Why Every Adult Needs a Dead Man's Switch (And How to Set One Up)

Imagine this scenario: You're the person in your family who handles the finances. You know where every account is, every password, every policy number. Your partner trusts you with it. Your parents rely on you.

Now imagine you're suddenly not there. Car accident. Heart attack. Stroke. It happens to people every single day — people who thought they had decades left.

Your family is grieving. And on top of that grief, they're now facing an impossible puzzle: Where is the money? How do we pay the mortgage? What's the health insurance policy number? Did they have a will?

What is a dead man's switch?

Originally a safety mechanism in trains and heavy machinery, a dead man's switch is a device that triggers automatically when the operator stops responding. If the train conductor releases the handle, the brakes engage.

A digital dead man's switch applies the same principle to your important information. You check in regularly to confirm you're OK. If you stop checking in, the system assumes something has happened and automatically shares your pre-prepared information with your chosen contacts.

Why not just share a document?

You could put everything in a Google Doc and share it with your spouse. But:

• It's never up to date. You opened that account six months ago and never added it to the doc.
• It's not secure. Anyone with the link (or access to your spouse's email) can see all your financial information.
• There's no trigger. Your spouse has access right now, whether they need it or not. What about your parents, your siblings, your best friend? Do they all get the same document?
• It's not comprehensive. A doc doesn't hold audio messages, video recordings, or uploaded documents.

How WhenImGone works

WhenImGone gives you a structured, secure, and automated way to handle all of this:

7 section types cover everything your family might need: emergency contacts, financial accounts, digital logins, insurance & legal documents, final wishes, personal messages, and important documents.

The check-in is the heart of the system. You pick an interval — daily, every few days, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. When it's time, you get an email with a one-click "I'm OK" button. That's it. One click.

If you miss a check-in:

1. You get a reminder email
2. 24 hours later, you get a final warning
3. 24 hours after that, your trusted contacts receive secure, time-limited access links
4. If you check back in at any point, everything re-locks instantly

No false alarms. The multi-step escalation means a forgotten check-in doesn't immediately alert your family. You have a full grace period to respond.

Who needs this?

• Anyone with a family — spouse, kids, aging parents
• Solo travelers or remote workers — people who may not be found quickly
• Business owners — critical accounts and credentials your team needs
• Digital nomads — people with scattered digital lives across countries
• Anyone who handles family finances — the person who "knows where everything is"

Set it up today

It takes about 15 minutes to fill in your emergency page. You don't need to do it all at once — come back whenever you think of something new. The important thing is to start.

Your family will never have to ask "where is everything?" because you already told them.

Get started free