Chapter 08

When something goes wrong

Four situations the device is built for, and what your family should do in each.

Nobody wants to browse folders during a crisis. These modes put the right ten things in front of you and hide everything else.

Lost phone#

Your phone is your second factor for half your life, and it has just gone.

Your main email account and how to get back into it
Your Google or Apple account details
Your two-factor codes — still here, because they were never only on the phone
Your SIM and operator details, for blocking and replacing the number
How to revoke the lost device and set the app up again

Hospital#

For handing to whoever is with you, in a form they can act on.

A one-page medical summary and current medication
Allergies, prominently
Insurance policy, claim number and the cashless desk contact
Emergency contacts and your regular doctor
Any advance-care instructions you have recorded

Worth doing tonight

This one takes fifteen minutes to fill in and is the mode most likely to be used. Set it up while it is boring rather than while it is urgent.

Travelling#

Passport and visa scans, travel insurance, emergency funds
Your itinerary and hotel details
Only what you marked safe for travel is visible at all — the rest of the vault is simply not there while this mode is on

Turn this on before you pack

If the device is lost or inspected abroad, it shows a small travel vault and nothing else. Switch back at home and everything returns. Mark items as travel-safe from the sharing controls in Chapter 05.

If you are gone#

The one nobody sets up, and the reason many people buy this device.

Your guardians begin recoveryAny two of the three you chose in Chapter 06, together.
A waiting period startsYou set its length. If you are alive and well, you can cancel it in a moment — this is what stops the process being misused.
Only the Emergency space opensNot your private space. You decide in advance exactly what belongs here.

What families usually put in it: an inventory of accounts and policies, nominee and executor details, where the original papers are kept, who to call in what order, and a letter.

Tell them it exists

The most complete emergency plan in the world is useless if nobody knows the device is in the drawer. Tell your guardians what they hold, what it is for, and where the device lives. Write it in your will if you have one. A secret plan is not a plan.

BendFlex · VaultPlug Guardian · Owner's Manual v1