Start with the job, not the product list

“Dead man's switch” can mean a delayed email, a platform legacy setting, an encrypted file handover, a crypto smart contract or an urgent lone-worker alarm. Those products are not interchangeable.

Write down the consequence you need: what should be delivered, to whom, after what evidence of inactivity, and how quickly? A 30-day continuity timer is unsuitable for an overdue bushwalker. A minute-by-minute safety app is unsuitable as the only long-term estate archive. A crypto contract cannot explain a password-manager recovery process. Reject any comparison that combines these jobs into one score.

Seven questions that reveal the real design

  1. Trigger: Is release based on a missed check-in, platform account activity, a legal document or a human verifier?
  2. Delay: Is there a separate safety period and can the sender recover from a missed reminder?
  3. Content: Does it send text, files, platform data or an on-chain transaction?
  4. Encryption: Where does encryption happen, who can recover the key and what metadata remains visible?
  5. Recipient access: How is the intended recipient verified, and do links expire or resist reuse?
  6. Failure handling: What happens during an outage, bounced email, wrong address, lost recovery code or expired payment?
  7. Exit plan: Can the sender export, replace and test the plan without depending forever on one provider?

“AES-256” alone does not answer the key-custody question. “Automatic” does not prove delivery. “Zero knowledge” should be replaced by a precise explanation of what the provider can and cannot recover.

Where the main categories fit

Platform legacy tools such as Google Inactive Account Manager or Apple Legacy Contact are strongest inside their own ecosystems. Password-manager emergency access is strongest for credentials already maintained in that vault. Conditional-delivery services can hold selected cross-platform files and instructions. Legal wills, trusts and powers of attorney establish authority but do not themselves reveal a recovery code. Safety apps and PLBs handle urgent welfare and rescue.

Most careful plans use more than one layer. Platform tools preserve platform data, legal documents establish authority, and a maintained technical handover explains how an authorised person can act.

How ZeroLatch fits—and where it does not

ZeroLatch is a conditional-delivery service with a daily lifecycle run. It encrypts selected files in the browser and supports 1, 7, 30, 60, 90 or 180-day check-ins followed by a 0, 1, 7, 14, 21 or 30-day safety period. Each delivery has one intended recipient.

Simple access supports authorised assisted recovery. Private access requires a separate recovery code that ZeroLatch does not store. Neither mode proves death, grants legal authority, guarantees email delivery, transfers assets or replaces an emergency service. Use a harmless end-to-end rehearsal before relying on any service, then review the recipient, schedule, content and recovery path at least annually.