https://github.com/xinzhang-chen/beyondlife
✨ Welcome to BeyondLife, an innovative prototype app that transforms the concept of a digital legacy into a simplified interactive experience. The project aims to explore the future of posthumous data management, making it simple and easy to set up, manage, and securely share a digital will. 🔒
https://github.com/xinzhang-chen/beyondlife
attribute-based-encryption digital-will posthumous-data privacy-enhancing-technology
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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✨ Welcome to BeyondLife, an innovative prototype app that transforms the concept of a digital legacy into a simplified interactive experience. The project aims to explore the future of posthumous data management, making it simple and easy to set up, manage, and securely share a digital will. 🔒
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/xinzhang-chen/beyondlife
- Owner: Xinzhang-Chen
- License: mit
- Created: 2024-12-10T01:19:08.000Z (7 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-02-18T07:10:55.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-05-05T09:10:03.227Z (about 2 months ago)
- Topics: attribute-based-encryption, digital-will, posthumous-data, privacy-enhancing-technology
- Homepage:
- Size: 37.1 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
# 💡 BeyondLife: Third-Party Digital Will Application 💻
[](#try-in-practice)
[](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14886040)
✨ Welcome to **BeyondLife**, an innovative prototype app that transforms the concept of a digital legacy into a simplified interactive experience. The project aims to explore the future of posthumous data management, making it simple and easy to set up, manage, and securely share a digital will. 🔒
This repository provides an open-access implementation related to our research paper submitted to [WWW25](https://www2025.thewebconf.org) (International World Wide Web Conference 2025). It contains a lightweight prototype that demonstrates key functionalities discussed in the paper below.
> **"BeyondLife: Third-Party Digital Will Application"**\
> *Xinzhang Chen, Arash Shaghaghi, Jesse Laeuchli and Salil S. Kanhere*\
> *Published at WWW Companion '25*\
> [Read it on ACM DL](https://doi.org/10.1145/3701716.3715168)
For a quick overview, please refer to the [📸 screenshots](#screenshots) and [🎥demo video](#demo-video) below.
---
## 🌟 Key Features
- 🧭 **Interactive Will Setup**
Embark on a guided and fun journey to add heirs, assign permissions, and craft your digital legacy in just a few clicks.
- 🔗 **Cross-Platform Integration**
Easily connect to platforms like Google Drive and Twitter to manage and secure your digital treasures.
- 🎨 **Visually Intuitive Design**
Built with simplicity in mind—whether you're a tech whiz or not, BeyondLife has you covered!
- 🔒 **Privacy-Focused Security**
No leaks, no risks! Your data stays encrypted and accessible only to your trusted recipients.
In BeyondLife, we implemented and integrated a customized Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) scheme, called PD-CP-ABE (Partially Decryptable Ciphertext Policy Attribute-Based Encryption).
✨ **Explore the PD-CP-ABE Implementation:** [Visit the PD-CP-ABE Repo](https://github.com/Xinzhang-Chen/BeyondLife_PD-CP-ABE)
#### Encryption Performance Comparison of PD-CP-ABE and bsw07
| **File Size (Files)** | **PD-CP-ABE (s)** Avg Time | **PD-CP-ABE (s)** Std Dev | **bsw07 (s)** Avg Time | **bsw07 (s)** Std Dev |
|-----------------------|---------------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
| **5** | 0.1652 | 0.0532 | 0.1513 | 0.0047 |
| **160** | 0.8574 | 0.0057 | 3.6726 | 0.0239 |
| **1500** | 0.8719 | 0.0169 | 31.5530 | 0.1992 |
---
## Demo Video
🎬 Watch a quick **BeyondLife** demonstration:
(🔊 **Turn up the volume for the full experience—there's background music!** 🎶)
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f86febd1-15be-4c5a-bfeb-838b4e7e32ac
---
## Try in Practice
📱 Want to see it in action? Via **local installation**:
- 📲 **Android APK** → [Download Here](https://github.com/Xinzhang-Chen/BeyondLife/tree/main/Installations/Android)
- 🍏 **iOS APP** → [Download Here](https://github.com/Xinzhang-Chen/BeyondLife/tree/main/Installations/IOS)
Access the live demo now via Expo:
👉 **🚀 Launch the Demo: [IOS](https://expo.dev/accounts/xinzhang9091/projects/digitalWill/builds/0a6927c6-0d63-4080-bd5b-20167d4cb7e1) | [Android](https://expo.dev/accounts/xinzhang9091/projects/digitalWill/builds/b6baf644-da91-4437-b550-f6e6afc8e0db)** 👈
> **Note**: As this is a prototype, performance may vary based on your device and network speed.
> Additionally, the backend server is deployed on a personal desktop and may not be available 24/7.
---
## 🔮 Future Potential
While BeyondLife is already paving the way for digital legacy management, there's always room to grow! Here’s what could be next:
1. 🤖 **AI-Assisted Guidance**
Let AI simplify complex setups and guide you through estate planning like a pro.
2. 🌐 **Expanded Platform Support**
Add integrations for services like Dropbox, Instagram, and more.
3. 📜 **Legal Compliance**
Align the app with international legal standards to make your digital will enforceable across borders.
4. 🌈 **Personalized Experiences**
Offer customizable themes and tailored recommendations for a more personal touch.
---
## ⚠️ Disclaimer
This repository contains **no source code**—it serves solely as a demonstration resource for the **BeyondLife** prototype hosted via Expo, and pre-built Android and iOS bundles are also available for local installation.
🔍 **BeyondLife** is designed for research and concept exploration. It is **not intended for production use** or the management of sensitive personal data. Evaluate and enjoy this app as a prototype, not as a finalized product.
---
❗️ **Demo Version Details**:
The current demo version is a **simplified version** of the full application. It currently supports setting up a digital will for **X (formerly Twitter)**, while support for **Gmail** and **Google Drive** will be included in the full version.
To ensure **data security for demo users** (e.g., avoiding accidental deletion of personal tweets), the demo allows users to link their private Twitter accounts but does **not use the authorized token** to retrieve or modify any data. Instead, predefined **sample tweets** are provided for testing purposes.
However, the **cloud storage link is fully functional** in this demo version. During interactions, **BeyondLife** will upload encrypted data to the demo user’s cloud storage.
---
## Screenshots
Take a look at some screenshots of BeyondLife in action!
### User Login and Registration
### Connect to Cloud Platforms
### Heir Configuration
### Interactive Will Setup
### Will Activation and Accessing inherited data
---
## 📖 Citation
If you find this work useful or inspire your idea, please consider citing our paper:
```bibtex
@inproceedings{BeyondLife2025,
author = {Xinzhang Chen and Arash Shaghaghi and Jesse Laeuchli and Salil S. Kanhere},
title = {BeyondLife: Third-Party Digital Will Application},
booktitle = {Companion Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2025 (WWW Companion '25)},
year = {2025},
location = {Sydney, NSW, Australia},
publisher = {ACM},
pages = {4},
doi = {10.1145/3701716.3715168},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3701716.3715168}
}
```
---
## 📝 License
Distributed under the MIT License. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for more information.
---
## 🚀 Ready to Secure Your Digital Legacy?
Click below to take the first step toward simplifying your posthumous data management:
👉 **[Try the Demo Now!](#try-in-practice)** 👈