The Porch
Your hub, and the page you land on. What is coming up on the calendar, what is waiting in a time capsule, and who has been posting.
Start here. If you ever feel lost, the light bulb at the top brings you back.
a simple guide
Welcome to Porchlight
Porchlight is a private place just for your family. No strangers, no tracking, nothing to figure out. Here is the whole of it, one easy step at a time.
Getting in
Get your invite code
Somebody in your family has already started the family group. They will send you a little code that looks like peach-fable-1917, or a link with the code already in it. That is your ticket in.
Open porchlight.family
On a phone or a computer, any browser. If somebody texted you a link, tapping it does this step for you.
Tell it your name and cell number
No usernames. No password to invent, and none to forget. Your number is how Porchlight knows it is you.
Type the code we text you
A six-digit code arrives by text. Type it in and you are through the door, standing on your family’s porch.
What is inside
A few simple spots. You do not have to use them all, and none of them expects anything of you.
Family Feed
The main page. Photos, updates and little stories from everyone, in one place.
Scroll and see what is new. Share something, at the top of the feed, is how you add your own: a photo, a story, or your own voice.
The Flash
Once a week, at a moment nobody knows in advance, the same simple question goes to everyone at once. A little surprise. It sits at the top of the Family Feed while it is live.
You have a day to answer, in words or with a photo. No pressure, and missing one costs nothing.
Share Something
One question a week for the whole family, with everybody’s answers gathered under a single post rather than scattered.
Type your answer and add it. You can read what everyone else said on the same page.
Time Capsule
Write something today and choose a day in the future for it to open. A birthday, an anniversary, a someday. It stays sealed until then — not even you can peek.
Use Seal a new one. Give it a name, say who it is for, write your message, and add a photo or your voice with Add an attachment. Then pick the day it opens.
Calendar
Birthdays, Sunday dinners, recitals. Anything worth remembering, where the whole family can see it.
Add one and it shows up on everybody’s porch as the day comes near.
Family Members
Everybody at your table, and the smaller circles inside it if your family makes any.
Your invite code lives in the menu. Send it to somebody you want in here.
Nearby
Who in your family is within three miles of you right now. Handy on a busy day out, or to know somebody is just around the corner.
Open Nearby in the menu and choose Share where I am. Only your family sees it, and only as a rough distance, never a place on a map. Turn it off whenever you like and your location is forgotten.
A few things worth knowing
It is only your family
Nobody sees anything here unless your family invited them. There is no public Porchlight to be found by strangers, and nothing is ever shown to anybody outside your family group.
Nothing to buy, nothing to sell
No upgrades, nothing tracked, and your family’s memories are never sold or handed to anyone.
No password to remember
Your cell number and a code we text you, every time. Nothing to write on a scrap of paper.
You cannot break it
Anything you add, you can remove. Take your time. There is no rush and nothing to get wrong.
The short note at the top of each section, back on every screen.
Take your time. There is no rush, and nothing to get wrong. 💛