Self-hosted · Open source · Built for families

Know where your family is—privately.

Run the live map, safety alerts, places, and 90-day history on a server you choose. No vendor location cloud. No analytics SDK. No Google services required on Android.

Self-host OpenFamily See it in action
  • Your server
  • No ads or tracking
  • OpenStreetMap
  • UnifiedPush
Private by architectureHistory lives on your server
OpenFamily web dashboard showing a live family map
OpenFamily mobile app showing family members on a live map
Family map liveConnected to your home base
90 daysof location history
3 safety flowsSOS, Help, and Check In
1 generic APKfor every deployment
0 analyticsor crash-reporting SDKs
Privacy by architecture

Your family is not somebody else’s dataset.

OpenFamily has no company-operated location service to send your movements to. Your accounts, coordinates, saved places, and history live in PostgreSQL on the machine you control.

Read the full privacy details
Your private path Operator controlled
Your phonesAndroid + iOS
Your OpenFamilyGo API + web panel
Your databasePostgreSQL + PostGIS
VPSSynology NASHome serverLAN
01

Your data store

Locations, places, family roles, safety alerts, and history live in your Postgres—not ours.

02

No behavior pipeline

No analytics SDK, crash reporter, advertising ID, or vendor location pipeline is built in.

03

Push without Google

Android notifications use UnifiedPush with ntfy. No Google account or Play Services required.

04

Maps on your terms

Use OpenStreetMap by default, choose another raster provider, or point every phone at your own tiles.

Made for real families

Everything you need to stay connected. Nothing that sells you out.

A focused family locator—live context when you need it, quiet privacy controls when you do not.

01 / Live map

One glance. Everyone you care about.

See your family on OpenStreetMap with photo avatars, battery, last-seen time, movement state, and live WebSocket updates.

  • Street and satellite layers
  • Driving and cycling status
  • Smart clustering when people overlap
  • Saved places with arrive and leave alerts
OpenFamily web live map with a family member drawer
OpenFamily satellite map on Android
Live updates
02 / Safety

Help, without the guesswork.

Send an SOS, discreetly arm a ten-second countdown, check in with a note, or ask only your family for non-emergency help.

SOSHelp AlertCheck In
OpenFamily check-in screen
OpenFamily SOS screen with practice mode
03 / History

A day, made clear.

Review map trails, named-place stays, stops, and in-transit segments. Detail expires after 90 days.

OpenFamily dark mode day history with a map trail and visit timeline
04 / Control

Sharing has an off switch.

Pause location reporting per device, choose the app theme, protect access with biometrics, and tune background updates.

OpenFamily privacy and location settings on Android
05 / Family

Built for a household, not a fleet.

Invite people with a code and use admin, member, or child roles to keep family access simple.

OpenFamily people roster with live member status
06 / Web admin

The operator view is included.

Manage accounts and families, configure optional SMS, generate invites, download the Android APK, and see the live map from the same server.

OpenFamily web administration settings
Run it somewhere you trust

Your server is the service.

Deploy with Docker Compose on a VPS, Synology NAS, home server, or LAN machine. One stack brings the API, TLS, database, web panel, and Android push together.

VPS Synology Home lab LAN only
Read the quick start Production guide
openfamily / setup
$ git clone https://github.com/wheresfrank/openfamily.git openfamily
$ cd openfamily
$ cp .env.example .env
# choose strong secrets and your domain
$ docker compose up -d --build

✓ Caddy      HTTPS edge
✓ Go API     REST + WebSocket
✓ Postgres   PostGIS + TimescaleDB
✓ ntfy       Android UnifiedPush
Docker ComposeGoFlutterPostgreSQLPostGISTimescaleDBCaddyntfy
Clear about the edges

Private means knowing exactly what can leave.

We would rather give operators an accurate boundary than a vague promise. OpenFamily keeps the location pipeline under your control and documents the few optional or platform-required services around it.

Map tiles

The default hosts see the viewport.

Use your own raster tile server when you do not want public OSM or Esri endpoints to see the area being viewed.

iOS push

Apple requires APNs.

Push payloads contain no coordinates. The app fetches the real alert content from your server over TLS.

Optional SMS

Twilio is off until you choose it.

In-app push and WebSocket alerts work without SMS. If enabled, Twilio sees the destination and your short-lived share URL.

Good questions

Before you bring the family.

OpenFamily is made for households with one person comfortable running a small Docker stack.

Do I need to build a different app for my server?

No. The generic Android APK asks for your server address on first launch, then stores that origin on the device.

Can Android work without Google Play Services?

Yes. OpenFamily uses UnifiedPush through ntfy for Android notifications and does not require a Google account.

Who can see a person’s location?

Members of the same family can see the family map. A configured platform administrator can also access locations through the web panel.

Is this a fleet or public tracking tool?

No. OpenFamily is deliberately designed for a handful of people who share a home—not vehicles, assets, or public location broadcasting.

What happens to old location data?

Detailed location history is retained for 90 days. The last known point remains so inactive family members still appear on the map.

Open source and ready to run

Keep your family close.
Keep their location yours.

Start on a laptop. Move to a NAS or VPS when the family is ready.

Self-host OpenFamily View the source