A genuine question people may ask is, what will happen to my phone when I die? Who gets access? Will anyone open it?
It’s a genuine concern. Even after death, one wants to maintain their image; some secrets we want to take to the grave. The chance that family, friends or the world might see the truest parts of you is scary, even if we aren’t there to witness their reactions.
Zugu launched its “In Case of Death” case in Jan. 2025 for a price of $1,500, you can truly rest in peace knowing your iPad will be bricked. You wear a ring that detects vitals, and once the ring detects you’re dead, your iPad gets bricked. A user can choose to delete all history, delete all data, and also send a message to people saying they are dead.
There are still lots of uncertainties about this eerie and futuristic technology, but the idea of it may gain more attention when there’s a case for your phone, or I see companies doing something similar, creating a piece of wearable technology that can detect death and just delete everything. Maintaining the image you want to keep.
Future generations might be able to have this option, but when we think of the past, if someone died, people could dig through their life and learn more about the individual, like finding (un)sent letters or reading old diaries. If they died unexpectedly, they didn’t have the option to burn their secrets. Maybe physical secrets could be hidden. But now, everything is collected and can be accessed with a few clicks.
Another concern with this idea is how ethical it is to have everything deleted in some cases, Videos, photos and other data could be useful for investigations. If every piece of data you have is gone, it could be a closed case. I think that maybe if we can brick phones, there should still be a way to gain all, just not accessible to the average person, giving law enforcement access to important information.
I often talk about AI and technology because I can only imagine what the future will look like with all the new advancements, and now the future of death is changing as well. Ultimately I don’t know what the future of death will look like, but I do want the choice on where everything goes, to save or brick accounts. Certain aspects of death can’t be controlled, but what remains should be an option.
