Frequently Asked Questions

Kintact is a secure digital vault designed to store and provide instant access to your family's emergency contact information. It works by allowing you to create a family vault with a unique public PIN. You can then add family members with their contact details.

During an emergency, anyone with your family PIN can access the emergency contacts without needing to log in or remember complex passwords. The service is completely free and designed to be simple enough for anyone to use, from children to grandparents.

To create a family vault:

1. Click on "Manage Family" on the homepage
2. Select "Create Family Vault"
3. Create a public PIN (make sure it's something you'll remember but isn't easily guessable)
4. Add yourself as the first family member
5. Complete the setup process

Once completed, you can start adding other family members to your vault. Remember to share your PIN only with trusted family members who might need emergency access.

Yes, Kintact is completely free to use with no hidden fees or premium tiers. We believe that emergency preparedness should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial situation.

We're able to offer Kintact for free because we're a small team passionate about helping families stay connected during emergencies. We may introduce optional premium features in the future, but the core functionality of storing and accessing emergency contacts will always remain free.

No, Kintact is a web-based application that works directly in your browser on any device (smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops). There's no need to download or install anything.

This approach has several benefits:

• You can access your emergency contacts from any device with internet access
• No storage space required on your device
• Automatic updates - you always have the latest version
• No compatibility issues between different operating systems

For easier access, you can bookmark the Kintact website or add it to your home screen on mobile devices.

To add family members to your vault:

1. Log in to your family vault by entering your PIN and completing the verification steps
2. Navigate to the dashboard
3. Scroll to the "Add Family Member" section
4. Fill in the required information (name, relation, gender, phone number)
5. Optionally add an email address
6. Toggle the "Show in emergency contacts" switch based on your preference
7. Click "Add Member"

You can add as many family members as you need. For security reasons, you'll need to log in each time you want to add or modify members.

Yes, you can edit or delete family members at any time. Here's how:

To edit a member: Currently, Kintact doesn't allow direct editing of member information for security reasons. Instead, you can delete the member and re-add them with the correct information.

To delete a member: Log in to your dashboard, find the member in your family list, and click the trash can icon. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Important: The family creator (the person who set up the vault) cannot be deleted. If you need to change the creator's information significantly, you may need to create a new family vault.

The "Show in emergency contacts" toggle determines whether a family member appears in the emergency contact list when someone accesses your vault using only the family PIN.

When this option is enabled (toggled on), the member will be visible to anyone who enters your family PIN in the Emergency Access section. This is ideal for immediate family members who should be contacted in any emergency.

When this option is disabled (toggled off), the member will not appear in emergency results. They'll still be part of your family vault and visible when you log in to manage your family, but won't be shown to others using emergency access. This is useful for adding friends, doctors, or extended family members who shouldn't be contacted in every emergency situation.

Yes! We now offer a secure PIN reset option to help you regain access to your family vault.

How to reset your PIN:

1. Go to your Family Dashboard
2. Click "Reset Family PINs" in the PIN section
3. A secure reset link will be emailed to the family creator's email address
4. Click the link in the email to create new PINs

Security Notes:

• Reset links expire after 24 hours for security
• Only the family creator can initiate a PIN reset
• The reset process maintains all your existing family member data
• You'll need access to the family creator's email account

If you no longer have access to the family creator's email, you'll need to create a new family vault and re-add your members.

Emergency access is designed to be simple and fast when you need it most:

1. Go to the Kintact website and click "Emergency Access"
2. Enter the public family PIN
3. Click "Access Contacts"
4. View the list of emergency contacts (only members with "Show in emergency contacts" enabled will appear)
5. Click on phone numbers to call or email addresses to send an email directly from your device

No login, no security questions, no complicated steps. The system is designed to work even under stressful conditions when every second counts.

Emergency access requires an internet connection to initially load the contact information from our servers. However, once the contacts are loaded, you can use them (make calls, send emails) even if you lose connectivity.

For situations where internet access might be unavailable, we recommend:

• Bookmarking the Kintact website on your device for quick access
• Having a backup copy of your most critical emergency contacts saved in your phone
• Sharing your family PIN with multiple trusted individuals

If you're seeing fewer contacts than expected during emergency access, it's likely because some members have been marked as not visible in emergencies. Only members with "Show in emergency contacts" enabled will appear.

To make a member visible in emergency results:

1. Log in to your family vault (not emergency access)
2. Go to the dashboard
3. Find the member in your family list
4. Toggle the "Emergency visible" switch to the on position

The change takes effect immediately.

We take the security of your family's information very seriously. Here's how we protect your data:

• PIN Protection: Your public family PIN is hashed and salted using industry-standard cryptographic methods. We never store it in plain text.
• Data Encryption: All data is encrypted both in transit (using TLS 1.3) and at rest (using AES-256 encryption).
• Access Controls: Managing your family vault requires additional verification through security questions.
• Infrastructure Security: We use enterprise-grade hosting with DDoS protection and intrusion detection.
• Minimal Data Collection: We only collect the information necessary to provide our service.

No, Kintact employees cannot access your family's contact information. All data is encrypted, and our staff does not have access to your family PIN or the ability to decrypt your information.

In rare cases where technical support is needed, we may access anonymized system logs to diagnose issues, but these logs do not contain your actual contact data.

When you delete your family vault, all associated data is marked for deletion and permanently removed from our systems within 30 days. This includes:

• All family member information (names, phone numbers, emails, relationships)
• Your family PIN
• Any preferences or settings associated with your vault

After deletion, this data cannot be recovered. If you want to preserve your family contact information, make sure to save it elsewhere before deleting your vault.

If you're receiving an "Invalid PIN" error, try the following steps:

1. Double-check your entry: Make sure you're entering the correct public PIN.
2. Check for similar digits: Ensure you're not confusing similar-looking numbers (like 0 and 8, or 1 and 7).
3. Try alternative PINs: If you have multiple family vaults or have changed your PIN, try any alternatives.
4. Ask a family member: If you've shared your PIN with other family members, ask them to confirm it.

If none of these steps work, you may need to create a new family vault with a new PIN.

If your answer to the security question isn't being accepted:

• Spelling and capitalization: Make sure you're spelling the name exactly as you entered it originally.
• First name only: The security questions typically ask for first names only, not full names or nicknames.
• Try a different question: Click the "Try Different Question" button to get a new security question.
• Check the relationship: Make sure you're thinking of the right family member.

If Kintact isn't loading properly, try these troubleshooting steps:

1. Refresh the page: Sometimes a simple refresh can resolve temporary loading issues.
2. Clear cache and cookies: Old cached data can sometimes cause issues.
3. Try a different browser: If you're using Chrome, try Firefox or Safari.
4. Check your internet connection: Ensure you have a stable connection.
5. Disable browser extensions: Some extensions can interfere with web applications.
6. Try incognito/private mode: This disables extensions and uses a clean session.

If none of these steps work, please contact our support team at kintact@zohomailcloud.ca.