A digital legacy is everything you leave behind online and on your devices: accounts, photos, messages, files, domains and digital money. To write your own, list your accounts and devices, set up each platform’s legacy tool (Google Inactive Account Manager, Apple Legacy Contact, Facebook legacy contact), store access details securely, and name who should handle them in your estate documents.
Key Takeaways
- A digital legacy covers online accounts, stored files, devices and digital assets, and the personal story you choose to leave with them.
- Google, Apple and Facebook each offer a free built-in tool that lets you choose in advance who gets access or what happens to your account.
- In the United States, the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA, 2015) gives instructions made in a platform’s online tool priority over a will and over the terms of service.
- A digital legacy plan is not a will; the legally binding part still belongs in a will or other estate document.
- Review the plan whenever you open, close or change an important account.
Everyone is familiar with the term “legacy”, but most people are a bit lost when it comes to “digital legacy”. Granted, the term is rather new and wouldn’t have had much relevance say, ten years ago. But times change, and we are now faced with such a term that begs the question “what is digital legacy”. To answer this, we need to first go a bit back to what regular legacy is.
How to Write Your Own Digital Legacy: A Guide
Legacy is what people leave behind once their time has passed. Legacy can be interpreted from many points of view, be they family oriented i.e. children, physical and material like something the person built, or professional, in the form of a recording of all their accomplishments and realizations. But most times, it’s a combination of all these, and can easily be described as “what you leave behind”.
Taking that into account, we can look at digital legacy as a digitized version. It’s practically just a matter of how all these are stored. There was a time when pen and paper would dictate the recording of such things, but today everyone uses digital devices.
Some call it an “online legacy”, but that term is too narrow: a digital legacy also includes what is stored on physical devices such as phones, tablets, computers, external drives and even gaming consoles.
This legacy can take the form of anything that can be found stored away on one of the aforementioned platforms. Here, we are looking at accounts, user information, audio and video files, and pretty much anything in between. The person related content stored on social media platforms also counts towards one’s digital legacy.
Digital legacy can tell us many things about a person, and can even contain information that can prove helpful in the aftermath of their passing. However, a digital legacy plan should not be confused with a will, which is the legally binding document; the plan works best as a companion to a will, with the will or another estate document naming who has authority over your digital assets.
It can be as simple as writing a memoir, which will continue being around long after the author is not. A recollection of thoughts and ideas, accomplishments and regrets, it can all be passed down in a form that is less vulnerable in the face of time. Many are attempting to write a digital legacy nowadays, but some find themselves stuck when it comes to properly doing so. The step-by-step guide below explains how to approach and organize a digital legacy, from listing accounts to setting up each platform’s legacy tools.
Worldwide digitalization is a process that has started a pretty long time ago, and is continuing to make advancements today. Digital legacies are another step in the march towards a completely digital ecosystem. 🙂
What Does a Digital Legacy Include?
A digital legacy usually falls into four groups. Listing them separately makes it easier to decide what should be passed on, kept private or deleted.
| Category | Examples | What to decide |
|---|---|---|
| Personal accounts | Email, social media, cloud storage, messaging apps | Who gets access, and whether each account is memorialized, handed over or deleted |
| Files and memories | Photos, videos, documents, device backups, a written memoir | Where copies are kept and who receives them |
| Financial and digital assets | Online bank and payment accounts, cryptocurrency, domain names, online stores | How your executor finds and legally accesses them |
| Devices | Phones, tablets, computers, external drives, gaming consoles | How they are unlocked, wiped or passed on |
How to Write Your Own Digital Legacy, Step by Step
- Make an inventory. List every important account (service name and username, not the password), every device, and where your files and backups are stored. Include anything that costs money, such as subscriptions and domain renewals.
- Decide what should happen to each item. For every account, choose one outcome: hand it over, download and share the data, memorialize it, or delete it.
- Turn on each platform’s legacy tool. Google, Apple and Facebook let you record your wishes in advance (details below). In the United States these online instructions carry legal weight under RUFADAA.
- Store access details securely. Keep passwords in a password manager rather than in a plain document or a will, which goes out of date every time a password changes. Some password managers, such as Bitwarden on its premium and paid organization plans, have an emergency-access feature for a trusted contact.
- Name a person in your estate documents. Say in your will or other estate document who should manage your digital assets, and tell that person where the inventory is kept.
- Back up what matters. Keep copies of irreplaceable photos and documents in more than one place so that they survive a closed account or a failed device.
- Write the personal part. A letter, memoir, recorded video or a short note on what each account meant to you is the part of a digital legacy that no platform tool can create for you.
- Review it regularly. Update the inventory when you open or close accounts, change devices or change your trusted contacts.
For practical help with the storage steps, see these guides on steps to protect your digital assets and the easiest way to back up a computer to the cloud. If you still need a strong, unique password for your password manager’s master account, the secure password generator creates one in the browser.
Platform Legacy Tools Compared
The three largest consumer platforms each handle death or long inactivity differently. The details below come from each company’s own help pages, checked in September 2026.
| Platform | Tool | Who you can name | What they get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inactive Account Manager | Up to 10 trusted contacts | A notification, and a download link for the data you chose to share, after a chosen period of inactivity | |
| Apple | Legacy Contact | One or more Legacy Contacts | Photos, messages, notes, files and device backups, with an access key and a death certificate |
| Legacy contact (memorialization) | A legacy contact (you must be 18 or older to name one) | Limited management of a memorialized profile; no login and no access to messages |
How does Google Inactive Account Manager work?
Google Inactive Account Manager lets you choose how long Google should wait before treating your account as inactive; the options are 3, 6, 12 or 18 months. According to Google, you can choose up to 10 people to be notified and, if you wish, to receive a link to download the data you selected. Trusted contacts have reported getting three months to download that data. The setting sits under Google Account, Data and privacy, “Make a plan for your digital legacy”, and it can also be set to delete the account after the inactivity period.
Google also announced in May 2023 that personal Google Accounts unused for at least two years may be deleted, with deletions starting in December 2023 and warning emails sent beforehand. According to that announcement, accounts with YouTube videos and organization accounts (schools and businesses) are excluded.
How does Apple Legacy Contact work?
Apple Legacy Contact requires iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or macOS Monterey 12.1 or later. After your death, a Legacy Contact needs the access key you generated when you added them plus your death certificate to request access. According to Apple, they can reach photos, messages, notes, files and device backups, but not purchased movies, music, books or subscriptions, and not your iCloud Keychain (passwords, passkeys and payment information).
What can a Facebook legacy contact do?
A Facebook legacy contact manages a memorialized account. According to Facebook’s help center, a legacy contact can write a pinned post, update the profile and cover photos, request removal of the account and, if you allow it, download a copy of what you shared. A legacy contact cannot log in, read your messages, remove friends or send friend requests. You can instead choose to have the account permanently deleted after your death.
Is a Digital Legacy Legally Binding?
A digital legacy plan on its own is not a legal document. In the United States, access to a person’s digital assets after death or incapacity is governed in most states by the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA), which the Uniform Law Commission published in 2015. Wikipedia reported that 47 states had enacted it as of 2021; check your own state’s law.
RUFADAA sets a three-level order of priority:
- Online tools, such as Google Inactive Account Manager or a Facebook legacy contact, come first and override the other two.
- Wills, trusts and powers of attorney apply where no online tool was used.
- The platform’s terms of service apply only when neither of the above exists.
Under the act, a fiduciary such as an executor generally cannot see the content of your private messages unless you clearly consented to it. That makes the online tools and a written instruction in your estate documents the two most important parts of a plan. Rules differ outside the United States, so this is general information, not legal advice; a local estate lawyer can confirm what applies to you. For the will itself, see this list of free last will and testament forms.
Cryptocurrency and Other Digital Money
Cryptocurrency held in a self-custody wallet is not covered by the Google, Apple or Facebook legacy tools; whoever inherits it needs the wallet’s recovery information. Record where the recovery information is stored (not the phrase itself in a will) and make sure a trusted person or your executor can find it. The guides on how to back up and restore a Bitcoin wallet and legal safeguards for crypto investors cover the details.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Writing passwords into a will. Passwords change often, and a will is not a secure place to store them.
- Sharing your login instead of using the legacy tool. A platform’s own tool is the route RUFADAA ranks first, ahead of a will and the terms of service.
- Forgetting paid services. Subscriptions, domain names and cloud storage plans keep billing unless someone knows to cancel them.
- Keeping a single copy of important photos. One lost phone or closed account can erase them.
- Never updating the plan. A trusted contact’s email address or your list of accounts can go out of date.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a digital legacy?
A digital legacy is the collection of online accounts, digital files, devices and digital assets a person leaves behind, together with the instructions on what should happen to them. It can also include a memoir, letters or videos written for family.
Is a digital legacy the same as a will?
No. A digital legacy plan records your accounts and wishes, but a will is the legally binding document. Use both: the plan lists what exists, and the will or another estate document names who has authority over it.
What happens to my Google account if I die?
If you set up Google Inactive Account Manager, Google follows your instructions after 3, 6, 12 or 18 months of inactivity, notifying up to 10 trusted contacts and sharing the data you chose. Without a plan, Google says it may delete personal accounts that have been inactive for at least two years.
Can my family access my iPhone data after I die?
Yes, if you add an Apple Legacy Contact on iOS 15.2 or later. That person needs the access key and your death certificate, and can reach photos, messages, notes, files and backups, but not iCloud Keychain passwords or purchased media.
Can a Facebook legacy contact read my messages?
No. According to Facebook, a legacy contact cannot log in or read messages. They can write a pinned post, update the profile and cover photos, request removal of the account and download shared content if you allowed it.
Should I put my passwords in my will?
No. Passwords change often and a will is not a secure store for them. Store them in a password manager, use its emergency-access feature if it has one, and say in your will who should manage your digital assets.
