The App
A clean, safe place
for your whole family.
Everything your family keeps is scattered across apps built for strangers. This is the one place it all lives, and the only people in it are yours.
There is no public release to download today. iPhone comes first and Android follows. The launch list is how you are told, and it is the only thing we write to you about.
Everything your family keeps, under one roof.
Six things a family does every week, in a place that belongs to them, with you deciding who sees what.
-
Moments Simpler sharing, and real control over who sees each one. Every photograph of your family in one place, at full size, already in everybody's hands. -
The Family Chat One thread the whole family can search years later. The conversation your family actually has, kept where it can be found again. -
Voices Recordings worth keeping, kept properly. Her own voice, held at the quality it was recorded in, for the people who will want it most. -
Plans One invitation and one honest headcount. The day, the place and who is actually coming, settled in one place before anybody cooks. -
Generations Your children will know how they got here. The road you took, laid out plainly: where you were born, where you went, what you built and who was there for it. -
Your Family Tree A living record, not a chart somebody has to maintain. Everyone here is already somebody's mother or son, so the tree draws itself, and your clan name finally sits on real people.
There is no audience here. Only the people you would call first.
Share them once, with the people they are of.
A photograph of your grandmother should not have to be sent to eleven people in four places and then live on whichever phone survives.
- Full size, not message size What you add is what everybody gets. Nothing is squeezed down to travel through a chat.
- Added once It is in the family's own place from the moment you add it. There is no second step where you send it on.
- You choose who The whole family, or a smaller part of it. You can change your mind afterwards and it takes effect everywhere.
- Found by the day it happened Not by scrolling. The year your father turned sixty is a place you can go to.
No followers.
No counts.
No strangers.
Every number on a social app exists to be grown. A family is not a number, and nothing here asks you to make yours bigger.
- Organised as a family, not as a list Parents, children, the branch that moved abroad. The shape your family actually has.
- Nobody arrives uninvited A person is in your family's space because somebody in it put them there.
- Nothing to perform for No likes to collect, no streak to keep, and no reason to post something you do not mean.
The day, the place, and who is actually coming.
A thumbs up in a group chat is not a headcount, and the person cooking needs a headcount.
- One place for the detail When it starts, where it is, and what to bring. It stops being retyped into three conversations.
- Who is coming, plainly Yes, no, or not yet. The person counting chairs can see the count.
- It is still there afterwards The photographs from the day attach to the day, so the plan becomes the memory of it.
Clean and safe, because there is nowhere to hide.
Built for a child to be part of their family, rather than for a child to be kept on a screen.
A child posts knowing their mother and father can see it. Not because somebody is checking afterwards, but because there is no part of this a parent cannot see.
A child cannot add a person from outside the family. A parent approves it or it does not happen, so a stranger has no way in at all.
No feed, nothing recommended and nothing endless. There is no next thing competing for the next minute of their attention.
The tree builds itself while you use it.
Everybody here is somebody's mother, son or cousin, because that is how the app knows who may see what. Put the relationship in once and the tree is already drawn.
- No blank chart to sit down and fill in Most family trees are abandoned halfway. This one is made of the people you added anyway, in the relationships you already told it about.
- Your children will know who they came from The names, the faces, the dates and the voices, held together instead of remembered separately by people who are no longer here to ask.
- It joins up to where you are from Your clan name and its praise names sit on the same record as your grandmother's photograph.
What the first families said.
Families who used Wozekhaya before it opened, in their own words.
-
She Doesn’t Have to Ask Anymore.
My mother lives in Newcastle, and for the first time she doesn’t have to ask us to send pictures of the children. She just opens the family and she’s there with us. I didn’t realise how much she was missing.
Thamsanqa D. Johannesburg (ZA) -
Our Family Finally Has One Place.
Our family has three WhatsApp groups and somehow you still miss things. Here I put something up once and everyone who matters sees it. I think that’s the first time our family has actually had one place.
Nkule K. Atlanta, GA (US) -
I’m Not Posting for Likes.
What surprised me is that I stopped thinking about who liked something. I’m not posting for people to react to me. I’m putting it there because it happened to our family. It feels completely different.
Ndaba Z. Cape Town (ZA) -
My Son Will Still Hear His Voice.
I recorded my grandfather telling my son how he bought his first cattle. He passed away 2 months ago. Now when I see that recording, I understand what this app is actually for. My son will still hear that story when he is my age. I wish I’d recorded even more!
Nathi P. London, UK (GB) -
She Has Her Own Space, Inside Ours.
I’m very careful about my daughter being online. What I like here is that she can participate without me feeling like I’ve handed her over to the internet. She gets her own space, but she is still inside ours.
Pulane S. Polokwane (ZA) -
Nobody Had to Call Twenty People.
We had a family lunch and everybody could see who was coming, what people were bringing and the photos afterwards. Usually one aunt is calling twenty people trying to organise everything. This time nobody had to.
Babalwa M. Gqeberha (ZA) -
I Don’t Feel Like I Missed the Day.
I travel for work most weeks, so I miss a lot of the ordinary stuff at home. My wife uploads little things during the day: breakfast, school pickup, something funny the kids did. At night I open Wozekhaya and catch up. It sounds small, but I feel much less absent.
Siyabonga M. Pretoria (ZA) -
Home Doesn’t Feel So Far Away.
I’ve lived in Dubai for six years. Usually I’m either sending my family pictures of my life here or asking them to send me what’s happening back home. Now it goes both ways without anyone having to ask. I see Sunday lunch, birthdays, my nieces growing up, and they see my life here too. The distance feels smaller.
Zanele N. Dubai, UAE (AE) -
Less Drama. More Family.
Social media started feeling like too many people, too many opinions and too much drama. Here it’s just us: my parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. I share more because I know exactly who I’m sharing with. It feels less like being online and more like being with family.
Nomfundo K. Johannesburg (ZA) -
I Know My Nieces Now.
I left South Africa before two of my nieces were born. Before this, I mostly saw them on birthdays or when somebody sent a picture. Now I see the silly everyday things too: school mornings, dancing in the kitchen, losing a tooth. I feel like I actually know them, not just what they look like.
Sibongile T. Toronto, Canada (CA) -
Even Gogo Uses It.
I thought we would struggle to get my mother onto it because she doesn’t like new apps. Now she’s probably on it more than us. She comments on the grandchildren’s pictures, checks birthdays and somehow knows what everyone is doing before I do.
Mandla N. Durban (ZA) -
The Cousins Found Each Other Again.
Our cousins are everywhere now: Joburg, Durban, London, Australia. We were close growing up, then life happened. Wozekhaya hasn’t magically put us in the same city, but we’re talking again. Even the cousins’ kids are starting to know each other.
Amahle Z. Johannesburg (ZA) -
Not Everything Needs the Whole Internet.
There are pictures of my children I love but would never put on Instagram. Here I don’t have that hesitation. It’s grandparents, siblings, cousins, the people I would have sent them to anyway. I just don’t have to send them one by one anymore.
Thando M. Manchester, UK (GB) -
We Finally Know Who Has What.
After my grandmother died, everybody realised different people had different photographs of her. Some were on old phones, some on Facebook, some in boxes. We started putting everything together here. There are pictures of her I had never seen in my life.
Lerato K. Pretoria (ZA) -
It Made Ordinary Days Worth Keeping.
At first I only uploaded birthdays and big occasions. Then I started adding normal things: Sunday breakfast, my dad sleeping on the couch, the kids helping Gogo cook. Those are actually the ones I keep going back to.
Nokuthula M. Pietermaritzburg (ZA) -
I Didn’t Need Another Group Chat.
When they invited me I thought, please, not another family group. But it isn’t another place where 200 messages are waiting for you. I can open it when I have time, see what the family has been doing and leave something for them. There’s much less noise.
Khaya B. Cape Town (ZA) -
My Children Know Where They Come From.
My children were born in America, so their relationship with home is different from mine. Now they recognise relatives before we travel, they hear stories from their grandparents and they see what the family is doing back home. South Africa isn’t just somewhere Mom talks about anymore.
Nosipho D. New York, NY (US) -
We’re Using It Without Calling It Anything.
The funny thing is nobody in my family says, ‘go use Wozekhaya.’ Someone uploads the braai, my sister adds the pictures, my aunt confirms Christmas, somebody comments on an old photo. It has just become where the family puts things.
Andile S. Sydney, Australia (AU) -
My Family Lives in Three Countries. Now It Doesn’t Feel Like It.
I’m in Toronto, part of my family is in the UK and the rest is back home in South Africa. Before, keeping up meant different WhatsApp groups, calls and asking people to send pictures. Now I open one place and I can see what’s happening with everyone, and they can see my life here too. For the first time, being scattered around the world doesn’t feel like being disconnected.
Themba M. Toronto, Canada (CA) -
My Twin Is in Sandton. I’m in Beijing. Our Families Still Grow Up Together.
My twin sister is in Sandton and I’m raising my family in Beijing. Our children are cousins, but they don’t get to grow up down the road from each other like we did. Wozekhaya gives us a little bit of that back. Nompilo sees our ordinary days here, I see theirs at home, and the children are growing up knowing each other’s lives, not just seeing each other when we finally get on a plane.
Nobuhle M. Beijing, China (CN) -
We Grew Up Together. Now Our Children Can Too.
Nobuhle and I are twins, so growing up we shared almost everything. Now she’s in Beijing with her family and I’m in Sandton with mine. What I love about Wozekhaya is that the distance doesn’t get to decide how close our families are. My children know what their cousins are doing in Beijing, hers know what’s happening here, and all those little moments become part of one family story.
Nompilo M. Sandton, South Africa (ZA)
Joining is free, and always will be.
A family where only one person has paid for something is not a family in one place. So being here costs nothing, for everybody, forever.
-
Start your family
Add yourself, then the people you would call first. Each of them can add the ones they would.
-
Put the first thing in
A photograph, a birthday, a voice note. It takes one, and the family has somewhere to be.
-
Decide who sees what
Before anything is shared, not after. The whole family, or a smaller part of it.
Be there on the first day.
There is no public release to download today. Put your name down and you will hear from us when there is, and about nothing else.
Let's Stay In Touch
We use these to write to you about Wozekhaya, and only when there is something worth telling you — we do not know yet how often that will be. We do not pass them to anyone else, and we do not send marketing: no newsletter, no offers.
Want to tell us what matters to your family? Use this form.