Digital Legacy Planning: A Practical Checklist

1Your checklist at a glance

2Google: Inactive Account Manager

Google’s Inactive Account Manager, at myaccount.google.com/inactive, lets you decide what happens if you stop using your account. You choose how long Google should wait. Google looks at signals such as your last sign-ins, recent activity and Android check-ins.

• Choose up to 10 trusted people to be notified, and decide whether each can download all of your data or only certain types.
• Write a message that they will receive.
• Optionally ask Google to delete the account after the waiting period.

Google says it may delete accounts that are inactive across Google for at least two years if you have not set up a plan, so this setting matters even if you never think about it again.

3Apple: Legacy Contact

Apple Legacy Contact works on iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, macOS Monterey 12.1 or later. On iPhone, go to Settings > [your name] > Sign-In & Security > Legacy Contact. You can add more than one person.

• Each contact receives an access key. Share it by message or print it and keep it with your estate papers.
• After your death, a contact requests access with the access key and a death certificate. Requirements vary by country.
• They can access data such as photos, messages, notes, files and device backups. Purchased media and iCloud Keychain passwords are not included.
• Access lasts three years from Apple’s approval, after which the account is permanently deleted. Encourage contacts to download what matters early.

4Facebook and Instagram

Facebook

On Facebook you can choose a legacy contact to look after your account if it is memorialised, or say that you prefer your account to be permanently deleted after death. Look in your Facebook settings for the legacy contact or memorialisation option.

A legacy contact can update the profile picture, write a pinned post and respond to friend requests. You can also allow them to download an archive of what you shared. They cannot log in as you or read your private messages.

Instagram

Instagram does not let anyone log in to a memorialised account. Anyone can report a deceased person’s account for memorialisation with proof of death, such as an obituary. Verified immediate family can instead ask for the account to be removed, with documents such as a death certificate.

5Microsoft accounts

Microsoft’s help page for when someone has died does not describe a legacy contact feature. It says Microsoft accounts expire after two years of inactivity. If the family knows the sign-in details, they can close the account. Access to content such as Outlook.com email or OneDrive files requires a valid subpoena or court order, and even then is not guaranteed.

In practice, this means you should store important OneDrive files somewhere your family can reach, and record access instructions in a password manager or with your will.

6Password managers: emergency access

A password manager is often the single most useful thing to plan, because it unlocks everything else. Two common approaches:

• Bitwarden Emergency Access (Premium and paid organisation plans): you nominate a trusted contact who can request either view or takeover access. You get an email and can reject the request; if you do not respond, access is granted after a waiting period you choose.
• 1Password Emergency Kit: a PDF with your sign-in address, email address and Secret Key, plus space to write your account password. 1Password suggests printing it, keeping it somewhere safe such as with your passport or will, and giving a copy to someone you trust.

Whichever tool you use, check what your own password manager offers and test the process with your trusted person.

7Wills and digital assets

Laws on who may access a dead person’s accounts differ widely between countries and, in some places, between states or regions. Platform terms also apply. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

• List your important accounts and devices, without writing passwords into the will itself.
• Say who should handle your digital affairs and where access instructions are kept.
• Mention digital items with sentimental or financial value, such as photo libraries, domain names or online businesses.
• Ask a solicitor, notary or estate lawyer how digital assets are handled where you live.

8Export your chats while accounts still exist

Legacy settings mostly protect photos and files. Everyday conversations are easier to lose, and they are often what families miss most. Export the chats that matter now, while everyone can still sign in.

1. WhatsAppExport important chats as TXT, and with media if you want voice notes and photos. Our WhatsApp export guide has the steps, and saving WhatsApp voice messages covers audio.
2. Messenger and InstagramRequest a download of your messages from Meta’s Accounts Center, in JSON or HTML.
3. Store two copiesKeep one copy on a computer or external drive and one in trusted cloud storage or with a family member. Use plain, open formats where possible.
4. Label and dateName folders clearly, for example “WhatsApp with Mum 2026-10”, and add a short text file explaining what is inside.
5. Encrypt the deviceArchives hold private conversations. Turn on device encryption, such as BitLocker on Windows, and protect the drive with a strong password.

9Tell your family your wishes about AI

AI simulations built from someone’s messages are now possible. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have suggested that people be asked how they would like to be remembered. You can answer that question yourself, today.

• Would you be comfortable with family creating an AI simulation of your writing style? Under what conditions?
• Which conversations, if any, should never be used?
• Would you prefer to build one yourself, so the material is chosen by you?
• Should it be kept private, shared with certain people, or deleted after a time?

Write the answers in a short note and keep it with your will. If you choose to create something yourself, a clone of yourself is the simplest case for consent. Memory Clone, a Windows app currently in alpha, builds an AI simulation from your own exported chats and notes, keeps originals on your PC, and always presents the result as AI. You can find it on the download page. Our consent guide covers the wider questions.