My vault delivered and I did not want it to

The email cannot be recalled

Once a delivery email has been handed to the mail system it is gone, in the same way any sent email is gone. There is no recall, no expiring link and no way to unsend it. We are sorry — this is the honest answer, and pretending otherwise would be worse.

What to do now

Contact the recipient yourself and explain. In practice this is usually fine: the message arrived from someone they know, with an explanation attached, and a phone call clears it up in a minute. If it contained credentials, change them today.

The vault is finished

A delivered vault cannot be re-armed or reset. Create a new vault and paste the message across if you still want the arrangement in place.

Why it happened

Look at your audit log. It will show your last check in and the two reminders at 75 and 90 percent of the interval. The pattern is almost always one of:

• The interval was shorter than real life allows, and a normal busy fortnight ran it out.
• The reminders went to an address that is not read, or into spam.
• A trip with no signal, where the vault should have been paused and was not.
• The interval was shortened at some point, which moves the deadline closer immediately.

Making sure it does not recur

1. Lengthen the interval. Take the longest stretch you might realistically go without checking in, and double it. Thirty days is fine for most purposes.
2. Install the app and turn on push. A notification on a phone is much harder to miss than an email.
3. Put a repeating reminder in your own calendar. This is the single most effective change.
4. Pause before you travel rather than relying on finding signal.
5. Check the address on your profile is one you read every day.