The people you love will hear from you again.

Your voice, your face, your words — kept safe and delivered to the people who matter, exactly when the moment comes.

PhotosDocumentsVideoAudioWritten messagesNamed facesFuture deliveryCaretakerPermanence Promise

Everything your family will one day treasure — kept in one place, delivered when it matters.

Here is the hard part.

If something happened tonight, what would they never get to know?

Not the passwords. Not the paperwork. The things only you can say. Who they were named after. What you were thinking the day they were born. The story behind the photograph no one else can explain.

Every month that passes is another story that fades a little further. The people who do this rarely wish they'd waited. They only wish they'd started sooner.

You don't have to finish it today. You just have to begin.

Begin today

Simpler than you're imagining.

1

Add a photo

Drag in the pictures that matter. Old scans, phone photos, anything.

2

Name a face

Tap anyone in the photo and tell us who they are. Add a note if you like.

3

It's kept — for good

We hold it safely and deliver it to the people you choose, when the moment comes.

That's the whole thing. Your first memory takes about a minute.

The hardest moments are why people start. The joyful ones are why they stay.

Messages in Time is built for the day after you're gone — but it's just as much for every moment you'll want to reach across. A message doesn't have to wait for the end. It can arrive at a beginning.

On deploymentA letter for each child, in case — and for their birthdays, just because.
Graduation dayWords recorded years earlier, opened the morning they walk the stage.
A new babyA grandparent's voice, saved for a child who hasn't been born yet.
A weddingA message sealed on your own wedding day, opened on theirs.
A big anniversaryTwenty-five years of photographs, delivered on the twenty-fifth.
After a diagnosisRecording yourself, fully present, for the years ahead.

We designed the company around one promise: to still be here when your family needs us. Your one-time payment is invested so the returns — not your principal — fund the platform indefinitely. Why we're built to last →

Messages in Time began in 2018, when its founder asked his grandfather for a letter that never came. Read the story that started it →

Every photo platform you use today locks your loved ones out when you pass.

Apple Photos, Google Photos, Amazon Photos — they hold billions of family memories. And when the account holder dies, those memories become inaccessible. Platforms require death certificates, legal documentation, and lengthy processes that most families never complete. The photos don't disappear immediately — but they become unreachable. And even when they are accessible, no one knows who's in them.

Where your photos live now

  • Locked to your account — inaccessible at death without legal process
  • No names on faces — your family sees people, not people they know
  • No stories attached — a photo of a porch is just a porch
  • No plan for who gets what — everything goes to everyone, or to no one
  • No delivery — they sit in a cloud your family may never access

With Heirloom

  • Your photos transfer to a secure archive your family can always access
  • Every face is named — name, relationship, and a note anchored to the photo
  • Every photo can carry a story — one sentence that travels with it forever
  • You choose who receives what, and when it's delivered
  • Held in trust and delivered to your family when the moment comes

You don't need to move everything. Pick the photos that tell your life — the 50 that matter most. Name the faces. Write one sentence. Now your family has something no platform can give them.

Preserve Your Life Story — $179

Prefer to begin with photos only? Start with Heirloom for $99 →

Your photographs — named, dated, and searchable. A complete family archive that arrives when the moment does.

The Heirloom Archive is where your photographs are held in trust. Tell us who's in them and what they mean, choose who receives them, and we keep them safe — and deliver them when you're gone. The full Messages in Time product adds your documents, recordings, and messages alongside them.

🏷
Every face has a nameClick any face in a photo to add a name, a relationship, a note. So when your grandchild opens the archive in 30 years, they know exactly who everyone is.
📝
Every photo carries its story"This was the summer your grandfather built the back porch. Everyone came." The context only you know travels with the photo forever.
📅
A life, in orderDates read automatically from each photo. Your whole archive arranges itself chronologically — the oldest photograph first, building forward through your life.
See what's included
Up to 500 photosHeld in trust and delivered to the family members you choose.
Universal searchSearch names, dates, and notes across your whole archive.
2GB storageEncrypted infrastructure. Never shared. Never sold.
Documents — full productWills, letters, and records are part of the $179 Messages in Time product.

Heirloom Archive

Photos only · the simplest way to start

$99

One-time · No subscription

  • Up to 500 photos, named & dated
  • Per-photo notes & universal search
  • Caretaker delivery & Standing Watch
  • Held in trust, delivered forever

Want documents, video, audio and messages too? That's the full Messages in Time product — $179.

Start with Photos Only — $99

Four simple steps. A lifetime of meaning.

1

Add your photos & documents

Upload the photos and documents that matter most. Name the faces, add the dates, write the stories only you know. Your archive builds itself, chronologically, as you go.

2

Choose who receives them

Designate the family members who should receive your archive. You decide exactly who gets what — everything held privately in trust until the moment comes.

3

Name your Caretaker

Designate a trusted person — a spouse, sibling, or close friend — to confirm life events before anything is released. A human always confirms. Never an algorithm.

4

We deliver it

When the moment arrives, your family receives your archive through a secure, private link. Add Messages in Time and your recorded video, audio, and written messages arrive right alongside it.

Three ways to reach them at exactly the right moment.

On a scheduled date

A 50th birthday. Your anniversary. A holiday morning. Set the exact date and time your message is released — no confirmation needed, it simply arrives.

At a life milestone

A graduation. A wedding. The birth of a grandchild. Your Caretaker confirms the milestone has arrived, then your message is released — privately and securely.

After you're gone

When the time comes, your Caretaker notifies us. We verify with care, then release your messages and archive to the people who need them most. No guesswork. No automation.

The most important feature isn't technology. It's a person.

"A real human confirms every delivery. That's not a limitation — it's the whole point."

Every other platform relies on automated systems to detect death or inactivity. We believe something this important deserves a person. Your Caretaker is the trusted individual you designate to confirm life events before anything is ever released. Standing Watch keeps the connection active — checking in with you regularly, and notifying your Caretakers through a defined escalation sequence if you don't respond.

Caretakers don't see your archive or your messages. They can't change them. They simply confirm when the moment has arrived.

  • Caretakers receive no login, no access to your archive or message content
  • Confirmation happens via a secure, tokenized link — no platform account required
  • You can name a backup Caretaker in case your primary is unavailable
  • Standing Watch — our periodic check-in system — monitors your account and escalates through your designated Caretakers if we can't reach you, so nothing is ever lost to silence
1
You designate a Caretaker A trusted person you choose — spouse, sibling, close friend
2
A life event occurs A passing, a milestone, or the date you set arrives
3
Caretaker confirms They receive a secure link and confirm the event with one tap
4
Your archive is delivered Family receives your photos, documents, and messages via a private secure link

One complete product. One payment. Everything included.

No subscriptions. No annual renewals. Pay once and everything your family will one day treasure is held securely — delivered exactly when the moment arrives.

Most families choose this

Messages in Time

Everything your family will one day treasure — in one place.

$179

One-time · No subscription

  • Your full Heirloom photo archive
  • Document storage — wills, letters, records
  • Video, audio & written messages
  • Named faces, dates & per-photo notes
  • All 3 delivery triggers — date, life event, death
  • Caretaker designation & Standing Watch
  • Deferred Recipient Identity
  • Backed by the Permanence Promise
Get Early Access

Looking for something simpler?

Heirloom Archive

Photos only — named, dated, and delivered to your family forever.

$99 one-time

Start with Photos Only →

Know someone who should do this? Additional accounts are $89 — give one as a gift or add a family member. Purchase from your dashboard anytime.

We're still here when the moment finally comes.

The most common fear about digital legacy platforms is simple: will they still exist in 20 years? We've built our business model around answering that question structurally — not with a promise, but with a system.

Float Model

Your one-time membership fee is invested in U.S. Treasuries. The returns — not your principal — fund platform operations indefinitely.

Delivery Guarantee Reserve

A dedicated reserve fund is held separately, earmarked solely for ensuring your archive is delivered even in extraordinary circumstances.

Human Caretaker Layer

No automation triggers a delivery. A real person confirms every life event. That layer of human judgment protects you from false positives indefinitely.

No Subscription Risk

Because we don't rely on recurring fees, your archive isn't at risk if you forget to renew, change cards, or simply move on with life.

Some things are worth keeping forever. We built the place to keep them.

Every family carries things that shouldn't be lost — a grandmother's voice, a father's advice, the photographs no one remembers to name. Messages in Time exists to make sure those things survive the one thing that ends everything else: time. We hold your words, your photographs, and your documents in trust, and deliver them to the people you love exactly when the moment comes — whether that's a birthday decades from now or the day after you're gone.

Every breakthrough closed a distance. This one closes time itself.

For all of human history, the story of communication has been the story of sending ourselves further — across rooms, oceans, and generations. Each invention preserved a little more of who we are and carried it a little further. Messages in Time is the next step: not across distance, but across time.

c. 3200 BCE

Distance: memory

Writing

For the first time, a thought could outlive the moment it was spoken. Words could travel to people the writer would never meet — the first message ever sent forward in time.

1839

Distance: appearance

Photography

Suddenly a face could be kept. Not described, not painted from memory — captured exactly. We could finally show the future what someone truly looked like.

1877

Distance: voice

Recorded sound

The phonograph preserved something photographs couldn't — a voice. For the first time, someone long gone could still be heard, exactly as they sounded.

1888

Distance: presence

Motion picture

Now we could capture a person in full — moving, speaking, alive. The closest thing to preserving presence itself, ready to be witnessed decades later.

1996

Distance: the wait

Instant messenger

Communication became real-time and personal. A message could reach someone the instant you thought of it — distance all but disappeared, as long as they were there right now.

2004

Distance: identity

Photo tagging

We began naming the people in our memories — attaching identity to images, connecting faces to names. But only for the living, and only for now.

2010s

Distance: scale

Cloud photo libraries

Thousands of memories preserved effortlessly, carried in every pocket. Yet all of it locked to an account that quietly ends when we do — a lifetime of images with no way forward.

Today

Barrier: a lifetime

Messages in Time

Every instinct we've ever had — to write, to capture, to name, to reach someone — finally sent across the one distance no technology had crossed: your own lifetime. To a date not yet arrived, an event not yet happened, a person not yet born.

Drag the bar or scroll to follow the story →

We're still here when the moment finally comes.

The most common fear about digital legacy platforms is simple: will they still exist in twenty years? We answer that structurally — with a float model, a dedicated delivery reserve, a human Caretaker layer, and no subscription risk.

See how the Permanence Promise works →

Marc Rubino as a child with his grandfather on the porch

The founder, as a boy, with his grandfather.

I once asked my grandfather to write me a letter.

I wanted to know what he believed was most important in life. What he'd tell his twenty-year-old self if he could go back. Whether he had any regrets. I wanted to see the world through his eyes, if only for a moment — to keep his words, his memories, his stories, and carry them forward from one generation to the next.

Unfortunately, I never received that letter. The wisdom I'd longed to capture passed away alongside him.

Years later, leading up to my wedding day, I asked the same of other elders in my family — hoping to make up for what I'd lost. But again, I was left letter-less. It was around that time, in 2018, that the idea for this company first came to mind. With all the technology and connectivity we have, there had to be an easier, more deliberate way to preserve the words of the people we love — long after their time here has come and gone.

I'm a founder who has built and exited companies before. This one I'm building differently — to be kept, not sold. It's easy to attach value to things, but the most valuable thing any of us has to give is knowledge, and the story of a life.

That's why the company runs the way it does. The float model was designed so the promise outlives its founders: your one-time payment is invested, and the returns — never the principal — fund the platform indefinitely. It's the same structure endowments and insurers use to keep obligations that stretch across generations. The company was designed around the promise, not the other way around.

Pass it on.

Marc RubinoFounder & CEO, Messages in Time

Everything you need to know.

What is Heirloom?

The Heirloom Archive is the simplest way to start — for a one-time $99, you preserve the photographs that matter most, named, dated, and delivered to your family forever. The full Messages in Time product ($179) adds document storage, video, audio, and written messages, and all three delivery triggers.

How is Heirloom different from Apple Photos or Google Photos?

Those platforms store your photos while you're alive, but lock your family out when you pass — often permanently, behind legal processes most families never complete. And even when photos are accessible, no one knows who's in them. Heirloom holds your archive in trust, with every face named and every story attached, and guarantees delivery to the people you choose.

What does adding Messages in Time give me?

For $80 more ($179 total), Messages in Time lets you record video, audio, and written messages and deliver them through all three triggers — a scheduled date, a life milestone, or after your passing. Your messages arrive right alongside your Heirloom archive. Heirloom tells your family who you were; Messages lets them hear it in your voice.

Can I give Heirloom as a gift?

Yes. Additional accounts are available for $89 — you can purchase one for a parent, grandparent, or anyone in your life you think should have this. They receive a gift notification and create their own independent account. You can give a gift from your dashboard at any time after your own account is created.

What if I outlive the platform?

We've built our business model to prevent exactly this. Your one-time fee is invested in U.S. Treasuries, and the returns fund operations indefinitely. A dedicated Delivery Guarantee Reserve holds additional funds specifically earmarked for delivery. We're designed to be here when the moment arrives — regardless of when that is.

Does my Caretaker see my archive?

No. Your Caretaker has no access to your archive or messages, cannot view them, and cannot modify them. They simply receive a secure, tokenized link that lets them confirm a life event has occurred. Nothing more.

Does the recipient need to create an account?

No — recipients can always view and download everything you left them, free, forever. Nothing they receive is ever locked behind a payment. We create a secure, free space where they can see every photo, read every note, and download anything they want to keep. The only optional step is a $79 account of their own, which lets them add to the archive — record their own messages, tag more photos, and begin building a legacy to pass on themselves. Recorded messages delivered to them arrive by a simple private link, no account needed.

Can I record a message for a child who isn't born yet?

Yes — with Messages in Time. Our Deferred Recipient Identity feature lets you record messages for future children or grandchildren before you have their contact information. You assign the recipient's details later, when the time is right.

Is this really a one-time payment?

Yes. There are no subscriptions, no annual renewals, and no recurring fees. The Heirloom Archive is $99 one-time. The complete Messages in Time product is $179 one-time and includes your Heirloom photo archive, documents, video, audio, written messages, and all delivery options. Everything is held for life and delivered exactly when it's supposed to be.

Some things are worth protecting. Now is the time to protect them.

Join the waitlist to be among the first families to preserve their story with Messages in Time.

No spam. No marketing. Just a note when we're ready for you.