How HeirLock works
See what happens when you add a secret, split it into pieces, and later bring it back with the people you chose.
Most ways of keeping a secret force a hard choice. Keep it to yourself and it may die with you. Write it down and one person may find the whole thing too soon. HeirLock takes a third path. It divides the secret into pieces so your family has a way back in, but nobody is sitting on the complete answer today.
There is no key to steal
This is the part that sets HeirLock apart. It does not lock your secret behind a master password or a key that has to be kept somewhere. There is no such key. Your secret itself is split into separate pieces, one for each person you trust. A piece is not a copy of the secret, and it is not a key to it. Because there is no key sitting on your phone or on a server, there is nothing for an attacker to find, and nothing for a company to lose.
Why a single piece is useless
A piece is not part of the password or a few of its characters. On its own it is mathematically blank, which means someone holding too few pieces cannot even rule out a single possibility. Guessing gains them nothing.
You decide who, and how many
When you protect a secret, you choose the people who will each hold a piece, and you choose how many of them are needed to bring it back. A common setup is three of five. You hand out five pieces, and any three of those people can recover the secret together.
- check_circlePick more holders than the number required, so a lost piece never locks you out.
- check_circleSet the required number high enough that no small group could act without the others.
- check_circleSpread the pieces across people and places so no single spot is worth attacking.
What your family would actually do
- check_circleYou save a secret in the app. That can be a password, a crypto seed phrase, a private note, or a pointer to where an important document lives.
- check_circleHeirLock divides the secret into the number of pieces you ask for, and records how many of them are needed to bring it back.
- check_circleYou send one piece to each person you trust. A piece on its own is useless, so it is safe to hand out.
- check_circleWhen the secret is needed, enough of those people bring their pieces together. HeirLock reassembles the secret, then clears it again shortly after.
Decentralized backup for passwords, seed phrases, and documents
HeirLock is useful when one backup would create one dangerous object. Instead of leaving a complete copy in a safe, cloud drive, or one person's memory, you spread the path to recovery across a group.
- check_circleFor passwords, save the emergency logins that unlock the rest of your life, such as your phone passcode, primary email, password manager recovery details, or two factor recovery codes.
- check_circleFor seed phrases, split the wallet recovery phrase so one lost or stolen piece cannot drain the wallet, and one missing holder does not destroy access.
- check_circleFor documents, save a private note that says where to find the will, deed, insurance policy, tax folder, or other paper records your family would need.
Why splitting beats a single backup
A single sealed envelope in a drawer has two failure modes that pull against each other. Make it easy to find and anyone can read it. Hide it well and your family may never find it. Splitting removes that tension. You can spread pieces widely so they are easy to recover from, while still guaranteeing that no lone holder, and no single lost piece, can either expose or destroy the secret.
Why offline matters here
Some services keep part of the plan on their own servers. That means your family may depend on an account, a company, or a service that has to keep working years from now. HeirLock runs the split and the recovery on your iPhone. The path to the secret is the one you set up: the pieces held by your people.
Questions about how it works
How does HeirLock manage the key to my secret, and where is it stored?
There is no key to manage or store. HeirLock does not lock your secret behind a separate password or key that someone could find, copy, or steal. Instead your secret itself is divided into separate pieces, one for each person you choose. A piece is not a copy of the secret and it is not a key to it. The secret only exists again once enough of those pieces are brought back together.
How many pieces do I need to recover my secret?
You decide. A common choice is three of five, which means you hand out five pieces and any three of them can bring the secret back. That gives you a margin, so the secret can still be recovered if one or two pieces are lost.
Can one person with a single piece read my secret?
No. On its own, a piece carries no usable information about the secret. One person holding one piece cannot open anything, and cannot even narrow down what the secret might be.
Does HeirLock store anything on a server?
No. The splitting and the recovery both happen on your device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account, so there is no central database that could be breached.
What happens to my secret if I lose my phone?
The secret is brought back from the pieces, not from your phone. As long as enough of your trusted people still hold their pieces, the secret can be recovered on another device.
Can I use HeirLock as a decentralized backup?
Yes. HeirLock is built for decentralized backup of the secrets that should not depend on one person, one device, or one cloud account. Common uses include emergency passwords, crypto seed phrases, and notes that point to important documents.
Make the plan while you can still explain it
Choose the secret, choose the people, and choose how many pieces it takes. HeirLock runs offline on your iPhone.
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