What happens to Google and Apple accounts when the owner dies?

The death of a loved one is usually accompanied not only by the immense emotional weight of grief, but also by a multitude of administrative tasks: a house to sell, a cell phone bill to cancel, and possessions to get rid of. As we live more and more online, our deaths have also become more digital. So, as you prepare for the inevitable, what should you do about your Google and Apple accounts – and what should you do if a loved one dies?

Much of how accounts are handled after a death depends on whether the account holder made preparations while alive. Many platforms offer programs to help you manage your digital inheritance, but these require conscious decisions before death to transfer access to a trusted representative. Without this, the fate of the accounts largely depends on the policies of the platforms in question, which vary between Apple and Google. Whether you’re getting your own affairs in order or a loved one recently passed away and you’re trying to decide what to do, here’s what you need to know.

The short answer is that nothing will happen to your Google account after you die if you didn’t plan for it, but the company makes it easy to manage legacy options. In 2013, Google launched an inactive account management tool, which allows users to specify what to do with their account if they are inactive for an extended period of time.

Through this program, users can request data deletion after three, six or 12 months of inactivity. They can also choose to forward their data (including messages, contacts, YouTube channels, etc.) to up to 10 trusted contacts. “We hope this new feature will allow you to plan your digital life in a way that protects your privacy and security,” wrote Andreas Tuerk, product manager at Google, in the blog post announcing the new tool.

If you don’t set up an inactive account manager, Google can simply delete your inactive account, which its system asks you to do after at least two years of inactivity. Google detects activity through logins, use of the Gmail app, and other actions using Google products. In cases where a user has not set up Inactive Account Manager, family members can contact Google directly to request that their deceased relative’s account be deactivated before the standard two years of inactivity, although they will not receive any data from the account.

Like Google, Apple has a system for managing a user’s accounts and digital life after they die, but using this feature also requires a bit of forethought. Apple allows users to designate up to five people as “legacy contacts,” meaning people who have the legal right to access the user’s iCloud data and devices in the event of their death. Old contacts can be designated through Apple account settings, which will generate a passkey for the contact to use in the event of a user’s death. After a user dies, the designated Legacy Contact can access personal data such as photos, messages, notes, files, and device backups by sharing the access key generated when selected as a Legacy Contact. They will also have to share a death certificate with Apple to access this information.

Once a former contact presents a death certificate and the passkey, they have three years to download the data from Apple before the account is permanently deleted. Notably, the old contact will not have access to purchased content such as music, movies or books. Unlike a DVD or book collection, digital media cannot be passed on to potential heirs. If you don’t set up an existing contact, Apple’s timeline for deleting inactive accounts is shorter than Google’s: after just one year of inactivity on iCloud, the user will receive a warning email and the account will be deleted 30 days later.