Branches · Telling people
The hardest message to write doesn’t have to start from a blank page.
Branches drafts a short, gentle message that shares the news. Change any word you like, then send it from your own phone or email, to the people you choose.
Free for families. Nothing is sent for you. It leaves from your phone, in your name.
You keep starting the text and deleting it.
There is no good way to say it, and you have to say it more than once.
Some people need a phone call. Others need a message, and the words have to be right enough that you can press send without reading it twenty times. Branches gives you somewhere to begin.
- I don’t know how to start the sentence.
- I can’t make forty phone calls today.
- Who have I forgotten to tell?
- I want it to sound like us, not like a form letter.
Choose how it sounds.
The same news can be said in a few plain sentences or with a little more of your family in it. Try the three tones here and see which one sounds closest to you.
Whatever you choose is only a start. The words are yours to change before anyone reads them.
- Change any word by hand, right on the page.
- Or ask for a change in plain words, like “Make it shorter.”
- The third tone is named for your faith tradition, if you’ve added one.
Personal and gentle
We have hard news to share. Our mom, Ruth Alvarez, died peacefully on Tuesday evening with all of us beside her. She loved you, and she’d want you to hear it from us. We’ll be in touch about a gathering.
203 characters · about 2 texts
Who to tell, and when.
There’s a rough order most families follow. If yours wrote theirs down in Family Circle, that list sits beside the message, with a Text or Email link for anyone who has a number or address on file.
No list written down? Branches still works. You choose who gets the message.
See Family CircleThe same day
The people who shouldn’t hear it from anyone else
Usually a phone call, if you can manage one. If you can’t, a short message is kinder than silence, and nobody will mind that it came by text.
- Brothers and sisters
- The closest friends
The first few days
The wider family, and the friends who’ll want to come
This is where a message earns its keep. Write it once, then send it to each person from your own phone, or copy it for a family group chat.
- Cousins and in-laws
- Friends from way back
After the service
Everyone who would want to know
People who knew them through work, a church or a club often hear last. A shorter note, or an email with a subject line, suits them well.
- The church
- Old coworkers
- The neighbors
Omuna never sends a message for you.
- Every message goes out from your own phone or email, in your name. Omuna can’t see whether it was sent.
- Your draft is saved, so you can come back to it, or send it to a second group later.
- You’ll need a free account and the person’s name added, so the draft knows who it’s about.
- If you’d rather call, call. A message is there for the people a phone call can’t reach today.
Questions about telling people
Does Omuna send the message for me?
No. Branches opens the message in your own Messages app or email with the words already filled in, and you press send. It comes from you, and Omuna can’t see whether it went.
Who should I tell first?
Usually the closest family first, by phone if you can, then close friends. Wider circles like coworkers, neighbors or a congregation can hear by message in the days that follow. The first tasks in the checklist walk through this.
Is it better to send a text or an email?
Whichever the person reads. A text reaches most people fastest. An email suits longer messages, people you don’t text with, or a group. Branches shows you the message both ways.
Can I write it myself instead?
Yes. Choose to write it yourself and type straight onto the page. You still get the text and email views and the buttons to open it in your apps.
Does it cost anything?
No. Branches is free for families, like the checklist and Verse, the obituary writer.
You don’t have to find every word alone.
Start with a draft. Change what doesn’t sound like you. Send it when you’re ready.
Free for families. No card.