How to decide what happens to your email, photos and social media, and the tools Google, Apple and Facebook offer for it.
Last reviewed · For readers in Australia
In short
Start with a simple list of your accounts.
Google, Apple and Facebook each have tools for what happens to yours.
Don’t write passwords in your will. Leave access safely instead.
A great deal of a life now lives on a phone. The photos of the grandchildren, decades of emails, the recipes you saved, the messages from someone you’ve lost. When a person dies, their family often finds that this part of their life is the hardest to reach.
The good news is that a little planning makes a big difference, and the main technology companies now offer tools made for exactly this. This guide walks through the steps, without asking you to become an expert.
Start with a list
Begin by writing down the accounts you use. You don’t need to include passwords on the list itself. Most people have some of these:
email accounts
phone and the account it’s linked to, such as Apple or Google
photo storage, such as iCloud or Google Photos
social media, such as Facebook or Instagram
online banking and super
shopping, streaming and subscription services
any website, blog or online business
Next to each one, you might note what you’d like to happen: kept for the family, closed, or turned into a memorial.
Decide what matters most
Not every account needs a plan. For most families, the things that really matter are the photos and videos, the email account (because so many other accounts reset through it), and anything with money attached. If you sort out just those, you’ll have done most of the work.
It’s worth making sure the photos that matter most aren’t only on one phone. Copying them to a computer or an external drive, or sharing an album with a family member, means they won’t disappear with a lost or locked device.
Use the legacy tools
Google. Google’s Inactive Account Manager lets you choose up to 10 people to receive some or all of your account data, or simply be notified, if your account is inactive for a period you set. Google looks at signals such as your sign-ins and activity to decide whether an account is still being used.
Apple. Apple lets you add a Legacy Contact, someone who can access your Apple Account data after your death. You add them in your device’s settings, under Sign-In & Security, and Apple gives you an access key to share with them or print. After a death, Apple explains that the Legacy Contact needs that access key and a death certificate to request access.
Facebook. Facebook lets you choose a legacy contact to look after your profile once it’s memorialised. Facebook explains that they can do some things, such as write a pinned post or update the profile picture, but can’t log in as you or read your messages. You can also choose to have your account deleted instead.
Other services have their own approaches, so check the help pages of any account that matters to you.
Leaving access safely
It’s tempting to write all your passwords on a piece of paper, or into your will. Please don’t put passwords in your will. A will is read by lawyers and others during probate, and passwords change.
Safer approaches include:
using the legacy tools above, which are designed for this
keeping a password manager, and checking whether it offers an emergency or family access feature
writing down where your devices are and how to unlock your main phone, and keeping that note somewhere secure that your executor knows about
Banks and super funds generally deal with a death through their own processes using the death certificate, so your family won’t need your banking password to settle the estate. Our guide on who to tell when someone dies explains how those notifications work.
Putting it in writing
Moneysmart notes that a will can include instructions about digital matters, such as access to your social media so it can be memorialised. Talk with your solicitor about how best to include your wishes. Our my wishes checklist has a section for your digital life, and our overview of getting your affairs in order shows how it fits with everything else.
When someone else has died
If you’re dealing with the accounts of someone who has died, each company has its own process. Apple explains that a Legacy Contact can request access using the access key and a death certificate, and that family members without one can still ask for help through its process for a deceased person’s account.
Facebook explains what happens to a profile when someone dies, including memorialisation and the option to remove the account. It’s worth starting with the person’s main email account and phone, because so much else depends on them.
Deciding what to keep
Some families find great comfort in old voicemails, emails or videos. If there’s a message you’d love someone to have, consider saving it somewhere they can reach, or recording one on purpose. A short video for a grandchild’s 18th birthday, or a letter saved in a shared folder, can mean more than any account. Our guide to writing letters to the people you love has ideas.
A solicitor For how digital assets and instructions should be dealt with in your will.
Sources we checked (6)
Each fact in this guide was checked against these official pages on 23 October 2026. Rules and forms change, so please check the source for your own situation.
This is general information, not legal, financial, insurance or medical advice. For your own situation, please speak with a qualified professional or the official body named above.
