To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin: In this world, nothing is certain except death and the internet. Everyone has a digital footprint that doesn’t expire when you do. Thankfully, more platforms are jumping on the grim reaper’s bandwagon, giving family, friends, and legal professionals access to your various online accounts. Here’s how to make sure loved ones can manage your posthumous affairs. Think of it as a Handbook for the Recently Deceased’s Digital Affairs.
Password Manager Emergency Access
Bitwarden Emergency Access (Credit: Bitwarden)
We all know not to reuse passwords across internet accounts, and to secure those passcodes with a top-rated password manager, but does this secure solution block access for loved ones after you pass? Not if you set up emergency access or account sharing before your demise. Many of our favorite password managers offer some digital legacy options. Check out three options below, and get the full rundown here.
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Bitwarden Emergency Access: A rare 5-star PCMag pick, Bitwarden lets premium users designate and manage trusted contacts who can request access to their vault. In order to add an emergency contact, subscribers must invite a user, the user must have a Bitwarden account and accept the invitation, and the invite must be confirmed by the original requester. There’s no limit to the number of trusted emergency contacts one user can have.
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Dashlane: Another PCMag Editors’ Choice pick, Dashlane lets you create a secure Dash file that you can share immediately with a trusted contact or save on a USB drive to be turned over in the event of your death. You’ll create a password for this file that’s separate from your master password. Dashlane recommends creating a Secure Note. Note that this file won’t update automatically, so you’ll need to create and export a new Dash file every time you update logins or other info.
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1Password: While 1Password doesn’t offer a specific mechanism for passing on your account to heirs, its Families Plan does make it easier to share confidential information with chosen confidants. To invite folks into your vaults—home to personal logins, secure notes, credit cards, passwords, etc.—navigate to the sidebar and click Vaults > Share Vault, then enter the email address or name of a new or existing family member. Repeat until you’ve admitted every person on your list. New additions must accept their invitation and be confirmed before gaining access; existing folks can view and edit items immediately.
Google Inactive Account Manager
Google is prepared for your eventual death, even if you’re not. Its Inactive Account Manager lets you share portions of your data, or automatically notify up to 10 contacts if you’ve been “inactive”—not signing in, not racking up usual activity, not using mobile apps—for a certain period of time. This can be set to three, six, 12, or 18 months. Gmail users can also set an auto-reply message letting folks know they’re no longer using that account.
(Credit: PCMag / Google)
If you don’t want anyone to have access to this information, you can instead set Google to automatically delete your account data after three months of inactivity. This would include contacts, chats, photos, notes, phone audio, purchases, tasks, and more. Once all is set, Google will send a reminder one month before the deadline to confirm the account is no longer in use. If there is no response, your listed confidants will be notified and gain access to personal information.
(Credit: PCMag / Google)
Apple lets you set a Legacy Contact that lets anyone running iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, and macOS 12.1 or above, with two-factor authentication activated, designate Legacy Contacts who can access your Apple account in the event of death. Accessible data includes photos, messages, notes, files, apps, and device backups. Certain information—like movies, music, books, subscriptions, payment info, and credentials stored in the Passwords app—are not accessible to Legacy Contacts.
(Credit: Apple)
To set this up go on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, open the device’s Settings menu and select your name. Go to Sign-In & Security > Legacy Contact > Add Legacy Contact to designate a contact. If you’re in a Family Sharing group, you can choose a member of the group. Otherwise, pick Choose Someone Else to designate another person.
This will produce an access key that you’ll need to share with your Legacy Contact. They’ll need that access key and your death certificate to request access after you pass away, set up a legacy contact account, and access your data. This can be sent via Messages and will be stores in their Apple account settings. If you designate someone who doesn’t have an Apple device, they’ll need a physical copy of the code.
Your Legacy Contact will have access to your account for three years before Apple will permanently delete all the data. They can also request that the account be deleted before that.
Save grieving loved ones the hassle of creating an online shrine by choosing to memorialize your Facebook profile. That way, people can leave messages on your profile, but you won’t appear in suggestions for who to follow or in birthday reminders. Memorialized accounts are managed by a Legacy Contact; someone you designate who can update your profile and cover photo, download your data, and even request the account’s removal.
Facebook legacy contact (Credit: Meta / PCMag)
Visit Settings > Account Center to get started, and select Personal details > Account ownership and control > Memorialization to select someone who will have control over some parts of your accounts after you pass away. After that person reports your death to Facebook and the social network officially memorializes the profile, they’ll have some control over your profile. They won’t be able to log into your account, read your messages, or remove or add friends. You can also ask Facebook to just delete your account when you die.
Meta’s other social networks don’t offer the same feature, though. Instead, people must request the conservation or removal of a deceased person’s Instagram or Threads account. To request memorialization, proof of death, like a link to an obituary or news article, is required. Login information is not provided for a memorialized account.
Verified family members, on the other hand, need proof of an immediate connection (via birth or death certificate, or evidence you’re the lawful representative of them or their estate) to remove the person’s Instagram account entirely. Fill out an online form with the full name and Instagram username of the deceased, date of their passing, and your uploaded documentation.
X (Twitter) Account Removal Request
For X, there is no legacy option to set up. If you die, it will be up to your loved ones to deactivate your account. Like Instagram, Twitter accepts requests only from verified immediate family members or people “authorized to act on behalf of the estate”—titles that require the submission of personal IDs and death certificates. No one, regardless of their relationship to the deceased, may gain account access.
(Credit: PCMag / X)
It’s unclear how quickly Twitter is responding to these requests since Elon Musk took over the site. In May 2023, Musk said it would purge accounts that had been inactive for several years. The company tried a similar move in 2019 under former CEO Jack Dorsey, but it ultimately pressed pause on that effort because the company didn’t consider the accounts of deceased members (including celebrities).
You don’t have to wait until death to expunge your Twitter history. Here’s how to delete your X account (or just your terrible tweets).
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What About Your Microsoft Account?
Unlike Google and Apple, Microsoft doesn’t offer a similar option for setting up access, or even or even requesting deletion, for US-based account holders. In areas like Germany and China, customer support can grant access with the submission of certain documents. Instead, Microsoft says it will need subpoena or court order to even consider granting someone access to your data.
Short of legal intervention, Microsoft states that accounts will expire on their own after two years of inactivity, deleting all data from company servers. Outlook.com and OneDrive accounts will be frozen after one year and any email messages and files stored on OneDrive will be deleted shortly after.
Share Multi-Factor Authentication Methods
If you followed our advice and set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible, it keeps your accounts more secure but also complicates after-death responsibilities. Save your loved ones some hassle by generating MFA backup codes wherever possible and saving them securely.
It’s also not a bad idea to make a list of MFA methods you use (SMS, authentication app, security keys) and share device passcodes with a trusted person (most phones require a passcode to be entered after a certain number of hours or following a restart, so biometrics may not be enough).
Digital Will
Don’t leave the fate of your online existence to the whims of ever-changing website guidelines. Create one document explaining what to do with social media, e-commerce, cloud storage, streaming, email, and fintech accounts, and how to gain access to password-protected platforms. Even GOG says it will allow you to pass on your games—if you have a court order.
We have the pros and cons of writing your will online, along with some recommendations for services that can help.
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