For Guardians

You have been asked one question.

Someone you know has a vault with Time Machine Vault (TMV) and has named you as their guardian. This page explains what that asks of you. It does not ask you for an account.

What being a guardian means

You will be asked one question

Has this person died. You answer once, and only after we have been unable to reach them for three months.

You will never be shown what is inside

Not what they wrote, not who it is for, not even how many messages exist. They chose not to tell you, and that choice outlives them.

It may never happen

Most vaults are never opened. While the person keeps their subscription, you will not hear from us again. There is nothing to remember.

You are not deciding what is sent

You confirm a death. The vault does the rest. You cannot read a message, release it early, or stop one on its way.

Why you might be hearing from us

You have just been named. The person chose to tell you, and we are asking you to accept the role. Some people never tell their guardian. If so, you may hear nothing from us for years.

Their payments have stopped and we cannot reach them. This is the question itself. It arrives three months after their subscription lapsed and five unanswered reminders. We do not know whether they have died. We are asking.

Before you answer, try to reach them yourself. A phone call is worth more than anything this system can work out on its own.

If you do nothing

We will ask five times over three months. If nobody ever answers, the vault is released one year after the payments stopped, with no guardian involved. Silence does not keep a vault closed. It only removes you from the decision.

If the person is alive and well, say so. That is the answer that stops everything.

Is this real?

Two things are true of every genuine message from us:

  • We never ask a guardian for money. If a message claiming to be from us asks you to pay, it is not from us.
  • We never ask for a password. The link in a guardian email signs you in on its own, and it answers for one vault only.

If you would rather not use a link from an email, reach the person directly. If they are well, nothing further needs to happen.