Leave things in order for the people you trust
Write down what your family would need to know, then seal it. It only opens when enough of the people you choose bring their cards together.
How it works
- Write it downAccounts, policies, wishes and where things are. Tap to add, skip what you don't know.
Tap a suggestion and add a detail or two. - Choose your card holdersEach gets a card. No one can open it alone.
A card for Jo Smith. On its own it opens nothing. - Seal itKeep copies anywhere. It opens when enough cards come together.
The envelope is one file that opens in any browser.
Everything stays on your device
Tallystick works completely offline. What you write is sealed here, in this browser, and is never uploaded. There's no account, no server and no tracking, so there's nowhere for it to go.
- Works with no internet
- Nothing is ever uploaded
- No account or sign-up
- Even we can't open your envelopes
Try it: switch on airplane mode and carry on. Everything still works.
How your envelopes are protectedYour answers are kept on this device as you go, so you can close this page and come back. They're deleted once you seal.
Envelopes you've sealed
Cards aren't kept here. They're the keys, so only your card holders have them. To change anything, make new envelopes: new cards replace all the old ones.
Your affairs
Tap what applies to you, then add a detail or two. Write where to find things, not passwords.
Who should hold the cards?
Each person gets a card. No one can open your envelope alone: it takes several of them together.
How to choose
- People you'd trust with your will. They will see everything in the envelope.
- Spread them across households. If everyone lives together, they could open it early, and one house fire could lose every card.
- Someone likely to outlive you, and someone organised who will actually act.
- Your executor or solicitor already has a duty to handle your affairs.
- Tell them. A card nobody knows about is a card nobody uses.
Card holders
Cards needed to open it
Anything more private?
Most people only need one envelope. Add another for something meant for fewer people, like a letter to one person.
Where will you keep copies?
Sealed envelopes are safe to copy anywhere: without the cards, nobody can read them. More places means they can't get lost.
Tick where copies will go
We'll also make a contents list, which says what envelopes exist, how many cards each needs and where the copies are. It holds no private details.
Sealing your envelopes
How we checked
Each finished file was opened from scratch with every combination of cards, and its contents compared byte for byte with what you wrote.
Save your envelopes
Put copies in the places you chose. Each file opens itself in any web browser.
Print the cards
Preview the cards
Hand them out
Give each person their card and tell them what it's for. Then close this page: the cards are the only copies of the keys.
Printed cards are safest: a card sent as a message stays in that inbox, so only send it to people whose accounts you trust.
Ask each person to try their card on the Start here file. Any one card opens it, and it holds nothing private, so they can do it alone, now and once a year.
How your envelopes are protected
Nothing leaves your device
Tallystick does all its work inside your browser, on your own phone or computer. There's no account, no server and no tracking. What you type, the files you add and your finished envelopes are never uploaded anywhere, and nobody else can open your envelopes, including the people who make Tallystick.
- It works offline. Once the page has loaded, it needs no internet at all. The downloadable file is built so it can't connect to anything.
- Your draft stays in this browser. It's kept on this device so you can come back to it, and deleted when you seal.
- You decide where envelopes go. They're ordinary files that you save, print or share yourself.
- You can check. Switch on airplane mode before you start, or save the offline file and open it with the internet off. Everything works the same.
It's locked with a key only your cards can rebuild
When you seal an envelope, Tallystick makes a long random key and uses it to scramble everything inside. It uses AES-256, the same kind of encryption banks and governments rely on. Without the key, the file is meaningless noise. Guessing the key would take every computer on Earth far longer than the age of the universe.
The key is split between your card holders
The key is never written down whole. It's cut into pieces, one per card, using a well-tested method called Shamir's secret sharing. Think of a map torn so that any three pieces show the way, but two pieces show nothing at all. Fewer cards than you chose don't reveal part of the secret. They reveal nothing.
Mistakes and damage are caught
Each card code has a built-in check, so a typo is spotted straight away. If an envelope file is damaged or changed, it refuses to open rather than show the wrong thing. Before you see your cards, every combination of them is tested against the finished files.
What it can't protect against
- Enough card holders agreeing to open it early. Choose people you trust, in different households.
- Losing more cards than your spares. If too many are lost, nobody can ever open it.
- Someone using this device while you're still filling it in. Your answers are kept here until you seal, then deleted.
Terms and disclaimer
Free, and provided as is
Tallystick is free and made by volunteers. It's provided "as is", without any warranty of any kind, express or implied. That includes any warranty that it will work for your purpose, be free of errors, or that envelopes will always open. You use it at your own risk.
Not a will, and not advice
Tallystick records information and wishes. It is not a will and doesn't make anything legally binding. Nothing in it is legal, financial, tax or medical advice. For your will, power of attorney or estate planning, speak to a solicitor or other qualified adviser.
You're responsible for your envelopes
- What you put in them, who you give cards to, and keeping cards and copies safe. If too many cards are lost, nobody can open the envelope, and the people who make Tallystick can't recover it.
- Testing that your cards open your envelopes, and checking them from time to time.
- Making sure you're allowed to share what you include. Some services forbid sharing login details, so write where things are and who to contact, not passwords. The people who open your envelopes are responsible for acting lawfully with what they find.
- Personal information about other people that you choose to include.
Security has limits
Tallystick uses standard, well-tested encryption, but its code hasn't been independently audited, and no software is perfectly secure. Don't rely on it as the only record of anything important.
Your privacy
Tallystick has no accounts, analytics or tracking, and what you type is never sent anywhere. The website is hosted on GitHub Pages. Like any web host, GitHub may log basic technical details such as your IP address when the page loads. The offline file makes no connections at all.
Limit of liability
As far as the law allows, the people who make and contribute to Tallystick aren't liable for any loss or damage arising from using it or being unable to use it. That includes lost data, money, access or opportunity, and any loss caused by an envelope that can't be opened or is opened by the wrong people. Nothing here limits any liability that can't be limited by law, such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. By using Tallystick, you accept them.
Free, with no warranty. Not a will or legal advice. Read the terms.