Developer Submits Seal iOS App for Hardware-Keyed Digital Envelopes After Death

The developer wrote that he became interested in hardware keys after using them for a school project a few years ago, and that he built a small chat app that only allowed users to chat if they registered a key. He said the idea for Seal came from generating ideas with Claude to find something that only hardware keys could turn into software. He was thinking about physical house keys and what could be done with them in software, and he had already been making iOS apps with Claude and had worked on projects involving hardware keys.

Seal works by letting a user register hardware keys and assign identities to each person. The user creates Envelopes and assigns them to the key that will be distributed. A recipient plugs the key into a phone and is ready to receive an Envelope. If the writer does not log into the app for months, one designated key holder can start the process of opening the sealed Envelope. The writer receives weeks of warnings to check in at least once before the letters open. After 90 days of countdown, 21 days of warnings and 14 days of grace, the envelope opens for each person the writer met in real life and exchanged keys with. No one else can read the envelope or see the photos, including key holders, Apple or the developer, unless that envelope was designated for that person.

The developer contrasted Seal with a password manager such as 1Password. He wrote that emergency access in 1Password hands one person the whole vault through the company's server, so it requires that company to still exist and be honest on the day it matters. Seal, he said, gives each person their own envelope that nobody else can open, and there is no company in the middle. He added that there is no server besides a free Cloudflare static site. The encrypted bundles of passwords and photos are stored in CloudKit. Sign-in and identity use a passkey with Face ID or Touch ID, or a hardware key. The app uses CryptoKit, so no dependencies are required, he wrote.

The developer said Seal is currently being worked on only by him and Claude. It has not been independently audited by anyone, and it is iPhone-only for now. He asked users not to put a live seed phrase in it yet. He said he welcomes advice as the lead developer and invited contributions on the GitHub source code repository page. He also wrote that his mother likes the app because she is into crypto and needed a way to pass down or give away the seed phrases for her wallets to all three children without any question about who gets what and when. A TestFlight build is free while the App Store version is in review, and the post links to the GitHub page, a limits and objections page at sealmessenger.com and the TestFlight invitation. The Hacker News post had 4 points and 0 comments at the time of publication.

Editor's Summary Seal is an iOS app submitted for App Store review that uses hardware keys and encrypted CloudKit bundles to deliver separate digital envelopes to designated recipients after a 90-day countdown, 21 days of warnings and 14 days of grace. The developer says the app has not been independently audited and warns against storing live seed phrases in it for now. It remains iPhone-only and is available via TestFlight while awaiting review.