Everything you need to know.

A dead man's switch app automatically sends a pre-written message to your chosen contacts if you stop checking in. You set a check-in interval and write your message in advance. If you ever miss your deadline and don't respond to reminders, the app delivers your message on your behalf. No human executor needed.

You check in by opening the app. Set your interval, daily, weekly, or longer. Write a personal message for each contact you want to reach. If you ever go silent and miss every reminder, your message is sent automatically by SMS to the people you chose. Checking in at any point resets the clock.

Anyone who wants a safety net, or who wants the people they love to hear from them if something happens. Solo hikers, people living alone, the elderly, remote workers, travelers, people with a serious diagnosis, or anyone who has ever thought: if something happened to me, would the people I love find out in time, and would they know what I wanted to say?

Yes. Many people use If You Read This exactly this way. You can write a personal letter to the people you love, delivered only if you stop checking in. It could be words you have always wanted to say, instructions for what to do, or simply a way of making sure the people who matter most hear from you one last time. The app was built with both uses in mind: a safety check-in for emergencies, and a personal message for the moments that matter most.

Before your deadline, the app sends escalating reminders by push notification and SMS. If you respond to any of them, the clock resets. If you miss every reminder and the deadline passes, your pre-written message is automatically delivered to your contacts by SMS.

Yes. The free tier includes one contact, one message, and daily check-ins with SMS alerts. The Pro plan adds unlimited contacts, a personalized message per contact, custom check-in intervals, up to five reminders, and GPS location sharing in your alert.

Your messages are encrypted on your device using AES-256 before being stored, so they are not readable in our database as plain text. However, this is encryption at rest, not end-to-end encryption. When an alert fires, our servers decrypt your message in order to deliver it by SMS to your contacts. That is unavoidable: automatic delivery requires the server to know what to send. We do not access or read your messages for any other purpose.

If You Read This is designed for personal messages to the people you love: a safety check-in, a note for a solo trip, words you would want someone to have if something happened to you. It is not designed to store passwords, financial account information, legal documents, or anything whose disclosure could put you or others at serious risk. No online service can guarantee absolute security, and you should never fully trust any cloud service with information you consider extremely high value. Write what matters to the people who matter. Use a different tool for everything else.

Your contacts receive an SMS from If You Read This letting them know you missed your check-in, along with the personal message you wrote for them. If you enabled location sharing, a link to your last known location is included.

Yes. Any contact can reply STOP to any message from our number and they will be immediately removed and will not receive further messages.

Free users can add one contact. Pro users can add unlimited contacts, with a unique personal message for each one.

Only if you set a daily interval. You can choose any interval that fits your life: every few hours, daily, weekly, or longer. Pro users can fully customize their intervals and reminders.