Most of us have years of photos, messages and memories spread across a dozen apps. It's a strange thing to think about, but it's worth asking: what happens to all of it when you die?
The short answer is that, by default, your accounts mostly just sit there. Nobody automatically inherits them. Your family may not be able to get in, and the account may stay up indefinitely, be locked, or eventually be deleted for inactivity, depending on the service. The good news is that the biggest platforms now let you decide ahead of time, and it takes a few minutes per account.
This article explains what typically happens on the major platforms and how to set a legacy contact. One honest caveat: features, names and menus change often. We describe what each tool does and name the help page to search for. Always confirm the current steps on the platform itself.
What happens by default
- Accounts don't pass automatically. Terms of service usually say your account is personal and not transferable.
- Logging in with someone's password is not the same as permission. Even if your family knows your password, using it may break the platform's terms, and it can trip security locks.
- Each platform has its own process. Some let family memorialize or remove an account with proof of death. Some let you name someone in advance. Some delete inactive accounts after a period of time.
- The law is still catching up. Most U.S. states have adopted a version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which generally lets the choices you make in a platform's own tool, like a legacy contact setting, take priority. That's one more reason to use those tools. The details vary by state.
Facebook: memorialize, legacy contact or delete
When Facebook learns that someone has died, the account can be memorialized. A memorialized profile shows "Remembering" next to the name, stays visible to the audience it was shared with, and nobody can log in to it.
You can choose ahead of time between two options:
- Choose a legacy contact. This person can look after your memorialized profile: for example, writing a pinned post, updating the profile and cover photo, and responding to new friend requests. A legacy contact can't log in as you or read your private messages.
- Ask for your account to be deleted after Facebook is told of your death.
The setting is in your Facebook account settings, under memorialization. Search the Facebook Help Center for "legacy contact" to find the current steps. If someone has already died, the Help Center also has forms family can use to request memorialization or removal.
Instagram accounts can also be memorialized after a death, when someone reports it with proof such as an obituary or news article. Verified immediate family members can instead request that the account be removed. Search the Instagram Help Center for "memorialize" or "deceased person's account" for the current request forms.
Apple: Legacy Contact
Apple lets you add one or more Legacy Contacts to your Apple Account. When you add someone, Apple generates an access key that you share with them (Apple can send it to them, or you can print it). After your death, a Legacy Contact can request access by providing the access key and a death certificate. If Apple approves, they can access data stored in your iCloud account, such as photos, messages, notes, files and device backups.
A few important limits: a Legacy Contact does not get access to your Keychain passwords, and licensed media like purchased movies, music and books isn't included. Without a Legacy Contact or an access key, families are often told they'll need a court order to request access.
You set it up from your Apple Account settings on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Search Apple Support for "Legacy Contact for your Apple Account" for the current steps.
Google: Inactive Account Manager
Google's approach is a little different. With Inactive Account Manager, you tell Google how long to wait without activity on your account (you can pick a period of months) before it acts. When that time passes, Google can:
- notify up to 10 people you choose,
- share selected data with them, such as Photos, Drive or Gmail, and
- optionally delete your account.
Google has also said that personal accounts that go unused for two years may be deleted, which makes planning ahead more important. Search Google Account Help for "Inactive Account Manager" to set it up. Google also has a separate request process for family members of someone who has died.
Other accounts worth a look
- X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn have processes for family or an authorized estate representative to request deactivation or, on LinkedIn, memorialization or closure. Search each Help Center for "deceased."
- Password managers often have an emergency access feature that lets a trusted person request access after a waiting period.
- Email matters most of all, because password resets for nearly everything else go there.
- Money and shopping accounts (PayPal, Venmo, airline miles, store credit) each have their own rules for closing or transferring.
A 20-minute plan to get started
- List your accounts. Just the names of the services, not passwords.
- Decide what you want for each big one: memorialize, delete, or let someone download photos first.
- Set a legacy contact on Facebook, Apple and Google today. Tell the person you chose.
- Write down where access lives. For example: "Password manager, emergency access set to my sister." Never write the passwords themselves on paper.
- Put a review on your calendar once a year, since features and your relationships change.
Our digital legacy checklist goes deeper on inventorying your accounts, and How to Leave Your Digital Accounts and Passwords to Family covers the safe way to share access. If you're the one handling a loved one's accounts right now, What to Do When a Parent Dies covers the first weeks.
Do it once, in one place
Write it down once: an inventory of your email, phone, cloud, money and social accounts and devices; the legacy contacts you've set up for Apple, Google, Facebook, Instagram and your password manager, with the date; and your wishes for social media, photos and files. Review it once a year, and never write down a password itself.
For the medical part of being prepared, get the free ER-Ready Kit: the one-page Emergency Health Summary, the "Where should I go?" guide and interpreter wallet cards, in English and Spanish.
The Ambos Health team
General information, not legal advice. Platform features and policies change; check each service's help pages for current steps. Laws on digital assets vary by state.