Understanding After Me

How your loved ones
will access your vault

Most digital services lock data behind accounts, passwords, and two-factor authentication that nobody else can use. After Me is built differently.

When you set up After Me, you prepare two things your family can use independently — without your phone, without your password, and without accessing your Apple ID or Google account. This page explains exactly how that works.

The problem we set out to solve

Imagine a family member passes away. Their important documents — will, insurance policies, bank details, property deeds — are all stored digitally. What happens next?

Without After Me: documents are locked inside apps that require passwords nobody knows, behind two-factor codes tied to a phone that is now inaccessible, or in cloud accounts that Apple and Google refuse to grant access to without months of legal process. The people who most need those documents are the last to be able to access them.

With After Me: you prepare a Family Kit today — a printed QR card and a single encrypted file. When the time comes, your loved one scans the card, selects the file, and the vault opens on their own device in under a minute. No account. No password. No lawyers. No waiting.

The three access paths

There are three scenarios, depending on what was prepared in advance. Only one of them is designed specifically for family access.

Recommended — For your family

Path 1 — Family Kit

The primary access mechanism. Inside After Me, you create a Family Kit. The app produces two things: a printed QR Key Card and an encrypted .afterme file. These two components work together — neither alone is sufficient.

Give the QR card to a trusted person today (a family member, solicitor, or keep it with your will). Store the .afterme file somewhere accessible — a USB drive in a safe, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or emailed to yourself.

When the time comes, your loved one does not need your phone, does not need your password, and does not need your Apple ID. They simply download After Me on their own device, scan the QR card with their camera, select the .afterme file, and the vault opens — protected from that point on by their own Face ID.

Requires: printed QR Key Card + the .afterme file. Both are needed. Neither works alone.
Also usable by family

Path 2 — Personal Recovery Kit

A Personal Recovery Kit is primarily for your own use — if you lose or replace this phone, you can restore your vault yourself using the encrypted .afterme file and printed QR Recovery Card. It works in the same way as a Family Kit.

A trusted family member or solicitor holding both components can also use them to access the vault if needed. The mechanism is identical: scan the QR, select the file.

Requires: QR Recovery Card + the .afterme file.
Not for family access

Path 3 — Cloud Backup (iCloud / Google Drive)

If cloud backup is enabled, an encrypted copy of your vault lives in your personal iCloud (iOS) or Google Drive (Android) account. This is useful if you lose or replace this device — you can restore your own vault on a new phone after passing biometric authentication.

This is not a family access mechanism. For a family member to access your cloud backup after you pass, they would need your Apple ID or Google account credentials, or to initiate a platform-specific digital legacy process — which can require legal proceedings and take several weeks.

Cloud backup protects you if you lose this device. It does not give your family access to your vault. Set up a Family Kit for that.
No recovery possible

Path 4 — No preparation

After Me uses zero-knowledge encryption. Your vault key is generated on your device and held in the Secure Enclave. No one — including After Me — holds a copy of it. If no Family Kit, Personal Recovery Kit, or cloud backup exists, and the device is lost, the vault is permanently and irreversibly inaccessible.

This is not a policy. It is the fundamental architecture. There is no back door, no customer support route, and no legal process that can recover it.

Step by step: the Family Kit in practice

Here is exactly what happens — first for you as you set things up, then for your loved one when they need it.

What you do today

1
Add your documents to the vault
Scan or import your important documents — will, insurance, identity, financial accounts, property deeds, and anything else your family will need. Each one is encrypted immediately on your device. This step must come first — your Family Kit is an encrypted snapshot of whatever is in your vault at the time of creation.
2
Create a Family Kit
Once you have at least one document in your vault, go to the Family Kit tab and tap Create. A five-step wizard guides you through: reviewing your documents, naming the kit, generating the encrypted .afterme file, printing or saving the QR Key Card, and completing the handoff checklist. The whole process takes about two minutes.
3
Print and store the QR card
Print the QR Key Card and store it somewhere meaningful — with your will, in a safe, with your solicitor, or give it directly to a trusted family member. Without this card, the .afterme file cannot be opened.
4
Store the .afterme file
Save the encrypted .afterme file somewhere your family can find it: a USB drive in a drawer, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, or email it to yourself. Without this file, the QR card is useless. Keep them in separate locations.
5
Complete the in-app handoff checklist
The final step of the Family Kit wizard shows an interactive checklist — "Have you told them where the QR card is?", "Have you told them where the file is?", "Do they know both are needed?" Tick each item off before you close the wizard. The checklist detail is below.
6
Update your kit when documents change
The app will notify you when your Family Kit is out of date. After any significant life change — new will, new policy, new property — update the kit. It takes about a minute.

What your family does when they need it

1
Download After Me
On their own phone, your loved one downloads After Me free from the App Store or Google Play. No account is needed. They tap "Open Family Vault" on the welcome screen — it's a clear, labelled option. No login, no subscription required.
2
Scan the QR Key Card
Using their camera, they scan the printed QR card you left them. The app reads the decryption key embedded in the code. No password is typed. No login is required.
3
The app guides them to the file
After scanning, the app shows a step-by-step "Where is this file?" guide with common scenarios — USB drive, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, email attachment. For each option, there are plain-English instructions. Nothing is assumed. No tech knowledge is required.
4
They select the .afterme file
Once they've located it, they select it using the app's file picker. One tap. The file can be on a USB drive, saved to cloud storage, or shared directly from another device.
5
The vault opens
The app decrypts and imports all documents to their device in seconds. From this point on, the vault is theirs — secured by their own Face ID or fingerprint, stored locally on their phone, never transmitted anywhere.

What to tell your family right now

The After Me app walks you through this checklist at the end of the Family Kit wizard — but here it is in full, so you can prepare in advance. At least one trusted person needs to know all of the following.

📱

Where to get the app: After Me, available free on the App Store and Google Play at myafterme.co.uk. They do not need a subscription or an account to access your vault.

🗂️

Where the QR Key Card is: Tell them exactly — with your will, in the top drawer of the desk, in the safe at [location], with your solicitor. Be specific.

💾

Where the .afterme file is: USB drive in [location], or a link to the file in iCloud Drive / Google Drive / email. They need to be able to find it without your help.

🔑

Both are needed: Make clear that the QR card and the .afterme file must be used together. One without the other cannot open the vault.

🔒

Your phone is not needed: Reassure them they do not need your phone, your PIN, or your Apple ID / Google account. The vault is self-contained in those two items.

📅

When it was last updated: Let them know when the kit was last generated, so they know what to expect inside. If you add significant new documents, update the kit and let them know.

Summary comparison

At a glance — which access path serves which purpose.

Path What was prepared Family can access? You can restore? Complexity
Family Kit QR card + .afterme file Yes — 3 steps Yes Simple
Personal Recovery Kit QR Recovery Card + .afterme file Yes — if both items held Yes — 3 steps Simple
Cloud Backup Cloud backup enabled No — requires your Apple ID / Google account Yes — new device + Face ID Personal recovery only
No preparation Nothing No No Permanently inaccessible

Common questions

No. Accessing a Family Kit is completely free. Your loved one downloads After Me at no cost, scans the QR card, and opens the vault. No subscription is required to receive or view a vault created by someone else.
If the QR card is lost, the .afterme file cannot be decrypted and the vault cannot be opened via that kit. This is why we recommend keeping the card in a secure but findable location — with your will or with your solicitor. If you are still alive, you can generate a new Family Kit from inside the app, which produces a new QR card and updated .afterme file. Consider making a second printed copy of the QR card.
Without the .afterme file, the QR card alone cannot open anything. Store the file in at least two places — for example, a USB drive and iCloud Drive. If you are still alive, you can regenerate a new Family Kit from inside the app, which produces a fresh .afterme file. The QR card from the previous kit will not work with the new file; always keep them as a matched pair.
No. The .afterme format is an open, documented standard. It is a ZIP file containing an encrypted vault with step-by-step recovery instructions and a published open-source decoder. Even if After Me as a company no longer existed, your loved ones could still open the vault using the specification and freely available tools.
Yes. Premium users can regenerate their Family Kit at any time and distribute the QR card to multiple trusted people — a spouse and a sibling, for example, or a family member and a solicitor. Each time you generate a new kit, a new matched QR card and .afterme file are produced. Keep previous copies up to date.

Ready to prepare your vault?

After Me is free to download. Add up to five documents, create your first Family Kit, and decide if premium is right for you — no card required.

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