Facebook legacy contacts and memorialized profiles
After a death, a memorialized Facebook profile can be looked after by a legacy contact. They can write a pinned post, but they can't log in as the account holder or read private messages. If you're planning ahead, choose your legacy contact now and save the photos you want shared.
- 7 steps
- Official sources
Steps
-
Decide what should stay online
Think about your photos, posts and the people who visit your profile. Tell your family whether you would prefer a memorialized profile or removal. Keep that choice with your other account instructions.
-
Open Facebook's legacy contact help
Read Facebook's own explanation, then follow its link for adding or changing a legacy contact. Use your own profile. Avoid instructions copied from an old screenshot or a different social network.
-
Choose someone for the role
Ask the person before selecting them. Explain that looking after a memorialized profile differs from using your account. Choose someone who understands your wishes about public announcements, family photographs and messages from friends.
-
Review the limits together
Facebook permits a pinned post, but the contact cannot read your private messages or log in as you. Do not make this person your only route for finding papers, urgent contacts or information your family needs.
-
Save the photos you want shared
While you manage your own account, decide which memories your family should have separately. Tell them where those copies are. A written preference about a profile does not itself give someone possession of your photographs.
-
Record the choice without credentials
Write down Facebook, your profile address and the person you selected. Leave passwords and recovery codes out. Keep your private messages private unless you deliberately share specific information yourself through a method you choose.
-
Review the choice with your plan
Revisit the contact when relationships change or the person can no longer take the role. Check Instagram separately. Finish with your digital legacy plan, so a social profile is only one part of your arrangements.
Good to know
Can my legacy contact read my messages?
No. Facebook excludes reading messages from the role. If your family needs a phone number, address or document, give them that information separately now. Do not leave an important instruction buried in a private conversation.
Can the contact write something on my profile?
They can write a pinned post for a memorialized profile. Discuss the kind of announcement you would want. Agree who should hear important news directly before someone puts a message on a public profile.
Does this give access while I am alive?
This role concerns a memorialized profile after your death. It is not an everyday account-sharing arrangement. For help today, you can sit with someone while you manage your own settings and make your own decisions.
Should I give the person my password?
No. Use Facebook's official legacy contact process. Keep your account credentials out of your family checklist. The useful things to share here are your profile address, your preference and the name of your selected contact.
Helping your mom or dad choose?
Ask what they want to happen to their profile. Let them decide and make the change in their own account. Then ask whether they want particular photographs saved outside Facebook for the people they choose.
What we checked
| Fact | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| A Facebook legacy contact can write a pinned post for a memorialized profile. | Meta (Current official support guidance) | Oct 15, 2026 |
| A Facebook legacy contact cannot log in as the account holder. | Meta (Current official support guidance) | Oct 15, 2026 |
| A Facebook legacy contact cannot read private messages. | Meta (Current official support guidance) | Oct 15, 2026 |
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Something wrong here? Tell us.