How to pass on your photos when you die

When you die, your iCloud or Google Photos library doesn't pass to anyone automatically. It stays behind your account, and often behind a locked phone. To pass your photos on, share a library with family now, switch on Apple's Legacy Contact or Google's Inactive Account Manager, and keep a labelled copy somewhere your family can find it.

For many families, photos are the thing they miss most and find hardest to reach. The good news is that this is one of the easiest parts of a digital estate plan to sort out, and most of it takes an afternoon.

What happens to your iCloud photos when you die?

Apple builds iCloud and iPhones so that only the owner can get in. If you've added a Legacy Contact, that person can request access to your account after you die, using an access key you gave them and a death certificate. Apple says the data can include photos, messages, notes, files and device backups. It doesn't include purchased media or Keychain passwords, and it doesn't unlock the phone itself.

Without a Legacy Contact, Apple generally needs a court order before it will help a family access the account. That takes time and money, and in the meantime, a locked iPhone stays locked. Our page on what happens to your Apple account when you die walks through setting up Legacy Contact; it takes a few minutes per person on iOS 15.2 or later.

What happens to your Google Photos when you die?

Google's Inactive Account Manager lets you pick a waiting period, up to 10 trusted contacts, and which data each of them can download, Google Photos included. If your account goes quiet for that long, Google tries to reach you first, then emails your contacts a link to download what you chose.

Without it, family can ask Google to close the account or release some data, but Google reviews each request individually and doesn't promise anything. Google's policy also allows it to delete personal accounts that have been inactive for two years, which can take the photos with them. Our guide to setting up Google Inactive Account Manager covers the choices, and the Google page in our accounts tool explains what family can request.

The best plan: share your photos now

Legacy tools are good safety nets, but they all involve a request, a wait and some paperwork at a terrible time. The simplest way to make sure your family has your photos is to give them access while you're here.

On Apple devices

An iCloud Shared Photo Library lets you and up to five other people share photos and videos in a separate library that everyone can add to and see. You can move past photos into it and choose to add new ones automatically, for example photos of your children. The person who sets it up provides the iCloud storage. Shared albums are a lighter option for a particular trip or person.

On Google Photos

Partner sharing lets you share your library, or just photos of certain people, with one other person, who can choose to save them into their own account. That last part matters: once they're saved in your partner's library, they don't depend on your account surviving. For a wider family, shared albums work well.

Family storage plans

Apple Family Sharing and Google One family plans share storage space, but not each other's photos. Don't mistake a shared storage plan for a shared library; they're different things.

How do you make a copy that will last?

Accounts close, subscriptions lapse and services change. A copy you own is the backstop.

1. Download your library

   For Google Photos, use Google Takeout to download everything. For iCloud, download your originals to a Mac or PC with the Photos app or iCloud for Windows set to keep full-size copies, or request a copy of your data from Apple's privacy site.

2. Put it on two drives

   One external drive at home, one with a family member or in a different place. Drives fail, so check them once a year.

3. Make a 'best of' folder

   Choose a few hundred photos that tell your story: childhood, family, the people you loved. Thousands of photos can feel overwhelming to a grieving family. A small, chosen set is a gift.

4. Label the people

   Name everyone in the "best of" photos, with rough dates and places. Use face labelling in Apple Photos or Google Photos, put names in the file name, or write a short index.

5. Tell someone where it is

   A drive in a drawer nobody knows about isn't much use. Note where the copies are in your will folder or letter of wishes.

Don't forget the prints

Boxes of old prints, slides and albums are often the most precious photos a family has, and the most fragile. Scanning a chosen few with a phone scanning app or a local scanning service means they can be shared with everyone, not just whoever ends up with the box. Write names on the back of the originals in soft pencil while you're at it.

Why curating and labelling matters more than you'd think

Ask anyone who has inherited a parent's photo collection, and you'll often hear the same thing: "I don't know who half these people are." The faces that are obvious to you are strangers to the next generation. A grandparent's school friend, the neighbour who was like an aunt, the house you lived in before they were born: only you know.

A short note to go with the folder can turn a pile of files into a family history.

It's also worth a gentle tidy. Whoever inherits your library will see all of it. Deleting duplicates, screenshots and anything you'd rather keep private makes the collection easier to treasure and easier to share.

Where Sealkept fits

Sealkept isn't photo storage, and it won't replace a shared library or a drive. But a photo collection is rarely the whole story. The note above, telling your children which folder matters and who Uncle Ray was, is exactly the kind of thing that belongs in a letter.

With Sealkept, you can write that letter to each person, naming the favourite photos and the folder or drive where they live, and add a handful of the photos themselves to the message: up to 12 files each, in JPEG, PNG or HEIC straight from your phone. You could add a short voice note telling the story of one picture, too. A whole library is too big for that, so keep the full collection in a shared library or drive and let the letter point the way. Each message stays sealed while you check in, and if you stop, each person receives a private link to their own messages, after reminders, your chosen verifiers and a grace period, where they can download every photo you added. If the letter includes where your drives are or how to get into an account, you can set it to release only when a verifier confirms. Everything is encrypted at rest, and each photo with its own key.

The photos are the easy part to save. The stories behind them only you can tell, so tell them while you can.