Frequently asked
questions.

Proof of Life is MyMissingNote's check-in system — a dead-man switch that monitors your activity. You set a schedule: check in once a week, once a month, whatever suits you. If you miss a check-in, we send reminders. If you remain unresponsive, the notes you've assigned automatically reach your designated contacts by email. They don't need an account. They don't need to do anything. Your notes simply arrive.

A Vault is a private space shared between you and a trusted contact who has a MyMissingNote account. Rather than waiting for an automatic delivery, your trusted contact can actively request access to your Vault when they believe the time has come — like a partner who needs urgent access to financial details. You can approve or decline the request, or set a deadline after which the Vault unlocks automatically.

The core difference is active vs. passive. A Vault trusted contact has a MyMissingNote account and takes initiative — they request access and can receive information faster. A Proof of Life designated contact receives your notes automatically by email and never needs to do a thing. Vault is for people close enough to act; Proof of Life is for everyone you want to reach, regardless of what apps they use.

Think about who might need to act quickly and who you'd trust to manage their own access: your partner, the people in your household, your solicitor or financial advisor — these are Vault candidates. Friends, extended family, colleagues, or anyone you simply want to notify without asking them to do anything are ideal for Proof of Life. If in doubt, Proof of Life works for everyone; Vault is for the inner circle.

Yes — if they have a MyMissingNote account. Many people add their partner or closest family member to their Vault for faster access, while also including them in Proof of Life as a safety net. This way they're covered regardless of how events unfold.

We're currently in early access. Join our waitlist to be among the first to know when we launch and what plans we'll offer. We're committed to keeping the core product accessible.

We're building for iOS and Android. Join the waitlist and we'll notify you the moment it's available.

No — and that distinction matters. MyMissingNote complements legal estate planning but doesn't replace it. Think of it as the practical companion to your will: the account numbers, the passwords, the farewell letters, the things a solicitor doesn't hold.

Yes, always. You can add, update, or remove notes at any time. Life changes — your notes should too.

Only you — until you decide otherwise. Notes are private by default and end-to-end encrypted. They only become visible to designated recipients when you explicitly assign them, and only when the system determines the time is right. Even then, decryption happens on the recipient's device — our servers never handle plaintext.

It means your notes are encrypted on your device before they leave it. Our servers store and relay ciphertext — we never see plaintext. The answer is slightly different depending on who the note is for. Vault notes (for trusted contacts with accounts) are zero-knowledge: keys are exchanged directly between devices using ECDH cryptography, and we hold no key at any point. Recipient notes (for people without accounts, delivered via Proof of Life) are also encrypted at rest, but we hold a delivery key — because someone must, to deliver them to people who have no account to hold a key of their own. That key activates only when your check-in lapses. We're transparent about this distinction because we think honesty is what trust actually looks like.

It depends on who the note is for. Vault notes — for trusted contacts with a MyMissingNote account — are zero-knowledge. We hold no key. We cannot read them under any circumstances: not in a breach, not under legal pressure, not ever. Recipient notes — for people without an account, delivered when your check-in lapses — are encrypted at rest, but we hold a delivery key. This key exists because recipients have no account to hold their own key; without it, delivery would be impossible. While you are alive and your Proof of Life is active, those notes are encrypted and inaccessible to us in practice. The key is used only at the point you intended: when escalation occurs. Any service that delivers to people without accounts must hold a delivery key somewhere. We hold it — and we tell you.

End-to-end encryption is the foundation. Your notes are encrypted on your device using AES-256-GCM before they reach our servers. Your key is derived from your password locally and never leaves your device. All data is also encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest on our infrastructure. We don't read your notes — and by design, we can't.

Your data is yours. You can export or permanently delete everything at any time. We don't hold your data hostage.

Never. We do not sell, share, or monetise your personal data or the content of your notes. Full stop.

It's the mechanism that watches for your activity. If you stop checking in, the system sends you reminders first — you control the timeline and the escalation window. Only if you remain unresponsive does it proceed to deliver your notes to the people you've designated.

You control the timeline. You can set generous windows — days, weeks — before escalation begins. The system also sends you reminders before anything happens, so you'll have plenty of opportunity to respond.

Designated recipients receive a secure, single-use link to view only the notes you've assigned to them — nothing more. Each person sees only what you chose for them.

Yes — that's the whole point. Your spouse might get financial details. Your lawyer might get legal documents. Your best friend might get a farewell letter. Each note goes to exactly who needs it.