Dead Man's Switch

What Is the Dead Man's Switch?

The dead man's switch is a safety feature that automatically takes action on your vault if you stop logging in. You configure a period of inactivity (7 days to 1 year), and if you don't access your vault or manually confirm you're active within that period, the switch triggers.

Available Actions

Destroy all files — permanently deletes every file in your vault from storage. The encrypted blobs are wiped. This cannot be undone.
Share with emergency contact — creates download links for every file in your vault and sends them to a designated email address. The recipient still needs your vault passphrase to decrypt the files.

How to Set It Up

Click the shield icon in the vault toolbar, or go to Vault > Security Settings.
Tick Enable dead man's switch.
Choose the inactivity period (7, 14, 30, 60, 90, 180, or 365 days).
Choose the action (Destroy or Share).
If you chose Share, enter the emergency contact's email address and name.
Click Save Dead Man's Switch.

How the Timer Works

The timer resets automatically every time you visit your vault.
You can manually reset it by clicking "I'm Still Here" on the security settings page.
7 days before the switch triggers, you receive a warning email with instructions to log in and reset the timer.
If you don't respond, the switch triggers and the configured action is executed.
After triggering, the switch is automatically disabled to prevent repeated actions.

Emergency Contact Notes

If you set the action to "Share", your emergency contact will receive an email containing download links for all your vault files. The links expire after 30 days. The email explains that the files are encrypted and that they need your vault passphrase to decrypt them.

This means you need to have shared your passphrase with your emergency contact in advance, through a separate secure channel.

Who Is This For?