Your accounts won't forever haunt the internet after you die.
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The death of a loved one typically comes not only with the immense emotional weight of grief, but also an onslaught of administrative tasks — a home to sell, a cell phone bill to cancel and belongings to offload. As we increasingly live our lives online, our deaths have become more digital as well. So when preparing for the inevitable, what should you do about your Google and Apple accounts — and what should you do if a loved one dies?
Much of how accounts are dealt with after a death has to do with whether the account holder made any preparations while living. Many platforms have programs to help you handle your digital legacy, but these require conscious decisions before death to transfer access to a trusted representative. Without this, the fate of accounts depends largely on the policies of the platforms in question, which vary across Apple and Google. Whether getting your own affairs in order or a loved one has recently passed and you're trying to decide what to do, here's what you should know.
What happens to a Google account when someone dies?
The short answer is that nothing will happen to your Google account after death if you haven't planned for it, but the company is making it easier to manage legacy options. In 2013, Google launched an Inactive Account Manager tool, which allows users to specify what should be done with their account in the event that it becomes inactive for an extended period of time.
Through this program, users can request to have data deleted after three, six, or 12 months of inactivity. They can also elect to have their data (including messages, contacts, YouTube channels and more) forwarded to up to 10 trusted contacts. "We hope that this new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife in a way that protects your privacy and security," Google product manager Andreas Tuerk wrote in the blog post announcing the new tool.
If you do not set up an Inactive Account Manager, Google may simply delete your inactive account, which its system prompts after a minimum of two years without activity. Google detects activity through sign-ins, usage of the Gmail app and other actions using any Google products. In circumstances in which a user did not set up Inactive Account Manager, family members can reach out directly to Google to request that their deceased relative's account be deactivated before the standard two years of inactivity, though they will not be provided with any data from the account.
What happens to an Apple account when someone dies?
Like Google, Apple has a system in place to manage a user's accounts and digital life after their death, but using this feature similarly requires a bit of foresight. Apple allows users to designate up to five people as "Legacy Contacts" — people who have the legal right to access the user's iCloud data and devices in the event of their passing. Legacy contacts can be designated through Apple Account settings, which will generate an access key for the contact to use in the case of a user's death. After a user dies, the designated legacy contact can access personal data like photos, messages, notes, files, and device backups by sharing the access key generated when they were selected as a legacy contact. They will also be required to share a death certificate with Apple to access this information.
Once a legacy contact presents a death certificate and the access key, they have three years to download Apple's data before the account is deleted permanently. Notably, the legacy contact will not have access to purchased content like music, movies, or books. Unlike a DVD or book collection, digital media cannot be passed on to would-be heirs. If you don't set up a legacy contact, Apple's time limit for deleting inactive accounts is shorter than Google's: After just one year of inactivity on iCloud, the user will receive a warning email, and the account will be deleted 30 days later.