Questions
Short answers to the questions that come up most often
Words in gold are links to more detail.
TimeLink lets you create messages now and delivers on the dates you choose, or after you pass away. Add photos, voice messages, or videos, and decide who receives each message and when.
The Getting started walkthrough takes you through it in five steps: add your contacts (Family, Friends, Others), start a message, invite friends, and finish in Settings by naming your Assigned Contact. You can revisit and edit anything later — nothing is sent until you tell it to be.
Your Assigned Contact has one job: when the time comes, they answer an email confirming you've passed. There's nothing to keep, nothing to remember and nothing to do in the meantime. You name two — a first and a second — so it still happens if the first can't. They aren't your executor, they can't read your messages, and they don't choose anything: the words, the people and the days are already yours. It's kindest to ask them before you name them. What we'll ask of them
No. When a message is delivered, your recipient gets an email with a link. They click it and read what you wrote. There's nothing for them to sign up for, download, or remember. The only account needed is yours.
Anything you want someone to have from you: a letter, a photo, a video, a voice recording — or any mix of them. You choose who it's for and when it arrives.
Anything, in your own words. A note just to say hello, a thank-you, a condolence, a voice message on a hard morning — that's Thinking of You. If you'd like somewhere to start, Quote of the Day finds a quote for the person you're writing to. A Milestone message is for a moment in someone's life: a birthday, a wedding, a first child. And if you'd like a little help finding the words, there are guided ones — Words of Wisdom, Letter to a Child and What I Want You to Know.
Send on specific date messages go out while you're still here, on the date you pick. Send on future date messages are held for after you're gone. Once your Assigned Contact confirms your passing, all of them go out together. One meant for a day that hasn't come yet — a wedding, a first child — arrives marked for that day, to be opened on your wedding day. It reaches them, and it's theirs to keep; whether they wait is up to them.
If you chose Send on specific date but didn't set a date, the message is kept as a draft. It won't be delivered. Open it later, pick a date, and save again to schedule it.
Yes. Pick the date you want it to go out, then check Repeat every year on this date. The message will be delivered every year on that day until you delete it.
Open the message from the Messages page. The Delete button is in the footer of the edit view. Deletion is permanent.
Set for a date: it will be sent that day, and you can change it until then. Every a date: it goes out on that day each year. Sending soon: its day has come and it's on its way. Waiting: it's held for after you're gone. Draft — no date yet: it won't be sent until you give it a date. Delivered: it has reached the people it was for.
Yes. When adding a family member, choose Deceased under Status. Email becomes optional for deceased members, so you can still record them on the tree even without an address.
Pick the relationship from the dropdown, then choose which sibling (for niece/nephew) or aunt/uncle (for cousin) is their parent. They'll be linked through that branch of the tree.
For grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, choosing a side tells TimeLink which branch of the tree they belong to so they're rendered above or beside the right parent. You don't need to pick a side for your own siblings or children — they're already on both sides.
iPhone or iPad
Android phone or tablet
Saving a voicemail
A voicemail has to be saved from your phone first. On an iPhone, open the Phone app, tap Voicemail, tap the message, then the share button, and choose Save to Files. On Android, open the message in your phone or voicemail app and look for Save, Download or Share in its menu. Then tap + Add a keepsake and pick it from your files.
On a computer, click + Add a keepsake and choose the file — a recipe you’ve scanned, a photo, a video or a recording.
TimeLink checks in with you by email on the cadence you choose, and signing in counts as answering. Missing one does nothing on its own. After three in a row go unanswered, we email your first Assigned Contact, and they can tell us you're fine — which resets everything — or that you've passed. If they confirm it, we wait three days and email you in case it's a mistake: signing in stops it. After that, everything you've held for after you're gone is sent. If you haven't named anyone, it stays held.
One thing, once. If TimeLink's check-ins go unanswered, your Assigned Contact gets an email asking whether you've passed away or are fine, and they answer it. That's the whole job — no files to keep, no dates to remember, and they never see what you wrote. If they can't face it, one click hands it to your second contact. It's kindest to ask them first, so the email isn't a surprise.
If your check-ins go unanswered, we ask your first Assigned Contact whether you have passed away or are fine. If they confirm your passing, we wait 72 hours and email you; signing in during that time stops everything. Only then is what you have held sent. We do not ask for a death certificate or any other document.If you haven't named an Assigned Contact, nothing is sent.
No. Your Assigned Contact never sees what you have written. They see only who has something waiting and how many things.
Settings → Safety Net. From there you can add or change your Assigned Contact, see your last check-in, and adjust your cadence.
Your messages and files are encrypted while they travel and while they are stored. They are not end-to-end encrypted: the people at TimeLink with administrator access to our systems could technically open them.
No. TimeLink does not use anything you write, record or upload to train AI models.
A delivered message stays open to the person it was sent to, through its private link, for as long as your account exists. The link does not expire. It stops working only if you delete that message or your account.
A letter, a photo, a voice recording or a video — or any mix of them. Photos can be up to 25 MB, voice recordings up to 100 MB, and videos up to 1 GB.
Yes, whenever you like, from Settings → Your data → Download everything. You get one zip with every letter, photo, video and recording, and your family tree — as ordinary files that open without TimeLink.
Yes, at any time, from Settings → Your data. It goes for good — your messages, photos, recordings, your family tree and your Assigned Contacts — so download everything first if you'd like to keep a copy.
Free to start. Takes about 2 minutes.