Save what matters, pass it on when it's time.
for when they need it most.
You don’t need to worry if you lose your phone or someone hacks into your cloud. Your notes are protected by military grade AES encryption, making them virtually unhackable.
As long as you're well, only you can access your LegacyApp notes. LegacyApp periodically checks in with you to ensure you are okay, which you can confirm with a single click. Your beneficiary can only access your notes once you stop responding to LegacyApp’s check-in notifications.
We have created a unique Secure Access Procedure, ensuring that the person you designate as your beneficiary will receive access to your LegacyApp notes when they need them most.
If you stop responding to the "Are you OK?" notifications which LegacyApp periodically sends you, the app will contact your Trusted Friends to check on your well-being. If you enable the Trusted Friends function, LegacyApp will only give your beneficiary access to your notes once at least two Trusted Friends confirm that something has happened to you. They can do this with a simple click in response to an email or SMS we send them.
Protecting the data you store in LegacyApp is our priority. We ensure this in four ways:
First: Security by Design
We designed LegacyApp so that your private notes are never stored on our servers. They are stored exclusively on your smartphone, and if you create a backup – in your private cloud (Google Drive or iCloud). This way, no one can steal your data from us by hacking our server (nor demand access to your data from us).
Second: Data Encryption and SSL
Your notes in the app are encrypted with the AES 256 algorithm (Advanced Encryption Standard - Wikipedia). This algorithm is widely used by financial institutions and the military. The encryption key consists of two parts: your own key that you create when encrypting your notes (minimum 8 characters), and our half, which is over 90 characters long. This means that your backup file and notes are encrypted with a password of more than 100 characters – making it virtually impossible to decrypt your notes today.
Additionally, data transmission between the app or your browser is encrypted using the SSL protocol. This is the standard solution you use every day when accessing sensitive services on the internet (such as banks and government websites).
Thanks to this model, no one will be able to decrypt your data. Even if someone hacks into your private cloud and downloads the file with your encrypted notes, without knowing both your encryption key and our half of the key, they won’t be able to read them.
Third: Trusted Friends
For those who want to ensure that their data is only transferred to the Beneficiary after death, we’ve created the optional Trusted Friends function. You can invite one or more people to become your Trusted Friends in LegacyApp, and if needed, confirm that something has really happened to you. This is an additional safeguard in case you forget or are unable to confirm in the app or via email that everything is fine with you.
Only when at least one Trusted Friend confirms that something has happened to you, will we initiate the process of granting your Beneficiary access to your data.
Correct configuration of Trusted Friends: green border and the name of the Trusted Friend
Fourth: Supervision by an External Law Firm
The law firm LBK&P oversees the GDPR compliance of both the LegacyApp mobile application and the website. They supervise our personal data processing procedures and represent us before the General Inspector for Personal Data Protection.
You can find more details in the Privacy Policy available on our website: Privacy Policy
You have the right to stop using LegacyApp at any time – without any consequences.
Let's assume you are a frequent user of LegacyApp, organising all your important information on the app for yourself and your loved ones. Whenever the app asks you to confirm if you are OK, you do so. But you ask yourself:
What if something happens to me? How will my notes be passed to my Beneficiary?
Depending on whether you use the Trusted Friends function, one of two scenarios will occur:
Scenario 1: You do not use the optional and free Trusted Friends function in LegacyApp
If you do not use the Trusted Friends function, the Secure Access Procedure will start right after you miss the second “Is everything OK?” notification. Go to the "Secure Access Procedure" section below to read more.
Scenario 2: You use the Trusted Friends function
In this situation, LegacyApp will first automatically send questions (via email and/or SMS – depending on the preferences each Trusted Friend has set) with a simple question: "Is [Your Name] okay?"
Your Trusted Friends will only be able to respond YES or NO to the question. When at least one person responds NO, the Secure Access Procedure to your data will begin. Go to the "Secure Access Procedure" section below to read more.
We will suggest that the Beneficiary uses social media to ask if any mutual acquaintances have received notifications from LegacyApp, and to contact people who they think were close to you and who you may have entrusted with this role.
Please note that for the confidentiality and security of your data, LegacyApp will never provide the Beneficiary with a specific list of your Trusted Friends.
Therefore, it is important to choose your Trusted Friends carefully and ask them to add notify@app.legacyapp.rip to their safe senders list in their mailbox and provide their phone numbers for extra security.
Secure Access Procedure
Imagine that John Smith (e.g. using his email john@email.com) was gathering notes in LegacyApp and set up his wife, Anna Smith, as his Beneficiary. Therefore, in LegacyApp, he would enter the email that his wife uses most frequently (e.g. anna.smith@email.com) in the Beneficiary field. He also used the Trusted Friends function.
John did not inform Anna that he was using LegacyApp. When creating backups in LegacyApp, he created an encryption key and provided the following hint for Anna:
“The jeweler where I bought your engagement ring + the name of your first cat + @ (symbol). All words capitalized.”
He knew Anna would be able to guess the encryption key based on the hint.
John rides his bike often. During one of his rides, he falls so badly that he goes into a coma. His smartphone, which he used and which had LegacyApp installed on it, was also damaged. Therefore, he stopped responding to notifications in the app and via email.
In this situation, the Secure Access Procedure automatically started on the account registered to john@email.com.
Step 1: LegacyApp sent emails and SMS messages to the Trusted Friends as indicated by John. John’s friend was the first to respond “NO” to the question “Is John OK?”
Step 2: LegacyApp sent an email to anna.smith@email.com entitled “Secure access to information in LegacyApp.”
From LegacyApp's email, Anna learns that user john@email.com had been gathering notes for her in the app, and now Anna has the ability to access these notes. In order to do so, Anna is asked to install LegacyApp and log in using the email address where she received the notification. The system automatically detected that John had set Anna as his Beneficiary.
Step 3: When Anna logged into LegacyApp with the above credentials, she saw the hint for the Encryption Key created by John:
“The jeweler where I bought your engagement ring + the name of your first cat + @ (symbol). All words capitalized.”
She easily guessed the Encryption Key: “TiffanySonia@”
Step 4: After entering the correct Encryption Key when requested, everything worked automatically: the app decrypted the location of John’s backup file on his personal cloud account, downloaded it, and decrypted the notes locally – allowing Anna to browse them.
Thanks to accessing John’s notes, Anna learned a lot of valuable information necessary for her daily life: details about bank accounts and recurring payments that John had been handling.
She also found out that John had joined a group accident insurance policy at work – something he had forgotten to tell her. Thanks to this, Anna was able to submit a compensation claim.
Anna also discovered notes about cryptocurrencies that John had secretly purchased – which proved to be particularly valuable during that difficult time.
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.
You can use LegacyApp to securely store any information that may be important for your loved ones after you are gone, but also any information that's useful for you - and which you may want to have securely stored at your fingertips.
If you are not sure what to include, open LegacyApp and click on the Add Note or "+" button. This is part of the onboarding process and is prominently shown at the bottom of the home screen once you are onboarded. After you click the Add Note or "+" button you will see a list of categories and documents which may be relevant for your Beneficiary. Select one of the categories and see what documents, we have suggested.
Of course there may be other things that are specific to you or your family, which you may want to save in the app. You can include any texts, photos or screenshots under the "Personal Notebook" category.
If you are not yet using LegacyApp, consider the following:
- Does your Beneficiary know about your insurance policies, or where you have stored any will or last testament you have written? How about the details of your bank account, pension account or savings plan, or any investment or trading account that may have opened years ago? Did you ever buy any financial products, such as investment or saving plans that your family doesn't know about.
- What about the value of any expensive gadgets, jewellery or history of any family heirlooms that you own? Did you ever buy any cryptocurrencies and how could your family access them after you are gone?
- Include any information that you think your family would need, or want, to know after you are gone. You should include the minimum information that will allow your Beneficiary to piece together any valuable assets and liabilites. You can also just include information where hard copy documents are stored/kept or take a picture of a document or an item or upload a screenshot in your notes.
Please note that we do not recommend that you pair login details with any passwords in any single entry, but you are free to include whatever you want. While we trust our security measures, be mindful of prying eyes when LegacyApp is open on your phone or other accidental exposure.
Please also remember that LegacyApp does not replace the need for a will, last testament or general estate planning. The app is a very useful way to securely pass any information to your Benecifiary but LegacyApp does not relpace or substitute the need to put your affairs in order, for which you may want to speak to a lawyer, estate planner, accountant, tax specialist or other adviser.
LegacyApp is completely free to download and use.
We show occasional adverts to support our work and LegacyApp's development. If you enjoy our app, please spread the word.
If you would like to use LegacyApp without adverts or would like to support the development of this app, please subscribe to the premium version of the app. . You can do this by purchasing the Premium code and entering it in the app. To do that, click on "Unlock the Premium Version" in the app menu.
Alternatively, look out for our corporate and charity partners - you can use the Premium Codes they provide to access the premium version of the app.
