How Fond Farewell works

Fond Farewell sends your messages only when two things are true: someone you trust has reported your death, and you haven't cancelled within 48 hours.

1. Record a message for each person

Add up to 10 people. For each one, write a note (up to 5,000 characters) and, if you like, add a video of up to 5 minutes, recorded in the app or picked from your photo library. Every message is separate, so you can say something different to your partner, each child and an old friend. You can edit or re-record any time.

Not sure what to say? The app has starter notes for partners, children, parents, siblings and friends, and our guide on what to write in a farewell letter walks through it.

2. Choose up to three trusted contacts

A trusted contact is someone close who agrees to let us know when you've died: a partner, a sibling, an adult child, a close friend. Each one accepts an invitation and receives a private email address and a private link. Only those contacts can start delivery, and they can never read your messages.

There's no inactivity timer. Being off your phone for months, in hospital or on a long trip never sends anything on its own.

3. You always get 48 hours to cancel

As soon as a report comes in, you get a push notification and an email. You're reminded at 12, 24, 36 and 44 hours. One tap on I'm alive (in the app, from the lock screen or from the email) cancels everything and nothing is sent.

4. Delivery by email

After 48 hours, each person gets an email with your note and a private link to watch your video in any browser. They don't need the app or an account. If an email can't be delivered, it's retried for up to three days, and your trusted contacts get a short report of who was reached and who wasn't, so they can pass the message on by hand.

Try it first with Send a test

Send a test runs the whole thing on a two-minute timer and sends every message to your own inbox, labelled TEST, so you can see exactly what each person will receive. It's free and nobody else is contacted.

What it costs

Downloading, setting up, recording and sending tests are free. Turning on real delivery is a one-time in-app purchase called Lifetime: $29.99 in the US App Store (your local price is shown in the app). No subscription.

Privacy

• Sign in with Apple; no passwords.
• No ads, analytics or tracking.
• Videos are stored privately and shown only through the link sent to the person they're for.
• Settings › Delete account removes everything immediately.

Read the full privacy policy.