How If You Read This works, step by step.

Setting it up

Setup takes about five minutes, and you only do it once.

1. Sign in with your phone number. You get a code by text. There is no password to remember. US and Canadian numbers are supported.
2. Write your message. Say what you would want someone to know if you could not tell them yourself. Practical (where you went, who to call, where the spare key is), personal, or both. You can change it whenever you like.
3. Add your contacts. A name and a phone number. Each person gets a short welcome text saying you added them, and they never need the app. The free plan includes one contact; Pro and Max include as many as you want, each with their own message.
4. Choose your window and reminders. The free plan uses a 24-hour window. Pro and Max let you choose: 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month.

Checking in: you just open the app

There is no button to press. Opening the app is the check-in. It records the time, restarts your timer and moves your deadline forward. The home screen then shows when to open it next, for example “Open before tomorrow at 9:41 PM”, and when your next reminder will come.

Coming back to the app from the background counts too. If you can open your phone, you can check in, in about a second.

Quiet hours. If you use a short window (12 hours or less) on Pro or Max, you can set quiet hours. Your sleep does not count against the clock: the countdown pauses at bedtime and picks up again when you wake, so a short window never runs out while you sleep.

Reminders come before the deadline

Reminders are the grace period. They all arrive before your deadline, by push notification and by text message (or push only, if you prefer).

• Free: one reminder at a time you choose, such as 2 hours before.
• Pro and Max: up to three reminders at times you choose.
• Every plan: an automatic final reminder 30 minutes before the deadline. It is skipped if one of your own reminders already lands within 10 minutes of it.

Open the app after any reminder and the clock starts over. Nothing is sent and nobody is told.

When the deadline passes

If the deadline passes and you have not opened the app, your check-in is marked as missed within a minute and your message goes out to each contact by text. There is no extra waiting period after the deadline; the reminders came first. If a text does not go through on the first try, it is retried automatically.

Because the deadline is kept on our servers, this works even if your phone is off, out of battery, lost or broken. You also get a notification on your phone telling you that your messages went out.

What your contacts receive

Each contact gets one text from If You Read This. It names you, explains that you missed your check-in, and gives them the message you wrote for them, word for word.

• Location (Pro and Max): a map link to your last known location, the place where you last opened the app.
• Files (Max): photos, videos, audio and other files open through a private link. To open it, your contact enters the last four digits of the phone number the text was sent to. After five wrong tries the link locks. If they lose the text, they can find their message again with their full phone number and a code we text them.
• No app needed: contacts never need to install anything or make an account, and they can reply STOP to any of our texts.

What it does not do

• It never calls emergency services. It reaches the people you chose. Your message can tell them to call for help, and where to send it.
• It does not track you. Location, on Pro and Max, is only the place where you last opened the app.
• It does not send anything early. Nothing goes out until your deadline passes and every reminder has been missed.
• It is not a medical device and does not detect falls or emergencies. It notices one thing: that you have gone quiet.

Works with US and Canadian phone numbers. The app is free, with optional Pro and Max plans.