How can my Beneficiary access my LegacyApp notes without my PIN, fingerprint or password?

Below, we have set out the steps that allow your Beneficiary to access your LegacyApp notes – even if they don’t have access to your phone, PIN, or password:

1. Setup: When you set up LegacyApp on your smartphone, you will need to enter the email address of your chosen Beneficiary – this is the address we will use to contact them when the time comes.

2. Backup and Encryption Key: As part of the onboarding process, you will be asked to back up your notes to your personal Google or Apple cloud account. We encourage you to do this regularly, especially after updating or adding new notes. When saving a backup, you will be asked to create an Encryption Key. This key must contain at least 8 characters, including one capital letter and one special character.

3. Hint to the Encryption Key: During the backup process, you can set a hint for your Encryption Key. This hint will be shown to your Beneficiary (or to you, if you ever need to restore your notes on a new device). Write the hint in a way that helps your Beneficiary guess or retrieve the key – for example: “The jeweler where I bought your engagement ring + name of your first cat + @ (symbol). All capitalised and no spaces.”
It is your responsibility to ensure the Beneficiary will be able to use the hint to recover the key. If they can’t, your notes will remain encrypted and inaccessible.

4. Triggering access: If you stop responding to LegacyApp’s "Are you OK?" notifications, we will initiate the Secure Access Procedure. If you use the Trusted Friends function, the process will start as soon as one Trusted Friend confirms that something has happened via the email or SMS we send them. Your Beneficiary will then receive an email informing them that you had stored important notes in LegacyApp for them.

5. Logging in: The email sent to your Beneficiary will contain instructions to download the LegacyApp mobile app. They will simply install the app and log in using the same email address on which they received the notification. LegacyApp will automatically recognise the Beneficiary and continue the secure access process.

6. Encryption Key and Access: Once logged in, your Beneficiary will see the hint to the Encryption Key you created. When they correctly enter the key, LegacyApp will automatically locate your encrypted backup file in your personal cloud account, download it, and decrypt your notes within the app. The Beneficiary will be able to view – but not edit or delete – your notes.