Receiving a Message
When someone sends you a MessageFuture message – whether on a scheduled date or triggered by a Guardian – you are notified immediately and the message appears in your inbox. This article explains how delivery works from the recipient’s perspective.
How You’re Notified
When a message is delivered to you, MessageFuture notifies you through up to three channels simultaneously:
| Channel | Where it appears |
|---|---|
| Sent to the email address on your MessageFuture account (or the email address the sender has for you in their contacts) | |
| Push notification | On your iOS or Android device (if you have the mobile app installed and push notifications enabled) |
| In-app notification bell | In the top-right corner of the dashboard (web and mobile) |
Opening Your Inbox
On the web: Click the bell icon in the top navigation bar, then click on a Message Received notification – or navigate directly to Dashboard → Inbox.
On mobile: Tap the notification bell in the header, or go to the Inbox tab in the bottom navigation.
Unread messages are shown with a bold indicator. Tap or click any message to open it.
[PLACEHOLDER: Screenshot of a received message detail view]
Reading a Message
The message detail view shows:
- Sender name – who the message is from
- Subject – the title of the message
- Received date – when the message was delivered
- Message body – the full written content
- Media attachments – if the sender included images, audio, or video
Playing Media Attachments
If the message includes media, it is displayed directly in the message detail view:
Images
Images appear as a gallery below the message body. Tap any image to view it full-screen.
Audio
An audio player appears with a play/pause button and a progress bar. Tap Play to listen. You can scrub to any point in the recording.
Video
A video player appears with playback controls. Tap Play to watch. On mobile, you can tap the expand icon to enter full-screen mode.
All media is loaded from secure cloud storage via a time-limited download link. If a link has expired (which can happen for very old messages), contact MessageFuture support.
FutureMe Messages
If you sent a message to yourself using the Future Me option, it will appear in your inbox at the scheduled delivery date just like any other received message – but the sender name will show as Future Me and a special banner will indicate it is a self-addressed time-capsule message.
Deleting a Received Message
To remove a received message from your inbox:
- Open the message
- Tap the Delete button (trash icon)
- Confirm the action
The message is soft-deleted from your notification list. This does not affect the sender’s copy of the message.