How to know how someone is related to you
Recognising a name is not the same as placing a person.
Short answer
Work outward from someone you are certain about. If you know that Nadia is Safa's sister and Safa is your mother-in-law, then Nadia is your wife's aunt — the path does the work, not your memory. Record each step as a relationship the moment you establish it, because the reason you had to ask is that nobody wrote it down last time. Once the path exists in TreeLinker it is permanent, it works in both directions, and it is what the caller identification card reads from when that person next rings.
Start from a person you are sure of
Almost nobody is connected to you directly by one unknown link. They are connected through someone you know well — a parent, a sibling, a spouse. Find the nearest person you are certain about and ask how the unknown person relates to them.
That turns one impossible question into two easy ones.
Ask the question that gets a useful answer
"How are we related?" usually produces a vague answer. "Whose side are you on, and who is your parent?" produces a path.
Two steps are almost always enough. Beyond two steps the relationship has a name nobody uses in conversation anyway.
Write it down while you have it
This is the part that matters. You have almost certainly worked this same relationship out before and then lost it.
Record each link as its own relationship — Nadia is Safa's sister; Safa is your wife's mother. TreeLinker creates the reverse of each one, and the path between you and Nadia now exists whether or not you remember it.
Let it answer the question next time
Once the relationships are recorded, the family tree shows the connection visually, and an incoming call from that person shows their placement rather than just their name.
That is the whole point: you should have to work a relationship out once, not every few years.
Frequently asked questions
Can TreeLinker tell me the path between any two people?
The family tree shows the connections around a person, so a short path is visible. A direct "show me the path between these two" query is not available yet.
What if the relationship has no simple name?
Record the links that do have names — sibling, parent, spouse — and the chain between them describes the relationship precisely without needing a single word for it.
Do I need the other person to use the app?
No. You record what you know on your own device.
TreeLinker — a family relationship management app.
Related pages
A relationship manager for the people you actually know
Record how the people in your life are connected, see the path between any two of them, and keep a timeline of what has happened with each one.
Relationships
Seven relationship types, automatic reciprocal links, and suggestions with confidence scores and plain-language explanations.
Caller ID that never uploads your contacts
Most caller ID apps work by uploading everyone's address book into a shared database. TreeLinker does not have one. It shows how a caller is related to you, using only the contacts already on your phone.
Start with the contacts you already have
TreeLinker is free on Google Play. No ads, no subscription, and your address book never leaves your phone.
Android. Free. No account required to browse your own contacts.