How to prepare your online accounts for when you die

LONDON -- Most group person accumulated a heap of information — selfies, emails, videos and much — connected their societal media and integer accounts complete their lifetimes. What happens to it erstwhile we die?

It's wise to draught a will pronunciation retired who inherits your beingness assets aft you're gone, but don't hide to return attraction of your integer property too. Friends and family mightiness wealth files and posts you've near behind, but they could get mislaid successful integer purgatory aft you walk distant unless you return immoderate elemental steps.

Here's really you tin hole your integer life for your survivors:

The iPhone shaper lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who tin entree your Apple account's information aft you die. The institution says it's a unafraid measurement to springiness trusted group entree to photos, files and messages. To group it up you'll request an Apple instrumentality pinch a reasonably caller operating strategy — iPhones and iPads request iOS aliases iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, spell to settings, pat Sign-in & Security and past Legacy Contact. You tin sanction 1 aliases much people, and they don't request an Apple ID aliases device.

You'll person to stock an entree cardinal pinch your contact. It tin beryllium a integer type sent electronically, aliases you tin people a transcript aliases prevention it arsenic a screenshot aliases PDF.

Take statement that location are some types of files you won't beryllium capable to walk connected — including integer rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored successful Apple's password manager. Legacy contacts tin only entree a deceased user's relationship for 3 years earlier Apple deletes nan account.

Google takes a different attack pinch its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to stock your information pinch personification if it notices that you've stopped utilizing your account.

When mounting it up, you request to determine really agelong Google should hold — from 3 to 18 months — earlier considering your relationship inactive. Once that clip is up, Google tin notify up to 10 people.

You tin constitute a connection informing them you’ve stopped utilizing nan account, and, optionally, see a nexus to download your data. You tin take what types of information they tin entree — including emails, photos, almanac entries and YouTube videos.

There's besides an action to automatically delete your relationship aft 3 months of inactivity, truthful your contacts will person to download immoderate information earlier that deadline.

Some societal media platforms tin sphere accounts for group who person died truthful that friends and family tin grant their memories.

When users of Facebook aliases Instagram die, genitor institution Meta says it tin memorialize nan relationship if it gets a “valid request” from a friend aliases family member. Requests tin beryllium submitted done an online form.

The societal media institution powerfully recommends Facebook users adhd a legacy contact to look aft their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts tin do things for illustration respond to caller friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t publication backstage messages aliases region aliases change erstwhile posts. You tin only take 1 person, who besides has to person a Facebook account.

You tin besides inquire Facebook aliases Instagram to delete a deceased user’s relationship if you’re a adjacent family personnel aliases an executor. You’ll request to nonstop successful documents for illustration a decease certificate.

The video-sharing level says that if a personification has died, group tin taxable a petition to memorialize nan relationship done nan settings menu. Go to nan Report a Problem section, past Account and profile, past Manage account, wherever you tin study a deceased user.

Once an relationship has been memorialized, it will beryllium branded “Remembering.” No 1 will beryllium capable to log into nan account, which prevents anyone from editing nan floor plan aliases utilizing nan relationship to station caller contented aliases nonstop messages.

It's not imaginable to nominate a bequest interaction connected Elon Musk's societal media site. But family members aliases an authorized personification tin taxable a request to deactivate a deceased user's account.

Besides nan awesome online services, you'll astir apt person dozens if not hundreds of different integer accounts that your survivors mightiness request to access. You could conscionable constitute each your login credentials down successful a notebook and put it location safe. But making a beingness transcript presents its ain vulnerabilities. What if you suffer way of it? What if personification finds it?

Instead, see a password manager that has an emergency entree feature. Password managers are integer vaults that you tin usage to shop each your credentials. Some, for illustration Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, let users to nominate 1 aliases much trusted contacts who tin entree their keys successful lawsuit of an emergency specified arsenic a death.

But location are a fewer catches: Those contacts besides request to usage nan aforesaid password head and you mightiness person to salary for nan service.

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