Understanding Check-Ins and Memorial Activation

One of the most important—and sensitive—aspects of LifeDraft is determining when to activate your memorial. This isn't something we take lightly. Our check-in and verification system is designed to ensure your memorial is activated when appropriate, with multiple safeguards against premature activation.

This guide explains exactly how the system works, so you can set it up with confidence.

The Purpose of Check-Ins

The check-in system serves a simple but crucial purpose: confirming that you're still actively managing your LifeDraft account. As long as you respond to check-ins, your memorial remains private. When check-ins go unanswered for an extended period, it triggers a careful verification process.

This approach balances two important concerns: ensuring your memorial is eventually activated when needed, while preventing premature activation due to simple forgetfulness or technical issues.

Setting Your Check-In Schedule

You choose how often you want to check in. Options include:

• Daily: Best for those who want the fastest response time
• Weekly: A good balance for most users
• Monthly: For those who prefer less frequent reminders
• Quarterly: Maximum time between check-ins

Choose a schedule that fits your lifestyle. If you travel frequently or have periods where you're offline, a longer interval might be appropriate. If you want the quickest possible activation when needed, choose a shorter interval.

What Happens When You Check In

Checking in is simple—just confirm you're okay when prompted. You'll receive reminders via:

• Email notification
• SMS text message (if configured)
• In-app notification when you log in

Responding to any of these resets your check-in timer. You can also proactively check in anytime through your dashboard, which is useful before extended travel or when you think of it.

The Grace Period

Life gets busy. You might miss a check-in simply because you were on vacation, dealing with a family emergency, or just forgot. That's why every check-in schedule includes a grace period—additional time after a missed check-in before any escalation begins.

The default grace period is 72 hours, but you can configure this based on your preferences. During the grace period, you'll receive additional reminders, but no action is taken yet.

The Escalation Process

If check-ins remain unanswered after the grace period, a careful escalation process begins. This multi-stage approach includes multiple checkpoints and opportunities to halt the process:

• Stage 1 - Additional Reminders: More frequent and more urgent reminders are sent through all available channels
• Stage 2 - Trusted Contact Notification: Your designated trusted contacts are notified that check-ins have been missed
• Stage 3 - Verification Request: Trusted contacts are asked to verify your status through any means available to them
• Stage 4 - Multi-Party Confirmation: A threshold of trusted contacts must confirm before proceeding
• Stage 5 - Executor Approval: Your designated executor must give final approval for activation

At any point in this process, if you check in, everything stops and resets. The system errs heavily on the side of caution.

Multi-Party Verification

We require multiple trusted contacts to verify before memorial activation. This prevents any single person—even someone with good intentions—from prematurely activating your memorial.

You set the threshold when you configure your account. For example, if you have five trusted contacts, you might require three of them to confirm. This ensures genuine verification while accounting for the possibility that some contacts might be unreachable.

The Role of Your Executor

Even after trusted contacts verify, your designated executor must give final approval for memorial activation. The executor is typically someone you trust completely—often the same person named in your legal will.

The executor can:

• Approve memorial activation after verification
• Halt the process if they know you're okay
• Make decisions about memorial access if circumstances are unclear
• Manage your memorial after activation

What Activation Means

When your memorial is activated, your trusted contacts gain access according to the permissions you've set. This includes:

• Access to your memorial chat (based on their permission level)
• Access to vault items designated for them (according to release rules)
• Ability to view tributes and leave their own
• Access to any letters or messages you've designated for them

Activation is not instantaneous distribution of everything—it respects the specific rules and timing you've set for each piece of content.

Privacy During the Process

Throughout the check-in and verification process, your memorial content remains private. Trusted contacts are only notified that check-ins have been missed—they don't gain any access to your content until after proper verification and executor approval.

This protects your privacy even in cases of extended unavailability that don't represent an actual activation event.

Configuring Your System

To set up your check-in system:

• Go to Settings > Check-In Configuration
• Choose your check-in frequency
• Set your grace period
• Ensure your contact information is current
• Verify your trusted contacts and executor are properly designated
• Do a test check-in to familiarize yourself with the process

We recommend reviewing your check-in settings annually, or whenever major life changes occur. Your future self (and your loved ones) will thank you for taking the time to set this up thoughtfully.