Apple Legacy Contact & Google Inactive Account Manager

Apple Legacy Contact lets you name someone who can request access to the data in your Apple Account after you die. Google Inactive Account Manager lets you choose who gets your Google data, and what happens to the account, if you stop using it. Setting up each takes a few minutes. Without them, your family is left with court orders, request forms and a locked phone.

This guide covers both setups, exactly what each one shares, and what to do if someone you've lost never set them up.

Apple Legacy Contact: what it is

A Legacy Contact is someone you choose who can request access to your Apple Account data after you die. When you add them, Apple generates an access key. After your death, they request access with that key and your death certificate (in Japan, a family certificate instead). Apple reviews the request, and once it's approved, the Legacy Contact gets access to your account data.

You need an Apple device running iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, macOS Monterey 12.1 or later. Apple says the Legacy Contact must be at least 13, though the age varies by country or region. They don't need an Apple device or an Apple Account themselves.

To see a key again later, go to Settings → [your name] → Sign-In & Security → Legacy Contact, tap the person's name, and tap View Access Key. If they're with you, they can scan its QR code with their own device. You can remove a Legacy Contact at any time, and their key stops working.

What a Legacy Contact can and can't reach

Two more limits matter. Some data is end-to-end encrypted, which Apple can't decrypt. And access isn't permanent: Apple says the Legacy Contact has three years from when the first request is approved, and then the account is permanently deleted. Whoever gets access should download what matters early, not "when there's time".

Google Inactive Account Manager: what it is

Inactive Account Manager is Google's plan for what happens if you stop using your account, whether because of death, illness or anything else. You tell Google how long to wait without activity, and what to do once that time has passed.

The plan can:

• Share data with up to 10 people. You choose all of it or specific types (Photos, Gmail, Drive and so on) for each person. Google notes that some information can't be shared.
• Notify them with an email using a subject line and message you write during setup. They aren't told anything while you're setting it up.
• Set a Gmail auto-reply and delete the account after the waiting period, if you choose.

Apple vs Google at a glance

If your parent never set these up

Most families find out about these settings after it's too late to use them. There are still routes, but they're slower.

Apple

Apple's page for requesting access to a deceased family member's account covers this. Without an access key, you'll generally need a death certificate and may need a court order. In the US, Israel and some other locales, Apple accepts a court order that names you as the rightful inheritor of your loved one's personal information. Requirements vary by country. Only one person can request access to a deceased person's Apple Account, so agree within the family who will do it.

You can also ask Apple to delete the account. Once a Legacy Contact request or a deletion request is completed, Activation Lock is removed from devices that used the account, so they can be erased and reused.

Google

Google's form for a deceased user's account offers three requests: close the account, request funds from it, or obtain data from it. Google can't give out passwords or login details, and every request is reviewed carefully. Google says that in certain circumstances it may provide content from the account.

One rule matters more than the rest: if you ask Google to close the account, it can't hand over the contents later. Request the data first. Decide about closing afterwards.

Before you lose access: what to save first

Whichever route you take, the account is only part of the picture. Work through these while the phone and accounts are still reachable:

For the bigger picture of what happens to someone's photos on every platform, see what happens to your photos when you die.

Make it part of a family plan

These two settings handle the accounts. They don't decide what your family will actually have: which photos matter, whose voice is on which recording, or the story behind the picture on the fridge. That's worth planning too. Our guide to building a digital estate plan for your family memories walks through the rest.

The simplest protection is not having everything locked inside one account. Memory Murals gives your family one private place for the photos, voice recordings and stories that matter, and you can invite relatives in, so it isn't sitting behind a single login.