What happens if I miss a check-in?

What happens if you miss a check-in in PostMortem?

Every message box has a check-in interval: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or a custom length from 1 hour up to 12 months. The interval is a countdown. Each time you check in with one tap in the app, the countdown restarts for every active box at once. If the countdown reaches zero, the box is released to the recipients you chose.

You are not left to remember the deadline on your own. PostMortem sends reminders by email and push notification at about 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% of the interval. The last one, sent when 10% or less of the interval remains, is marked as the final reminder. On a weekly box that means reminders roughly on day 4, day 5, day 6 and about 16 hours before release. On a 30-day box they arrive around day 18, 21, 24 and 27.

If you still have not checked in when the countdown ends, the release happens as scheduled, within minutes of the deadline. Release happens exactly when you set it, after four reminders, so pick an interval you'll keep and use the test box first. Recipients receive an email with a link to the recipient page, and you receive an email telling you the box was released. Because the reminders are the safety net, the most important thing you can do is make sure they actually reach you, which is covered below.

• Reminders

  Four of them, by email and push, at about 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% of the interval. The one with 10% or less remaining is the final reminder.

• Release

  Happens as scheduled, within minutes of the deadline, exactly as you set it.

• What you get

  An email confirming the box was released, so a false alarm never goes unnoticed by you.

How do I pick a check-in interval I won't miss?

The interval is a trade-off between two risks. A short interval means your recipients find out sooner if something happens to you, but it gives you fewer days of slack. A long interval is easy to keep up with, but it can mean weeks before anyone learns about a message you wanted delivered quickly. The right answer is the one that matches how often you reliably touch your phone.

A useful rule of thumb: pick the longest gap you could plausibly go without your phone, then at least double it. If you can imagine a two-week holiday with poor signal, a weekly box is a bad fit and a monthly or custom 60-day box is a better one. If you check your phone every day and rarely travel, a weekly or two-week box gives you several days of reminders before anything happens.

Remember that the reminders start at 60% of the interval. On a monthly box you are being nudged for the last 12 days; on a daily box you have under ten hours of warning. Short intervals suit the test box, or people with a specific reason for them.

• Daily phone user, rarely travels

  Weekly or 14-day custom. You will see several reminders before anything releases, and recipients would learn within about a week.

• Frequent traveller or remote worker

  Monthly, or a custom 60 to 90 days. Long enough to cover a trip with patchy connectivity plus a few days of being too busy to open the app. See the guide to a dead man's switch for travellers.

• Someone who dislikes notifications

  A custom 6 to 12 months. You will only hear from the app a handful of times a year, at the cost of a long delay before recipients are told.

Travelling, in hospital or without a phone: what should I do?

Most missed check-ins are not emergencies. They are a lost charger, a hospital stay, a flight across time zones or a week off-grid.

You check in with one tap in the app, so you need your phone, or any phone with the app installed and signed in to your account. Signing in uses your email and password plus a 6-digit code sent to your email, so you also need access to that inbox.

• Before a trip

  Check in on the day you leave. If the trip is longer than roughly half your interval, lengthen the interval before you go; the countdown is measured from your last check-in, so a longer interval takes effect immediately. Shorten it again when you are back.

• Planned hospital stay or surgery

  Treat it like a trip. Check in on the way in and set the interval long enough to cover your stay plus recovery. If you want a particular person to have your message quickly in case things go badly, that is what a separate short-interval box is for.

• Unplanned hospital stay

  If you can get to any phone, install the app and sign in; your boxes are tied to your account, not to a specific device. If you cannot, and the interval runs out, the box releases. The switch responds to silence, which is the point: if you are in hospital, your family gets what they need; if it was a false alarm, you delete the box and tell them.

• Phone lost, stolen or broken

  Install the app on a replacement or borrowed phone, sign in with your email and password, and check in. Your email inbox is the thing to protect, because the login code goes there.

What does a false release look like for my recipients, and how do I handle it?

A false release is when a box is released while you are alive and well. It is uncomfortable, but it is recoverable.

Each recipient gets an email saying a message box has been released, with a link to the recipient page. If you chose to introduce recipients in advance with an intro email, they already know what PostMortem is. To read anything, a recipient needs the access key card you gave them earlier; without it, the page cannot decrypt the contents.

You will know straight away, because the owner receives a release email too. The right response is simple: contact your recipients yourself, by phone or in person if you can, and tell them it was a missed check-in. Then open the app, delete the released box, which removes the recipient page, and create a new box with the same contents and a more generous interval.

Why does PostMortem release on silence rather than asking someone first?

A dead man's switch is designed to work without anyone having to act. A step where a named friend must confirm your death reintroduces the dependence a switch exists to remove: that person might be travelling, estranged, ill, or the very person you are trying to reach. PostMortem instead responds to silence, and makes keeping it light with four reminders and a one-tap check-in.

If you would like a human in the loop, pair the app with a person: give a trusted recipient their card and tell them what to do if a message arrives while you are still alive. Combined with a comfortable interval, that covers nearly every situation.

Can I use more than one box with different intervals?

Yes, and for most people this is the simplest way to balance speed against false alarms. Each box has its own interval and its own recipients, but a single check-in resets all of them, so running several boxes costs you nothing extra day to day.

A common pattern is one short-interval box with a brief, low-stakes message for the person who should hear first, and one long-interval box holding the things that are harder to take back: passwords and account access, a legacy letter, financial records and debts. If the short box fires by mistake, the damage is a worried phone call.

• Quick box: weekly

  One recipient, one short message along the lines of 'if you are reading this and have not heard from me, please check on me'. Easy to explain if it fires early.

• Main box: monthly or longer

  Credentials, files, financial notes and letters. The interval that is comfortable for you across a whole year, including holidays.

• Different people, different boxes

  A partner, a sibling and a business contact rarely need the same contents. Separate boxes keep each person's view to what concerns them.

Push vs email reminders: how do I make sure they reach me?

Every reminder goes out twice, as a push notification to your phone and as an email, so one failing channel does not leave you blind.

Push notifications only arrive if you allowed them when the app asked. If you tapped 'don't allow' at the time, turn notifications on for PostMortem in your phone's settings. Focus modes, do-not-disturb schedules and notification summaries can also hide or delay pushes, so check that PostMortem is allowed to break through if you rely on it.

Email reminders can land in spam or promotions folders, particularly the first few. When you set up your account, find the first reminder and mark it as not spam, or add the sender to your contacts. The reminder email tells you to check in; the check-in itself happens with one tap in the app.

How does PostMortem's test box let me rehearse a release safely?

The easiest way to stop worrying about a missed check-in is to watch one happen on purpose. PostMortem includes a test box: a one-tap sample box on a 1-hour interval, addressed to your own email through a '+postmortem_test' alias, containing a sample message, a sample credential and a sample financial record.

Create it, then simply do not check in. Over the hour you will see the four reminders arrive by push and email, with the last marked as final. Shortly after the hour is up, you will receive the release email a recipient would get and the owner notification. Open the link, scan your access key card with your phone camera or upload the card image, and watch the contents decrypt in your browser. You can download the PDF and the file ZIP exactly as a recipient would.

This rehearsal answers most of the questions on this page from experience rather than description, and it is a good check that your notifications and inbox are set up correctly before a real box depends on them. The how it works page walks through the rest of the setup, and the security page explains how your contents are protected.

Frequently asked questions

• How much warning do I get before a release?

  The last 40% of the interval, with four reminders by email and push. When the interval runs out, the box is released as scheduled, within minutes, so choose an interval long enough that those reminders give you real slack.

• Can I undo a release?

  A released box is view-only, which is what makes it trustworthy for recipients. You can delete it, which removes the recipient page, and contact your recipients directly to explain. Then create a fresh box with a more comfortable interval.

• Can someone check in for me if I'm in hospital?

  Only by signing in to your account on a phone with the app, which needs your email, your password and the 6-digit code sent to your inbox. If you expect a stay, lengthen your interval beforehand.

• What if I never allowed push notifications?

  You will still get the four email reminders, but you are relying on one channel. Enable notifications for PostMortem in your phone settings so that a reminder lands even if an email goes to spam.

• Does checking in one box reset the others?

  Yes. A single check-in resets the countdown on every active box at once, so running several boxes with different intervals does not mean more taps.

• Will my recipients be able to read the box if it fires by mistake?

  Only if they have the access key card you gave them earlier, since decryption happens in their browser with that key. If they do have it, they can read the contents, which is why the sensitive box should carry the longest interval.

• How short can the interval be?

  One hour, which is what the test box uses. For real boxes, anything under a week leaves very little room for ordinary life. Daily boxes give under ten hours of reminders before release.