Merging two family trees, and details to confirm
Your side built a tree. Your partner’s side built one too. When a relative joins both, the two trees can become one, with both families’ consent, every difference kept for someone to confirm, and a way back for 90 days.
When Kunbaa suggests it
A merge starts from a link. When a relative accepts an invite from your family and already belongs to another Kunbaa family (your sister-in-law, say, who has been building her parents’ tree), Kunbaa notices the overlap and offers the merge to the admins on both sides. You can also start one yourself from Members in the app.
Propose, preview, accept
- Propose. An admin of one family proposes the merge to the other. Only families that already share a linked member can be merged, never strangers.
- Preview. Both admins see the same plain summary: how many people move each way, which pairs Kunbaa is sure are the same person (linked to the same account, or the same name, birth year and shared relatives), and which details the two trees disagree on. A pair you think is two different people can be marked Keep separate.
- Accept. The other family’s admin accepts or declines. If either tree changed in between, the preview is redrawn and both accept again. Then the merge applies: unmatched people are added, matched pairs are joined into one card, members move across with their access levels, and the family that merged in becomes a read-only archive.
Details to confirm
Two trees that describe the same grandmother will sometimes disagree: 1931 on one, 1932 on the other. That never blocks a merge. The card keeps the value your family recorded, with a small ⓘ beside it, and the disagreement is listed under Details to confirm in both families. Tap the marker to see both values and who recorded them; an admin, or the person it is about, chooses Keep ours or Use theirs. Either choice settles it on both sides at once, and the marker goes. Until someone decides, nothing is overwritten.
What stays where it was
The merged-in family’s wall, photos and events are not moved or re-posted. They become a labelled archive (“the Sharma tree, merged 12 May”) that members of the merged family can open and read but not add to. Chats are untouched; a conversation belongs to the people in it, not to a family.
Undoing a merge
For 90 days an admin of either side can undo it. The archived family reopens with its own people, its members move back, and joined pairs are split into their originals. A detail somebody confirmed after the merge stays confirmed. That was a considered correction, not part of the merge. After 90 days the merge is final, and the consent screen says so before anyone taps.
What it costs
Seeing the preview is free; it is the honest way to decide. Applying a merge needs Kunbaa Plus on either side: one subscription covers both families, the same way one person pays and their household is covered. Undoing is always free, even if the plan has since lapsed.
Questions families ask
Who can start a merge?
An admin of one family proposes it to a family that already shares a linked member with theirs: the relative who accepted an invite from one side into the other. There is no merging with strangers. An admin of the other family accepts or declines; either admin can withdraw before it applies.
What does the preview show?
Exactly what will happen, per side: how many people from their tree will be added to yours, how many from yours to theirs, which pairs are the same person and will be joined, and which details the two trees disagree on. Nothing applies until both admins have accepted the same preview.
What if the two trees disagree about someone's birth year?
The merge goes ahead anyway. The person keeps the value your family recorded, marked with a small ⓘ, and the same question appears under Details to confirm in both families. An admin, or the person it is about, taps Keep ours or Use theirs; the marker clears on both sides at once.
What happens to the other family's wall and photos?
They stay exactly where they are and become a labelled, read-only archive you can open from the merged family: the wall, the library, the events. Nothing is moved, deleted or re-posted, and chats are untouched.
Can we undo it?
Yes, for 90 days, by an admin of either side. The other family comes back with its own people, its members move back, and joined pairs are split into the originals. Details someone confirmed after the merge stay confirmed. After 90 days the merge is final.
Is merging free?
Proposing, previewing and declining are free for everyone. Applying the merge needs Kunbaa Plus on either side (one subscription covers both families), because the merged tree and the journal that makes it reversible are things Kunbaa keeps. Undoing a merge is always free.
Can three families merge?
Two at a time. Merge the first pair, then merge the result with the third.