A trusted buddy for your legacy, called a trusted buddy at PSILY, is someone who can confirm that the time has come to release your messages, gifts or documents. They never see the content themselves and have no access to your passwords or personal files. The role is purely functional: confirming that you're no longer here, or that an agreed date has been reached, so that everything you've prepared actually reaches the right people.
Choosing the right person is therefore not a matter of who is closest to you emotionally, but who is reliable, reachable and practical at the moment it matters. A brother who is too upset to arrange something might be a less logical choice than a level-headed friend who knows how to handle a phone call. It's about someone who stays calm and can complete the process, not necessarily someone you love the most.
What a trusted buddy does and doesn't do
The distinction between activating and viewing is the heart of the system. A trusted buddy receives a notification or must confirm a step when there are signals that the moment has come, for example after a death notice or when a pre-set period of inactivity has elapsed. That confirmation unlocks the content in the encrypted vault with your documents and passwords, but the buddy themselves gains no insight into what's in it. That separation between who may activate and who may read is exactly what makes the system safe, even if you work with multiple buddies.
How many trusted buddies do you need
One person is enough to get started, but multiple buddies prevent everything from getting stuck if that one person is themselves unreachable, has moved, or contact has faded. Many people choose two to three buddies who can confirm independently of each other, so there's no single point of failure. It's wise to choose people who don't all sit in the same friend group or household, so a disruption in one network doesn't immediately block everything.
Trusted buddy or executor: the difference
A trusted buddy is not an executor and not a legal representative. The buddy handles nothing legally and has no authority over possessions or debts. For that side of your legacy, who inherits your property and who may make decisions, you lay down agreements in your will, possibly with help from a notary. The trusted buddy is purely the link that ensures personal messages, videos and memories are released at the right time, separate from the legal settlement that runs alongside it.
Why the content always remains hidden
The reason a buddy can never read along is in how the data is encrypted before it reaches the platform. Even PSILY itself has no access to the content of your messages; only the recipient can decrypt them at the right time. Read more about how that's set up technically on the page about encryption and security of your data. This approach means you can safely choose a buddy without worrying that they could secretly look earlier.
How to set it up
Adding a trusted buddy is a matter of filling in a name and contact details; they then receive an explanation of the role without any of your content being shared. If you want to see exactly how the activation process unfolds step by step, from notification to confirmation to release, you'll find that overview on the page that explains the entire process. You can add, replace or remove buddies at any time, so the choice doesn't have to feel final.
Choosing a trusted person doesn't require a complicated conversation beforehand, but it does require a conscious choice for someone who acts calmly and reliably when needed. Start for free with PSILY and set up your first trusted buddy, then you can be sure that your messages will reach the right people.