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How Gentle Handover works

Here is how your plan reaches the people you chose. You check in now and then. If you stop, people you trust tell us what has happened, and we wait before anything is handed over.

Rehearsal

See what the people you chose will see

Walk through what each person you named would receive, built from what you have really saved. You see the emails they would open and what their private page would show.

Sends nothing Changes nothing Only notes that you ran it
  1. Create a free account
  2. Name your people and save something for them
  3. Open Rehearsal in your dashboard
Join the waitlist Open rehearsal in my account

It needs an account. A rehearsal reads your own records, so it works only when you are signed in with a confirmed email. There is no public demo.

Illustration Rehearsal

The people you named

2 of 3 would receive something.

Sarah Miller 3 wait for your death Would receive 3 things Walk through it
James Davis 1 waits for your death Would receive 1 thing Walk through it
Emily Clark Nothing is addressed to her yet Would receive nothing Walk through it

Nothing on this screen was sent. Nothing was changed.

A rehearsal cannot show when this would happen. After a confirmation, everything waits 48 hours, so a mistake can still be stopped.

The idea, in plain words

What happens if you stop answering?

Some people call this a dead man's switch. It acts when a person stops answering. Here it is how your letters, passwords and plans can still reach the people you chose when you can no longer hand them over yourself.

Ours never acts just because you missed a check-in. First we try to reach you, and the same day we ask your check-in buddies to get in touch. After your grace period, the people you trust are asked what has happened. Once a death is confirmed we wait 48 hours, and confirming with your password during that time stops everything. A few urgent wishes, such as funeral plans, can open sooner, but only if someone you allowed reports your death and you do not answer in time.

And what is a digital legacy?

Your digital legacy is everything you leave in digital form, such as accounts and passwords, documents, photos, letters and instructions. Gentle Handover encrypts your items and most of what you write, and you choose who receives each item.

How we protect it Common questions about the wait
1

Save what matters

Keep your important things in encrypted boxes, such as passwords, documents, notes on where your crypto wallet is kept, and letters. Anything you want to pass on to the people you love can go there.

  • Boxes locked with strong encryption
  • Room for passwords, notes, documents and more
  • Files kept within your plan's storage, 50 MB in all on the free plan
  • Choose who receives each item

Personal box

12 items

Encrypted

Bank login

Added 2 days ago

Will_2024.pdf

2.4 MB

Bitcoin wallet location

Where the phrase is kept

Recipients

3 verified
SM

Sarah Miller

Spouse

Verified
JD

James Davis

Son

Verified
RJ

Robert Johnson

Lawyer

Verifier
2

Choose your people

Choose the people who will receive your things, and decide what each one gets. You decide who gets what, and when.

  • We ask each person to confirm their email
  • You choose who gets each item
  • You choose how long each item waits
  • Emergency access while you are alive
3

Check in on your own schedule

A quick check-in now and then tells us you are fine. If you stop, we ask the people you trust what has happened. A missed check-in alone never hands anything over. By default, crypto wallet details, passwords and account logins also wait until a person on our team has read a death certificate. If none can be found, they open after a longer wait. You can change this for any item.

  • Check in from the dashboard or an email link
  • Pause for a trip or a hospital stay, or turn on high risk mode for a dangerous time
  • Extra time to answer after a missed check-in
  • People you trust confirm before anything opens
Example
Check-in due in 3 days

We will remind you by email before it is due.

How a handover starts

Several checks stand between a missed check-in and a handover. Passwords, logins and money details have one more.

  1. 1. You miss a check-in

    We email you that day and remind you again every day. The same day we ask your check-in buddies, if you have any, to get in touch with you. We also try the other ways you set up, one at a time.

  2. 2. You get extra time

    A grace period you choose, from 3 to 30 days, gives you time to answer if you are traveling, unwell or out of reach.

  3. 3. People you trust confirm, then we wait

    We ask the people you chose to confirm a death what has happened. At least two of them must agree, and if you named only one, a person on our team must confirm as well. If one of them says you are alive, everything is held for a person on our team to check. Then we wait 48 hours, or 14 days if your check-ins were paused or high risk mode was on. That is your last chance to stop everything with your password.

  4. 4. Each person receives their part

    Each person you named is sent what you left them. An item set to Standard, the default, opens 24 hours later. An item set to Right away opens at once, and you can make any item wait longer. Only what waits for a death certificate takes longer.

  5. 5. Some things wait for a death certificate

    Some things need more than the people you trust agreeing. These are crypto wallet details, passwords, account logins, money details, and the logins and keys in your Digital Estate. For these, the people you chose send us a death certificate or another official record of the death. A person on our team reads it before anything is handed over. If no document can be found, they open 180 days after we start handing your things over. All of them start this way, and you can move any of them to the usual check yourself. A business succession plan does not wait for this. Your successor can read it, access notes included, once the death is confirmed.

When it is delivered

This is what all of it is for. Each person receives only what you left them. What you keep for after your death reaches nobody before the death is confirmed and the wait has passed.

Sealed

Where the wait works differently

The steps above are the usual path. These three can start without the people you named, and we would rather you knew now.

  • A person on our team confirms

    A person on our team can also confirm a death. That can happen after they read a death certificate, or when nobody you named can answer. The same wait of 48 hours follows. We email you, and you can stop it with your password.

  • Someone reports your death

    Someone you allowed can tell us that you have died. We alert you at once, and you have 12 hours to say you are alive. You can set that time anywhere from 1 hour to 48 hours. A missed check-in, a death certificate sent with the report or a case someone else opened never makes it shorter than 12 hours, unless you chose a shorter time yourself. There is no wait only when a person on our team has accepted a death certificate. If you stay silent, only the plans that cannot wait are opened, each to the people you named for it. These are your funeral wishes, organ donation, care for your pets, your children's plan for tonight, the care handover and the notes on how your home works. Nothing else opens.

  • Emergency access while you are alive

    If you are alive but cannot act, for example in the hospital, someone you added at least 7 days ago can ask to read their part. We email you, and you have time to say no. That time is 48 hours unless you change it, and you can set anything from 24 hours to 7 days. If you do not answer, they can read what you set aside for them for 7 days, without changing anything. While your check-ins are paused or high risk mode is on, it opens only if you say yes. You can take it back at any time. Emergency access is part of Premium and Business. For now every account has it.

How it works

See how we would reach you

When a check-in is missed, we write to you and ask your check-in buddies, if you named any, to look in on you. Then we keep trying you one way at a time, with a wait between steps, and we stop at your first answer.

Example An example. Sarah Miller missed her check-in, and time is sped up.
  1. Email On the due date Not yet Not set up, so skipped Trying now Sent, no answer Stopped, no longer needed She answered
  2. Her buddy, James Davis On the due date Not yet Not set up, so skipped Trying now Sent, no answer Stopped, no longer needed She answered
  3. A person from our team Only after a death is reported Only if needed

    Not part of this ladder. If a death is reported later and email was the only way that reached her, a person from our team tries her and the people who confirm for her, for up to 7 days.

What happened

Nothing yet. Press "Next step" to see the first try.

We use only the ways you set up, in the order you choose. Your settings show which ways are available for your account.

How we make sure your message arrives

One at a time, and we stop the moment you answer

We wait between steps and never send everything at once. Checking in, tapping "I am OK", signing in or replying OK ends every message still waiting. A sign in does not count if someone you trust has told us you died and nobody has confirmed it yet.

Never anything you stored

Every message we send to reach you says only who we are and gives one link. What you keep here is only ever opened on our site, by the right person.

Two ways before any case moves forward

Before a reported death goes ahead, we must have tried at least two different ways of reaching you. If email is all we have, a person from our team tries you and the people who confirm for you. If no answer is recorded within 7 days, the case goes ahead, but still only after the confirmations and the wait.

Quiet on normal days

On ordinary days you get one gentle reminder, on the first way you chose. Nights stay quiet. If it ever feels like too much, one tap on "Too many messages?" makes it less.

Ways to check in

One click in your dashboard, one click in our reminder email. Both work on any phone, tablet or computer.

In your dashboard

Check in with one click in your dashboard. It is the easiest way to tell us you are fine.

From our email

Press the link in the reminder email we send you.

How your things are kept safe

Encryption, a careful sign in and a record of every sensitive step.

Strong encryption

Your data travels over a secure connection, and we encrypt your items and most of what you write with AES-256-GCM before they are stored.

Encrypted before it is stored

The titles and contents of your items are stored encrypted, never as plain text.

Two-step sign-in

Add a second step when you sign in, with an authenticator app, a security key or a passkey.

A record of every sensitive step

Sensitive actions are logged, and you can see and end your active sessions.

Everything you can store, share and pass on

One safe place for your accounts, papers, messages and memories, each one passed on to the person you chose.

Secure storage

  • Passwords and logins
  • Documents and files
  • Crypto wallet locations
  • Money and legal papers

Heartfelt messages

  • Letters
  • Voice and video messages
  • A series of emails over the days and months after your death

Time capsules and big days

  • Sealed boxes that open on a date
  • Letters every year on a birthday

Your digital estate

  • Online accounts, websites and subscriptions
  • Crypto wallets
  • Social media, and a last post for your followers

Stories and keepsakes

  • Life stories and memories
  • Recipes and photo albums
  • Memorial pages

Wishes, family and business

  • Last wishes and an ethical will
  • Family tree and important dates
  • A plan for who takes over your business

The house and the people in it

  • A Tonight plan for your children
  • How our home works, with bills, heating and the repair people you trust
  • A care handover for the people you look after

Help for the people you love afterwards

  • A guide for their first 30 days
  • A list of your real debts, so a scam call can be checked
  • A welfare check if you live alone

Checks before anything opens

  • Several people must approve a box, if you want
  • High risk mode for a dangerous time
  • A rehearsal that shows what each person would get
More than a password manager

Every way to say what matters

A note, your voice, your face, or a sealed surprise. Leave it however feels right.

Written notes

Heartfelt letters and clear instructions, in exactly your words.

Voice messages

Your real voice. A song, a laugh, advice they can hear again and again.

Video messages

Look them in the eye one more time, for the moments you can't be there.

Time capsules

Sealed today and opened later, on a birthday, an anniversary or a day you choose.

Last wishes

Funeral preferences, an ethical will, and the values you want remembered.

Photos and recipes

Albums, family recipes and the stories behind them, all kept together.

Hand over the house

For the people left at home

Tonight plan

If something happened to you suddenly, someone would take your children home tonight. Write down what they need to know in the first hours.

  • Who comes for the children
  • One short card for each child
  • A printable copy

How our home works

The heating, the water shutoff, which bills go out when, the plumber you trust. Written for the person left to run the house.

  • Bills with their dates
  • Repairs, and who you call for them
  • You choose who reads it

Care handover

For the people you look after. What the next person would need to know, for the long run and not only the first day.

  • One entry for each person
  • Written the way you would explain it
  • A printable copy

A guide for the first 30 days

Once your death is confirmed, the people you name get a checklist built from what you recorded. You can preview it now.

  • Tasks from your own records
  • They can tick, claim and leave a note
  • Shows what you have not recorded yet

Scam shield

People who read death notices sometimes call a family and say money is owed. The people you choose see the debts you really had, so they can check before paying.

  • Only the debts you recorded
  • A short list of common scams
  • Nothing is shown while you are alive

Welfare check

For people who live alone. If you miss a check-in, a person you trust is asked to call or visit, days before anyone is asked anything else.

  • Your note goes in their email
  • Their answer comes back to you
  • It never starts anything about a death

Protect the release

Several people approve

Choose people who must agree before a box opens after your death. Nobody sees anything inside, not even the names of the items, before enough of them say yes.

  • At least two approvers
  • A backup person after a wait you set
  • Changing it asks for your password

High risk mode

A shorter rhythm for a dangerous time, such as a deployment, a conflict zone, a disaster, dangerous work or travel, or a serious illness. If a death is confirmed while it is on, the wait is longer, and a person on our team must accept a document about the death first.

  • Check in as often as every 2 days
  • At least 3 days of waiting after a missed one
  • No contact is told you turned it on

Check-in buddies

People you name get a short note asking them to get in touch if you miss a check-in. A word from a friend often settles it.

  • Only people with a confirmed email
  • The same list as in Contacts
  • It only asks them to get in touch

Continuity kit

One locked file with the text of the boxes you choose that opens in any web browser, with no internet and without Gentle Handover. Files are named in it, not copied. It is for the day we close.

  • Give the file to one person
  • Give the passphrase to another
  • You are told each time one is made

Common questions

Short answers, from the rules the product keeps.

After a death is confirmed, we wait 48 hours before anything is released. The wait is there for mistakes. If you are alive, confirming with your password during it cancels the case and nothing goes out. You are told when the wait starts, and the same wait follows whether the people you trust or a person on our team confirmed the death. If your check-ins were paused or high risk mode was on, the wait is 14 days. A reported death and emergency access work on a different clock. See "Where the wait works differently" above.

No. A missed check-in starts reminders, and the same day we ask your check-in buddies to get in touch with you. Then comes your grace period. After that, the people you trust are asked what has happened. Nothing is released until a death is confirmed and the wait is over. Only a few urgent wishes, such as funeral plans, can open sooner, and only if someone you allowed reports your death and you do not answer in time.

You can pause your check-ins for up to 90 days, for example for a hospital stay or a long trip. Pausing asks for your password. While they are paused we send no reminders and start nothing, and your first check-in after the pause is due a few days after it ends. If you simply miss one, your grace period gives you extra time, and the people you trust are asked before anything happens. If a death is ever confirmed while your check-ins are paused, the wait is 14 days instead of 48 hours.

The people who receive get only what you leave them. The people who confirm tell us what has happened if you stop checking in. Check-in buddies are friends we ask to get in touch with you when you miss a check-in. As buddies they are never asked about a death. Someone you allow to report a death can tell us you have died. If you run a business, your successor reads the plan for who takes over. One person can hold more than one of these roles.

A missed check-in alone hands nothing over, and a death needs the people you trust or a person on our team to confirm it. If any one of the people who confirm says you are alive, everything is held for our team to check. A case is also held for review if the people who confirm or receive were changed in the 30 days before it, if someone who can report a death was added in that time, or if two confirmations come from the same network. Your password stops it at any time before the handover.

The clock stops. While our service is interrupted, no case is opened from a missed check-in and nothing is released. When it is back, the check-in deadlines and waits the interruption touched are moved later by the time it lasted, plus a short margin, so the time you were promised is not lost.

We try one way at a time, from the ways you set up, and stop the moment you answer. Before a case moves on, at least two different ways of reaching you must have been tried. If email is all we have, a person from our team tries you and the people who confirm for you, for up to 7 days.

Read next

Security AES-256-GCM encryption, who holds the keys and why, and the safeguards around them. Pricing What each plan holds, and what it costs. Who it is for Parents and young families, aging parents and their children, and business owners.

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