How to Create an Automatic Emergency Message

The principle fits in four steps:

1. You write a message and choose who will receive it.
2. You choose a check-in interval, for example 7 or 14 days.
3. At each deadline, you are asked to confirm that you are fine.
4. If you do not answer despite the reminders, the message is sent.

Your silence triggers the sending: you have nothing to do at the moment something goes wrong. That is also its limit: between your last sign of life and the sending, at least the chosen interval passes, plus the reminder delays.

• •Who is it for?
• •People who live alone
• •Travellers, especially solo or far from mobile coverage
• •People in fragile health
• •Anyone who wants their family to have clear instructions if something happens

• •What it brings
• •It works without any action from you at the moment you can no longer act.
• •Your loved ones receive a personal message with instructions, rather than silence.
• •If you live alone, it shortens the time during which nobody notices your absence.

• •What it does not do
• •It is not an alarm: it does not call emergency services and does not replace 112 or 911.
• •It does not know where you are, unless you write it in the message.
• •It does not react within minutes: the delay is counted in days.

For an immediate alert, the emergency features of your phone or watch, location sharing with a loved one or a satellite messenger in remote areas are better suited. The automatic message comes on top of them.

Two kinds of solutions:

A person who commits to it
You agree with a friend or relative on a regular check (a message every Sunday, for example). Without news, they act as agreed. It is free and flexible, but it relies on their memory and availability.

• •An automatic service
• •It checks in with you at a set interval and sends the message if you do not answer. A few criteria to choose one:
• •the number of reminders and the delay before sending, to limit sending by mistake;
• •whether someone close can step in before sending;
• •how messages are encrypted and where they are hosted;
• •the price and what the free plan covers;
• •the language of the interface and of the emails your loved ones will receive.

Example: Laterly
Laterly is a service of this kind, hosted in France by OVHcloud. It sends reminders by email (and in the app on iPhone, Android or computer), then sends the messages by email. The free plan includes one letter for one recipient, the practical file and the trusted person; Laterly Pro (€2.99 a month, €19 a year or €49 once) allows several letters and recipients, voice and photos, and adjustable delays.

A good emergency message reassures as much as it informs. A possible outline:

Explain
"If you receive this message, I have not confirmed that I am fine for [X] days."

Put it in perspective
"It may simply mean that I forgot or that I have no connection. As a precaution, here is what to do."

• •Give instructions
• •Who to call first (neighbour, close friend)
• •How to get into my home if needed
• •Useful contacts (doctor, employer)

• •Give information
• •My current address
• •My itinerary if I am travelling
• •What to know about my health (treatments, allergies)

End with a few personal words
"Everything is probably fine, but I would rather you knew."

• •Good recipients
• •Your spouse or partner
• •A parent, sibling or adult child who can act quickly
• •An available friend, ideally living nearby, who can come round

• •To avoid
• •A very anxious person as the only recipient
• •Someone who is often unreachable
• •Too many recipients, who may each act on their own

Two or three people are usually enough. You can also write different messages: practical instructions for the friend who lives nearby, a more personal note for the family. On Laterly, several letters and recipients require the Pro plan.

The interval sets how long it takes before your loved ones are notified. A few benchmarks, to adapt:

• •Remote trip or risky activity: a few days
• •Regular trip: one to two weeks
• •Daily life alone: one to two weeks
• •Daily life with people around: a month or more

• •How it works on Laterly
• •Intervals on the free plan: 1, 7, 14, 30 or 60 days; on Pro, from 1 to 365 days.
• •At the deadline, a reminder email, then further reminders 1, 3 and 6 days later.
• •A grace period (7 days on the free plan, 1 to 30 days on Pro), and a last warning 24 hours before sending.
• •If you have named a trusted person, they are contacted before anything is sent and can hold it; if they do not answer, the messages go out 7 days later.

On the free plan with a 7-day interval, allow at least two weeks between your last confirmation and the sending. Start with a longer interval, then shorten it if needed.

Confirming
One click on the button in the reminder email, or on the button in the app.

Making it a habit
Link the confirmation to a fixed moment: Monday morning, market day.

If you forget
The successive reminders and the grace period give you several days to react. Your trusted person, if you have one, can also hold the sending.

• •Updating
• •Before a trip, add your itinerary.
• •When you are back, return to a more general message.
• •Check from time to time that your loved ones' email addresses are still correct.