Responsibilities
Trusted contacts can:- Receive check-in escalation emails
- Confirm death or contest a false alarm
- Upload evidence during verification
- Activate and later release their assigned recovery share
- Read your vault items
- Recover your vault alone
- Release shares before death verification allows it
Activation flow
1
You add a trusted contact
Eternum sends an email telling them they were added.
2
You assign a recovery share
Share assignment creates a portal link for that trusted contact.
3
They enter the bootstrap key
The bootstrap key is shared out-of-band. It unlocks the initial encrypted share.
4
They set a passphrase
The contact protects their private key locally with a passphrase.
5
They become active
Once activated, their share can be released later if verification completes.
Contact limits by plan
Use contacts who are likely to respond and who do not share the same email account or device access.