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How are my notes in LegacyApp passed to my Beneficiary?

What happens to your notes if something happens to you?

Let's say you use LegacyApp regularly, keeping all your important information in one place for yourself and the people close to you. Every time the app asks whether you're OK, you confirm. But one question stays in the back of your mind: what if one day something happens to me, and how would my notes reach the person I've chosen?

In short

If you stop responding to LegacyApp's check-ins, the app waits through your next check-ins and then starts the Secure Access Procedure, which passes your prepared notes to your Recipient (the person you chose in the app, called "Beneficiary" in the app interface). If you use the optional Trusted Friends function, LegacyApp asks them first, and access opens once at least one of them confirms something has happened.

What sets everything in motion: your check-ins

LegacyApp regularly asks "Is everything OK?" on a schedule you choose (for example, once a week). As long as you respond, nothing changes. If you go quiet, the app moves through a few steps before anything is shared. Here's how it looks with a weekly cycle:

1 After the first week
LegacyApp asks "Is everything OK?" for the first time.
2 After the second week
It asks again.
3 After the third week, with no response
LegacyApp moves to the next step: if you don't use Trusted Friends, it releases access to your Recipient; if you do, it reaches out to your Trusted Friends first.

Which path applies to you?

What happens at that point depends on whether you use the optional, free Trusted Friends function.

Scenario 1: You don't use the Trusted Friends function

Once you've missed those check-ins, the Secure Access Procedure begins and your Recipient is contacted directly. See "How the Secure Access Procedure works" below.

Scenario 2: You use the Trusted Friends function

Instead of contacting your Recipient right away, LegacyApp first asks the people you chose as Trusted Friends, by email and/or SMS depending on each person's preference: "Is [your name] OK?" They can only answer YES or NO. When at least one person answers NO, the Secure Access Procedure begins.

Note: If none of your Trusted Friends respond, LegacyApp waits 30 days and then emails your Recipient to let them know you had prepared important information for them, but that no one has responded yet. The message suggests they reach out to the people who were most likely your Trusted Friends. LegacyApp keeps waiting so your notes stay protected. For your privacy, LegacyApp never shares who your Trusted Friends are. It's worth choosing them carefully and asking them to add notify@legacy.app to their safe senders list, and to share a phone number for extra reliability.
LegacyApp GOLD: we help find your Recipient

If your Trusted Friends don't respond, a member of the LegacyApp team steps in and actively tries to reach your Recipient, and backup Recipients if needed, so your information is never left unclaimed.

Explore LegacyApp GOLD

How the Secure Access Procedure works: an example

Meet John Smith. John kept his notes in LegacyApp and set his wife, Anna Smith, as his Recipient, entering the email address she uses most often in the Recipient field. He also turned on the Trusted Friends function.

John never told Anna he was using LegacyApp. When he set up his backup, he created an Encryption Key and left a hint only Anna could easily solve: "The jeweler where I bought your engagement ring + the name of your first cat + @ (symbol). All words capitalized."

One day John has a serious cycling accident and falls into a coma. His phone, with LegacyApp on it, is damaged too, so he stops responding to the app's check-ins. After the missed check-ins, LegacyApp turns to his Trusted Friends, and the Secure Access Procedure begins on his account.

1 The Trusted Friends are asked
LegacyApp contacts John's Trusted Friends by email and SMS with the question "Is John OK?" One of them is the first to answer NO.
2 Anna receives a secure email
LegacyApp emails Anna, titled "Secure access to information in LegacyApp," letting her know John had prepared notes for her. She's asked to install LegacyApp and set up access by logging in with the email address where she received the message. The app automatically recognizes that John set her as his Recipient.
3 The key hint appears
Once Anna is in, she sees the hint John left for the Encryption Key. From "the jeweler + first cat + @" she easily works it out: TiffanySonia@
4 The notes are unlocked
After Anna enters the correct Encryption Key, everything else happens automatically: the app locates John's encrypted backup in his own cloud, downloads it, and decrypts the notes on Anna's phone so she can read them.

What your Recipient gains access to

By reading John's notes, Anna found information that genuinely helped her daily life:

  • Details of bank accounts and recurring payments John had been managing.
  • A group accident insurance policy John had through work and had never mentioned, which let Anna file a compensation claim.
  • Notes about cryptocurrency John had quietly bought, which turned out to be especially valuable at a difficult time.

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