Tagged
9 guides from the Journal about digital legacy.
Explainers8 min read
Google Inactive Account Manager lets you choose what happens to your Google account if it goes unused for 3 to 18 months: Google tries to reach you, then notifies up to 10 trusted contacts, can share the data you picked, sends an optional Gmail autoreply and can delete the account. It is free and worth setting up, but it sends one short message and data downloads, not personal letters.
Practical10 min read
The safest way to pass on passwords is not to hand over a list but to leave one way in: set up emergency access or a recovery kit for your password manager, keep a sealed paper note saying where it is, and tell your executor how to find it. Don't write passwords into your will, which can become a public document.
Practical8 min read
Photos in iCloud or Google Photos stay locked behind your account when you die unless you plan ahead. Share a library with family now, add Apple's Legacy Contact or Google's Inactive Account Manager, and keep a labelled 'best of' copy on a drive someone can find. Curating and naming the people in them matters as much as access.
Explainers8 min read
You can schedule an email in Gmail or Outlook for a date far in the future, but it sends on that date whether you are alive or not, so you must keep postponing it, and it never sends if the account is closed first. For messages meant only for after your death, a check-in based dead man's switch is more reliable.
Explainers10 min read
There are five realistic ways to send a message after you die: a scheduled email, Google Inactive Account Manager, a letter held by a solicitor or attorney, a trusted friend, or a dead man's switch service. Only a friend or a check-in switch is triggered by your absence rather than a fixed date, and the safest setups combine more than one.
Explainers8 min read
WhatsApp has no memorial setting or legacy contact. Chats are stored on the phone and in its iCloud or Google backup, not readable on WhatsApp's servers, and inactive accounts are generally deleted after about 120 days. So the phone, its passcode and the backup are what your family needs; anyone with the unlocked phone can export chats to keep.
Practical7 min read
Keep originals of your will, deeds and certificates somewhere safe and known, list your banks, pensions, insurers and key contacts in one place, and tell your executor and one backup person where that list lives, without handing over passwords before they are needed.
Explainers8 min read
Digital estate planning means listing your online accounts, turning on each platform's legacy settings, recording what should happen to each account, and naming someone to carry it out. In most US states, RUFADAA gives a platform's own legacy tool priority over your will, and your will priority over the terms of service.
Explainers7 min read
A digital dead man's switch is a service that holds messages or documents and releases them to chosen people only if you stop responding to regular check-ins. A safe one uses layers, such as repeated reminders, a trusted verifier, a soft alert and a grace period, so that a missed check-in never sends anything by mistake.
Start with one message to one person. You can add the rest whenever you're ready.
Write your first messageSet up in a few minutes · $5 a month, cancel anytime