Emergency mode
Fast when it matters, safe every other moment
Most of LifeWyn is built for after a death. This part is for the other thing: you are alive, and you cannot speak for yourself. Emergency mode gives the people you trust break-glass access to the essentials — guarded by alive-checks, waiting periods and alerts so it can never be abused.
Scope
What opens in an emergency — and what does not
This is the part that matters most. An emergency is not a death, and it should not be treated like one. A hospital stay opens the medical layer, and nothing else.
What becomes visible
- Medical directives and care preferences
- Allergy and medication notes
- Health insurance details and policy numbers
- Hospital and doctor contacts
- Emergency contacts and who to call first
- Anything else you explicitly marked as emergency information
What stays sealed
- Bank, investment and demat accounts
- Property papers, deeds and loans
- Crypto wallets and recovery phrases
- Your will and estate instructions
- Personal letters and legacy messages
- Everything assigned to a recipient for after a death
Nothing financial, nothing private, nothing permanent. When you confirm you are well, the emergency view closes again. The full disclosure scope, event by event →
The sequence
What actually happens, in order
A break-glass request is not a silent unlock. Every stage alerts you, and you can stop it at any point.
- 1
Someone you pre-assigned requests emergency access
Minute 0Only a person you named in advance can start this. A stranger cannot, and neither can someone you named as a recipient for after a death but not for an emergency.
- 2
You are alerted immediately, on every channel
Minute 0Push, WhatsApp and email at once. If you are able to respond, one tap cancels the request and nothing opens at all. This is the alive-check: emergency access assumes you might be fine.
- 3
A waiting period you chose has to elapse
You set itYou decide how long this is when you set emergency mode up — minutes for a genuine medical use, longer if you would rather trade speed for certainty. Any reply from you during this window ends it.
- 4
The requester proves who they are
During the waitA one-time code to the contact details you recorded, and an identity check. A forwarded message is not enough to open anything.
- 5
Only the emergency layer opens
After the waitThey see the medical layer and nothing else. Your other trusted contacts are told that it happened, so it is never a quiet unlock that only one person knows about.
- 6
It closes when you say so
Any timeConfirm you are well and the emergency view shuts again. Nothing about it is permanent, and every step is written to the audit trail — who asked, what they saw, and when.
Safeguards
Six reasons it cannot be abused
Break-glass access
Trusted contacts can request emergency access to a defined set of essentials — never your whole vault — through a controlled, logged process.
Incapacity handling
If you are hospitalised or unable to act, the people you chose can reach medical directives, insurance and key contacts without delay.
Alive-check safeguard
A simple periodic check-in confirms you are well. Emergency release only proceeds after reminders go unanswered — never on a single missed tap.
The right people, fast
Pre-assign who can invoke emergency mode and exactly what they receive, so help reaches the right hands in minutes rather than weeks.
Safe by default
Every break-glass request triggers alerts, a waiting period you set, and the option to cancel — so access is fast when needed and blocked when not.
Full audit trail
Who requested access, what they saw, and when, is written to the hash-chained audit trail — giving your family accountability and you a record you can check.
Setting it up
Four decisions, ten minutes
Emergency mode only works if it is armed in advance. If it was never set up, there is nothing to invoke.
- 1
Choose who can invoke it
Usually one or two people who would physically be there — a spouse, an adult child, a sibling nearby. This is a different list from the people who receive things after a death, and it is often a different person entirely.
- 2
Mark what counts as emergency information
Medical directives, allergies, medications, health insurance, doctor and hospital contacts. Be generous here: this is the layer that is useless if it is incomplete and harmless if it is over-shared with the one person you chose.
- 3
Set the waiting period
Short if you want genuine emergency speed, longer if you would rather trade minutes for certainty. There is no right answer — it depends on who you named and how much you trust the situation, not the person.
- 4
Tell them it exists
The most common failure is not a technical one. It is that the person you named never knew they could do this. Tell them once, plainly, and they will remember it on the day it matters.
Emergency mode is not a legal power of attorney. It lets someone see information you chose to share with them. It does not give anyone authority to act on your behalf, sign anything, or operate an account in your name.
For that, you need a medical power of attorney or an equivalent instrument under the law where you live, prepared with a qualified professional. Store it in your vault so it can actually be found — but the document itself has to exist first.
Questions
Questions people ask
- How is emergency mode different from what happens after a death?
- Scope, speed and permanence. An emergency opens only the medical layer, to usually one person, after a short waiting period you set — and it closes again when you confirm you are well. A verified death runs the full sequence over roughly two weeks, releases each recipient's own assigned records, and does not close again. They are deliberately different paths, because a hospital stay should not open your estate papers.
- Can someone trigger it while I am fine?
- They can request it, and that is by design — a person who thinks you are in trouble should not be blocked from asking. But requesting is not receiving. You are alerted on every channel the moment it starts, and a single tap from you cancels the whole thing before anything opens. Your other trusted contacts are also told, so it can never be a quiet unlock that one person alone knows about.
- What if I am genuinely unconscious and cannot cancel?
- Then the waiting period runs out, the requester proves their identity, and the emergency layer opens to them. That is exactly what it is for. This is why the waiting period is yours to set. If you want real emergency speed, make it short. If you would rather trade minutes for certainty, make it longer. Both are reasonable; they suit different lives.
- Does emergency access let them touch my money?
- No. Bank, investment and demat accounts, property papers, crypto, your will and your personal messages all stay sealed. LifeWyn never holds your money in any case — your bank holds your deposits and your broker holds your investments. What opens is information you deliberately marked as emergency information, and nothing more.
- Is this the same as a medical power of attorney?
- No, and it is important not to confuse the two. Emergency mode lets someone see information. A medical power of attorney gives someone legal authority to make decisions for you. You need the legal instrument prepared under the law where you live, with a qualified professional. LifeWyn's job is to make sure it can actually be found when it matters — which is a real problem, because a document nobody can locate does the same job as no document at all.
- What happens to the emergency view afterwards?
- It closes when you confirm you are well. Nothing about it is permanent, and the person who invoked it does not keep standing access. Every step is written to the audit trail — who asked, what they saw, and when — so afterwards you can check exactly what happened rather than wondering.
Be ready for the moment you hope never comes
Emergency mode only works if it is armed before you need it. Ten minutes now, and the people you love are never locked out on the day it counts.