Make your digital legacy plan
Your digital legacy plan explains what should happen to your phone, email, photos and online accounts. Use each company's official settings and share selected family copies now. Leave passwords and security codes out of the plan.
- 7 steps
- Official sources
Steps
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Prepare your phone and its number
Review the number, active service, passcode, two-factor methods and both family phones. Use the Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile guide for your carrier. Record preferences without credentials.
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Prepare your email instructions
Start with email on your phone, then check Microsoft or Yahoo and AOL. For Google, use Inactive Account Manager. Keep family records outside private correspondence, and leave instructions somewhere people can find without opening your inbox.
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Preserve the photos and messages you choose
Arrange iCloud photos or Google Photos for your family. Check cloud backups separately, and save chosen voicemails and texts. Use Apple Legacy Contact for its distinct later request process. Ask someone to locate the memories you shared.
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Choose what happens to social profiles
Review Facebook Legacy Contact and Instagram memorialization. Tell your family what should remain online and which pictures you want preserved elsewhere. These limited roles are different from handing someone your sign-in details or giving access to your private messages.
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Review your password manager arrangement
Use the emergency access overview and its provider finder. Record the supported feature and selected person, without copying secrets. Include smart home devices and Amazon services where household continuity needs its own instructions.
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List money apps without account numbers
Record the institutions and services you use, where their paperwork is and who should contact them. Use the account list. A phone, email or password-manager arrangement is not a substitute for each financial provider's own authority and verification process.
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Tell your family where instructions are
Walk through the plan with the people you choose. Ask them to find the provider and family copies. Use the phones hub for every guide and the setup list for supported settings. Revisit instructions when accounts change.
Good to know
What happens to my online accounts when I die?
Each provider has its own rules and request process. Apple, Google and Meta offer particular advance settings. Other services may require a later verified request. Review the accounts you actually use, and prepare selected family copies instead of promising access to everything.
Is digital legacy only about death?
No. Think about the information your family might need while you are ill or unable to manage a device. Present sharing, account recovery and after-death instructions are separate jobs. Choose each arrangement for its actual purpose and record the feature by name.
Should the plan include all my passwords?
No. Keep passwords, passcodes, PINs and security codes outside this website and the family account list. Record providers, chosen people, supported arrangements and document locations. A password manager's official emergency process needs its own review.
Does choosing one contact cover every service?
No. An Apple contact does not set up Google, Facebook or your carrier. Work through the accounts you use and record completed settings separately. The setup tool can organize the list, but you still make and confirm each choice with the relevant company.
Helping a parent make this plan?
Start with the phone, email and pictures they care about. Let them decide who receives information and what stays private. Check one supported arrangement at a time, then ask whether the family could find the instructions without borrowing the parent's unlocked device.
What we checked
| Fact | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| On an iPhone or iPad, Legacy Contact is under Sign-In & Security in your Apple Account settings. | Apple (current official source) | Oct 15, 2026 |
| A Legacy Contact cannot access passwords or passkeys stored in your iCloud Keychain. | Apple (current official source) | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Instagram lists Memorialization under Account ownership and control in Accounts Center. | Meta (Current official support guidance) | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Google does not provide passwords or other login details after an account holder dies. | Google (Current official support guidance) | Oct 15, 2026 |
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Something wrong here? Tell us.
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