Deadman Switches

What a switch does

A deadman switch links a set of items — documents, notes, video/audio messages, or notebooks — to one or more beneficiaries. When the switch fires, each beneficiary gets a secure link to the items assigned to them. Until then, nothing is shared: your files stay private and encrypted at rest and in transit.

Every switch also has a trigger action: Share (the default — beneficiaries receive access) or Delete (files are permanently removed instead of shared). Most people use Share; Delete exists for content you want gone rather than passed on.

Creating a switch, step by step

From your Switches page, click New Switch. Creation is a five-step wizard — nothing goes live until you confirm the final review, and you can move back and forth between steps freely.

1. Basic info. Give the switch a memorable name (e.g. "Primary Estate Switch") and choose its trigger action — Share or Delete. The name is for you only: beneficiaries never see it, not even in the delivery email.
2. Schedule. Pick how the switch is scheduled: a check-in schedule (choose your check-in frequency and a grace period that gives you breathing room after a missed check-in) or a fixed date (pick the exact date, time, and timezone it should fire — no check-ins involved). The reminder ladders for both are described below.
3. Beneficiaries. Choose who receives access when the switch fires. Pick from beneficiaries you've already added, or type a new email address to add one on the spot. Each person is either a Recipient (receives the items) or a Witness (notified that delivery happened, receives nothing) — see the beneficiaries guide for how the roles differ.
4. Select items. Choose which documents, notes, recordings, notebooks, or folders this switch delivers. Items stay fully private until the switch actually fires — attaching them changes nothing today.
5. Review. A summary of everything: schedule, beneficiaries and their roles, items, and what each person will receive. Read it carefully — this is also where you're told which witnesses will get the audit notification. Confirm, and the switch is live from that moment.

After creating a switch, run a test fire (covered below) to see exactly what your beneficiaries would receive — before it ever matters.

Choosing a schedule type

Every switch uses one of two schedules. You choose when you create the switch, and you can change it later — Killswitch recalculates the timing the moment you do.

Check-in switches

A check-in switch has two settings: a check-in frequency (how many days between required check-ins) and a grace period (extra days after a missed check-in before the switch fires). Checking in — from the app, an email link, or a text link — resets the countdown immediately, no matter how close it was to firing.

The reminder ladder

Nothing fires without warning. Between a missed check-in and delivery, Killswitch sends up to six escalating reminders by email and SMS:

1. 1

   One day before your check-in is due — a friendly heads-up. One check-in resets the clock.

2. 2

   Check-in missed, grace period begins — for grace periods of 8+ days, reminders go out at the start and at the halfway mark. For grace periods of 1-7 days, you get one reminder every day of the grace window, escalating in urgency as the deadline nears.

3. 3

   Final days — critical alerts 3 days, 2 days, and 1 day before the switch fires (for grace periods of 8+ days), plus a final notice 3 hours before firing no matter how short the grace period is — even a grace period of 0 gets that last warning.

4. 4

   Only then does the switch fire — beneficiaries receive their secure links. If it ever fires by mistake, you can revoke every link immediately (see "Accidental fires" below).

Fixed-date switches

A fixed-date switch fires at a specific wall-clock date and time, interpreted in the timezone you choose when you set it up — not a countdown, and no check-ins involved. Reschedule the date/time or timezone any time before it fires and Killswitch recalculates everything.

Instead of a grace-period ladder, fixed-date switches get a flat set of advance warnings anchored to the fire time: reminders 7 days , 3 days, and 1 day before, plus the same 3-hour final notice check-in switches get. Editing or pausing the switch before it fires is your escape hatch — once the fire time passes, it triggers.

Adding items and beneficiaries

Attach documents, notes, video/audio messages, or notebooks to a switch, then add the beneficiaries who should receive them. You can assign different items to different beneficiaries on the same switch. Removing a beneficiary from a switch immediately revokes any share links already generated for them on that switch — an ex-beneficiary never keeps a working link.

See the Beneficiaries guide for how to add and manage the people on your switches.

Test fires

Before you rely on a switch, you can send yourself a test delivery — a real email (and text, if you have SMS reminders on) built from your switch's actual share links, prefixed [TEST] so it's unmistakable. Click through and confirm your files decrypt correctly, all without it counting as a real trigger or notifying any beneficiary. Test deliveries are limited to one per switch per hour, and aren't available for Delete -type switches or switches that have already fired.

If any of your beneficiaries are set to notify-only (they're told a switch fired but don't get file access), a test also sends you a preview of exactly what that notification looks like.

What happens when a switch fires

Every beneficiary with access gets an email (and text, if a phone number is on file) with a secure link to their assigned items. For the full beneficiary-side walkthrough — what the email looks like, the verification step, and how downloading works — see What You'll Receive .

Pausing and editing

Pause a switch at any time to disarm it — all scheduled reminders and the trigger itself are cancelled, and nothing fires while it's paused. Resume it later and Killswitch reschedules everything from the current time. Editing a switch's schedule (frequency, grace period, fixed date, or timezone) recalculates its timing immediately, the same way a check-in does.

Once set up with items and beneficiaries, a switch fires on schedule regardless of your subscription status — that's Killswitch's always-fires guarantee. If your subscription lapses, your account becomes read-only (you can still log in, view, download, and check in) but you can't upload new files or change switch settings until you resubscribe. Your existing files and switches stay protected either way.