Forethought Personal vs If Required
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Forethought Personal
This app helps you securely organize and share essential information about people, places, and things. It allows you to provide instructions and ensures your data is protected. A premium subscription offers online backup and coordination with designated trustees.
- Secure information organization
- Share instructions with others
- Online backup (premium)
- Coordination with trustees (premium)
- Data security
Read full descriptionHide full description
Keep important information together, so it is easier to find when you need it. Forethought helps you organize documents, account details, contacts and helpful notes for yourself or someone you care for. Each person's information has its own place in the app, called a vault. ORGANIZE FOR YOURSELF OR A PARENT Keep your own information in one vault and a parent's information in another. Add a document, a contact or a note about an account. You can start with a few details and add more at your own pace. START WITH A FREE BASIC ACCOUNT A Basic account lets you organize information for yourself or a parent at no cost. Your information is automatically saved online with encryption to help protect it. Basic also includes VaultKeepers and 100 MB of storage for documents and photos. HELP LOVED ONES FIND WHAT THEY NEED Choose trusted people, called VaultKeepers, who can request access to a saved report of the information in your vault after your death. Forethought's unlock process determines when that report becomes available. Both Basic accounts and Premium subscriptions include VaultKeepers. SHARE INFORMATION WITH PEOPLE YOU TRUST With a paid Premium subscription, you can invite other Forethought users to a vault. You decide whether each person can only view the information or also help update it. People you invite can use a free Basic account. This lets you share information during everyday life, separately from the VaultKeeper process. KEEP PERSONAL VIDEOS ALONGSIDE YOUR INFORMATION Premium also lets you add personal videos and gives you 1 GB of storage in total for documents, photos and videos. You need to sign in and have an internet connection to save information online or share it. The app shows the price and terms of a Premium subscription before you purchase it. Apple Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
If Required
This app securely stores and shares vital personal information, instructions, and guidance with trusted contacts. It ensures that important details about accounts, documents, and even physical items are accessible when needed most, providing peace of mind for families.
- Store personal notes and guidance
- Share account and document details
- Provide location for physical items
- Include pet care instructions
- End-to-end encryption
- Offline instruction support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Life happens. Leave nothing unsaid. If Required gives you a private place for the things your family may someday need to know — from the words you want to leave them to the everyday details only you know. Write a letter to your kids. Leave instructions for your family. Explain where important documents are kept. Tell someone where to find the spare keys, the safe, family photos, digital assets, or something tucked away that nobody else knows about. You don't have to put everything online. If something sensitive should stay offline, simply leave directions to where it can be found. You decide what to leave. You decide who receives it. You decide who you trust. Choose trusted confirmation contacts and require one, two, or three confirmations before your information is released. Your notes stay private until your conditions are met. And with Personal Follow-Up, there's another layer of reassurance: if receipt of your notes isn't confirmed, a real person — not AI — follows up with your chosen contact by email, text, and phone. Use If Required for: - Personal letters and messages - Things only you know - Important instructions - Locations of documents and valuables - Pet care details - Family photos and digital assets - Directions to information you prefer to keep offline You don't have to prepare everything today. Start with one thing they should know. Add the rest when you're ready. **For everything you know. For everyone you love.** Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: If Required at 15.1 against Forethought Personal's 18.0. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Forethought Personal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and If Required sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Forethought Personal against 5.0 for If Required. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively.
Forethought Personal ships an update weekly, If Required every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Forethought Personal | If Required |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 9 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 33 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | MobileAnswer, Incorporated | memhold inc |
Customer experience
Forethought Personal
If Required
In-app purchases
Forethought Personal
- Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
- Premium Annual$29.991 Year
If Required
- If Required$12.991 Year
- If Required$12.99
- Premium features$34.99
Questions
Is Forethought Personal free?
Is If Required free?
Which has better reviews, Forethought Personal or If Required?
Do Forethought Personal or If Required have ads?
Which is updated more often, Forethought Personal or If Required?
Other comparisons















