Last updated on September 28th, 2026 at 05:43 pm
When Emeka died suddenly, his wife knew their wedding photos were on his phone, but nobody knew the passcode. Eighteen months later, the photos remain out of reach, and the family is still wrestling with his bank over his savings.
Your digital legacy is everything you leave behind online and on your devices, from photos and emails to social media profiles, cloud files, and digital money.
Without a plan, much of it can be locked away, deleted, or lost forever, as Emeka’s family discovered.
The sections below explain what digital assets include, what happens to accounts after death, and the tools Google, Apple, and Meta offer.
They also cover a step-by-step plan, how to protect digital money, and what to do when you are handling a loved one’s accounts. Digital legacy now touches every kind of legacy.
Table of Contents
What Is a Digital Legacy?
A digital legacy is the collection of digital assets and online accounts you leave behind, plus the instructions for what should happen to them.
Some of it has monetary value, like bank balances and cryptocurrency, while some has sentimental value, like voice notes, photos, and old messages.
For many families today, a phone holds more of a person’s life story than any photo album ever did.
Types of Digital Assets
Digital assets fall into several groups, and each needs a slightly different plan.
| Type | Examples | Main Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Sentimental | Photos, videos, voice notes, personal writing | Lost forever if devices or accounts are locked |
| Communication | Email, WhatsApp, text messages | Loved ones cannot reach contacts or find important records |
| Social media | Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok | Profiles left active, hacked, or causing painful reminders |
| Financial | Online banking, mobile money, investment apps, cryptocurrency | Money that is never claimed or permanently lost |
| Business and creative | Websites, domain names, blogs, YouTube channels, royalties | Income stops and work disappears |
| Subscriptions | Streaming, software, cloud storage | Charges continue after death |
What Happens to Your Accounts When You Die
Without instructions, most accounts simply stay active until the company notices inactivity, a family member reports the death, or payments fail.
Strong security, which protects you while alive, can keep your family out after death, since encrypted phones and two-factor codes rarely have a back door.
Inactive accounts can also be hijacked by scammers, and companies may delete long-unused accounts along with everything stored in them.
Laws on who may access a dead person’s digital assets vary widely between countries and are still developing, so a written plan matters.
Digital Legacy Tools From Major Platforms
Several large companies now offer built-in tools, and setting them up takes only a few minutes.
Google Inactive Account Manager
Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you choose what happens if your account goes unused for a period you set, from three to eighteen months.
You can name up to 10 trusted contacts to be notified, give them a download link to chosen data such as Gmail or Photos, and optionally have the account deleted.
Google first tries to reach you, and contacts hear nothing during setup, only after the inactivity period passes.
Apple Legacy Contact
Apple’s Legacy Contact feature lets you choose one or more people who can access data such as photos, messages, notes, files, and device backups after your death.
They will need the access key you generate plus your death certificate, and they cannot access purchased music or films or passwords stored in iCloud Keychain.
Access lasts three years from approval, after which the account is permanently deleted.
Facebook and Instagram
Facebook lets you choose a legacy contact who can manage a memorialized profile, such as pinning a tribute post and updating the profile photo, but cannot read your messages.
You can also ask for your account to be deleted after death instead.
Instagram allows family members to request that an account be memorialized or removed by submitting proof of death.
Other Platforms
Most other services, including X, LinkedIn, and many banks, have no advance setting and rely on family members submitting a death certificate and proof of relationship.
Because policies change, check each platform’s help pages when you make your plan and again each year.
How to Plan Your Digital Legacy
1. Make an Inventory
List your devices, email accounts, social media, cloud storage, financial apps, subscriptions, websites, and anything that earns income.
2. Use a Password Manager
Store logins in a reputable password manager, many of which offer emergency access for a trusted person, rather than writing passwords on scraps of paper.
3. Set Up Legacy Contacts
Turn on the Google, Apple, and Facebook tools described above, and tell your chosen contacts they have been named.
4. Decide What Happens to Each Account
For each account, note if it should be memorialized, deleted, downloaded for family, or kept running, as with a business page.
5. Name a Digital Executor
Choose one trustworthy, tech-comfortable person to carry out your wishes, and give them your plan and the location of your access details.
6. Mention It in Your Will
Ask a lawyer how to reference your digital assets in your will, keeping actual passwords out, since in some countries wills can become public documents.
7. Back Up What Matters Most
Download important photos, videos, and documents to a shared family drive or external storage so they never depend on a single account.
These files may one day become a precious record of your family’s shared history.
8. Review Your Plan Every Year
Update your inventory and contacts once a year, and after major events like a new phone, a marriage, or a new business.
Protecting Digital Money and Financial Assets
Financial assets need the most careful planning, since unclaimed balances in banking apps, mobile money wallets, and investment platforms can sit untouched for years.
Keep a list of every financial account, the institution, and how to contact it, and name beneficiaries or next of kin where the provider allows.
Cryptocurrency is the riskiest, because if no one can find your wallet’s recovery phrase, the money is effectively gone forever.
Store recovery phrases securely offline, and seek advice from a lawyer or financial advisor familiar with digital assets on how to pass them on safely.
The Personal Side of Digital Legacy
A digital legacy is not only practical, since a voicemail or old message thread can become one of the most treasured things a family keeps.
Consider recording a short video or a legacy letter for loved ones, and saving family stories and songs in ways that also help in keeping cultural heritage alive.
Think too about what you post now, since your public profile may outlive you, a point worth remembering alongside healthy social media use.
Some companies now offer AI chatbots that imitate the dead using their messages, and while some find comfort in them, others find them painful, so state your wishes clearly.
Handling a Loved One’s Digital Legacy
If you are managing the accounts of someone who has died, start by securing their phone and email, since these unlock most other accounts.
Gather several copies of the death certificate, contact banks and platforms one at a time, and cancel subscriptions to stop charges.
Download photos and important files before requesting any deletion, and permit yourself to go slowly, because sorting through a loved one’s messages can reopen grief.
In my observation, families who share the task among two or three people cope far better than those who leave it all to one grieving spouse.
Conclusion
Emeka’s family lost access to his photos because a passcode was never shared, a problem a ten-minute setup could have prevented.
Your digital legacy covers photos, messages, social media, business assets, and digital money, and much of it can be lost without a plan.
Tools like Google’s Inactive Account Manager and Apple’s Legacy Contact, plus an inventory, a password manager, and a digital executor, keep it safe for the people you love.
Today, set up one legacy contact on your phone and tell that person where to find your plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a digital legacy?
A digital legacy is everything you leave behind online and on devices, including photos, emails, social media, cloud files, and digital money, plus your instructions for handling them.
What happens to my Google account when I die?
If you set up Google’s Inactive Account Manager, chosen contacts can download selected data after your chosen inactivity period; otherwise family must submit a request with proof of death.
What is an Apple Legacy Contact?
An Apple Legacy Contact is someone you choose who can access your photos, messages, files, and backups after your death using an access key and your death certificate.
Should I put my passwords in my will?
No. Wills can become public in some countries, so reference your digital assets in the will and store passwords in a secure password manager with emergency access instead.
This article is for general information only and is not legal or financial advice. Laws on digital assets vary by country, so please consult a qualified professional.
Pious Clements writes about character, conduct, and the deeper questions of how a life is lived. He is the founder of The Conducts of Life, a site built on the belief that how you behave, not what you achieve, defines who you are. His writing draws from decades of observation, lived experience, and serious thinking about human nature, ethics, and self-development. He writes to be useful, not popular.