So, How Did We Get Here?

Away Message started with an ache I didn’t know would linger—the longing to hear my mother’s voice. She passed when I was 13, and with each passing year, her voice grew fainter in my memory. I’d give anything to hear her laugh again, to hear her say anything, just to feel her words wrap around me like they once did. That ache—the need to hold onto something so deeply personal—planted the first seed for Away Message: a way to preserve the voices we cherish most so they’re never truly lost.

But as time went on, another thought kept circling in my mind, just as pressing. When my time comes, how will the people who’ve shaped my life—friends from distant chapters, colleagues, mentors, those who truly mattered—find out? What if they never get the news, or worse, find out through a distant Facebook post? I don’t want my family to carry that heavy burden of trying to track everyone down. And I certainly don’t want my story to be reduced to a passing mention online. I want it to be personal, intentional. I want them to hear it from me.

…& Why Does This Matter?

Away Message grew from these two deeply personal places: the desire to hold onto the voices we’ve loved and the need to share our final words with care and intention. It’s more than an app—it’s a bridge between the living and the essence we leave behind, one message at a time.