weekly digest, the question library, biographies, and relationships. The map fills in as places are located.
Why does someone in my tree show no relationship to me?
Every relationship label is computed from your home person, by blood. People with no label are either your in-laws' families — connected by marriage, not blood — or people in a branch that was never joined to the main tree. GEDCOM files often carry research fragments like that. A missing label is honest, not broken.