Think of your childhood home or the street where you grew up. Chances are, just picturing that place in your mind brings a flood of memories rushing back – the laughter, the adventures, and even the mishaps. That's the magic of place in memory. Our brains love to tie important events to specific locations, creating a mental GPS of our life's journey.

Or consider the cafe where you had your first date or the park where you celebrated your friend's birthday. These spots become the backdrop for cherished memories. When you revisit these places or even just think about them, it's like hitting the play button on a mental highlight reel. The connection between place and memory is like an invisible thread stitching together the tapestry of our experiences.

Our brain is a bit of a sentimentalist; it attaches emotions and details to locations. Whether it's the smell of your grandma's kitchen or the feel of the sand between your toes at a favorite beach, these places become time capsules. They help us relive the joy, nostalgia, or even the challenges we faced. So, when it comes to remembering key events in our lives, place isn't just a backdrop – it's an essential part of the story, a living map of our personal history.

With this in mind we added the geo-message feature to Afterwords. Like regular vaults, geo-messages have a release time; however, they also have a release location.

Here's how it works:

Using the Afterwords app you create a digital vault for your partner, including, say, a heartfelt video message about when you first met. You then add a release time - say, 12 months after you have passed - and a location - say, the cafe where you had your first date.

Then, 12 months after you die we will send an email to your partner, informing them that you have created a digital vault for them, and that to view this message they have to first go to the location you specified. Using their phone's GPS, Afterwords detects when they are at the cafe, then releases the full message to them!

Adding location to your after-life messages brings deeper, place-based connection. And, because the locations are GPS based, the possible locations are almost anywhere on Earth:

places where you’ve shared experiences
places they said they always wanted to go to
far-off places
adventurous places

Andrew
Co-founder

Note: We are currently offering a 90 day free trial to all new subscribers of our 12 month (annual) premium service. Details on the home page. Offer expires on 19 January.

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