Buyer's guide · 2026
There are four main kinds of tool for getting messages or information to people after you're gone. Each is good at something different. Here's how to tell which one you need.
The four kinds of tool
You set an interval and write one or more emails. If you don't click a check-in link in time, the emails are sent.
A trusted contact requests access to your vault. If you don't refuse within a waiting period you set, they get in.
Organised storage for documents, account lists and wishes, often alongside wills or estate planning.
Letters, voice notes, videos and documents held until check-ins stop, then released through a sequence of safeguards.
What to compare
Whichever kind of tool you choose, ask these questions. A good provider answers each one clearly on its website.
What actually starts a release?
A missed check-in, a contact's request, or a reported death. Each fails in different ways.
Who confirms before anything is sent?
A missed check-in isn't a confirmed death. Reminders, verifiers and grace periods prevent false sends.
Can each message have its own timing?
A letter for an eighteenth birthday shouldn't arrive in the same week as practical instructions.
Text only, or voice, video and documents too?
A voice can mean more than a page. Instructions often need attachments.
How is content protected, and where is it hosted?
Look for clear, accurate language: encrypted at rest, end-to-end, or neither. Check the hosting region.
What happens if the company closes?
Some services in this space have shut down. Look for a published plan for exports and delivery.
Can you pause, edit and cancel at any time?
Life changes. Travel, illness and new relationships all mean changing your plan.
What will it cost over ten or twenty years?
A monthly fee adds up. Lifetime options and free tiers change the picture.
Side by side
| Criteria | Email timers | Password-manager access | Digital vaults | Message-release services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Missed check-in | Contact requests access | Death reported by a contact | Missed check-ins |
| Verification safeguards | Often none beyond reminders | Waiting period you can refuse | Varies; often documentation | Reminders, verifiers, grace period (varies) |
| Release rules | All at once | Whole vault at once | Varies | Often per message |
| Media types | Mostly text | Credentials and notes | Documents and lists | Text, voice, video, documents |
| Encryption model | Varies widely | Usually end-to-end | Varies | Varies; check the wording |
| Continuity if the company closes | Rarely addressed | Depends on vendor | Varies | Varies; ask for a published plan |
| Typical price | Free to low | Included with the manager | Annual subscription | Monthly, annual or lifetime |
How Sealkept approaches it
Sealkept is a message-release service. Here's how it answers each criterion.
Sealkept isn't a will, a password manager or a legal document store. Use it alongside those, not instead of them.
The release, step by step
Sealkept never sends on a single missed check-in. It reminds you several times, can ask a trusted verifier to confirm, sends recipients a soft alert, and waits a grace period you choose before anything is delivered.
Miss a check-in and we remind you, several times, by email and in the app.
Optionally, one or two people you choose are asked to confirm before anything moves on.
Recipients get a gentle note that something may be wrong, with a way for you to say you're fine.
We wait 48 hours, 7 days or 21 days, as you chose. One tap from you stops everything.
Only then are your messages delivered, each by the rule you set for it.
FAQ
Related reading
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