I know — it’s a grim topic. But we have to think about what happens to all our online accounts, data, notes, photos, videos, websites, playlists, blogs and subscriptions once we’re gone.
Do your loved ones a favor and get this sorted out beforehand.
Your Apple account
Apple’s Legacy Contact is a safe, secure way to give someone access to data stored in your Apple account after you die. You can add more than one Legacy Contact, and all of them can access the account to make decisions. The person must be 13 or older.
Here’s how to set it up on your iPhone:
- Open Settings and tap your name.
- Go to Sign-In & Security > Legacy Contact.
- Tap Add Legacy Contact. You may have to use Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode to authenticate.
- You can choose a group member if you’re in a Family Sharing group. Or you can tap Choose Someone Else to add someone from your Contacts.
- Select the person from your Contacts. Tap Continue.
- You’ll be asked how you want to share your access key. Select Print Access Key or Send Access Key.
- If you choose to send the key digitally, Apple will create a message letting your contact know you’ve added them as your legacy contact. Tap Send.
Do the same for Facebook
On Facebook, you can name a legacy contact who can write posts, update your profile photo and get a copy of everything you did on Facebook after you pass. It’s easiest to do this from a computer.
- When signed into Facebook, tap your profile in the upper-right corner.
- Select Settings & Privacy > Settings > See more in Accounts Center > Personal details > Account ownership and control.
- Next, choose Memorialization and select your Facebook account.
- The final step is to establish a Legacy contact from your Facebook contacts.
You can decide whether the person you chose can download a copy of what you’ve shared on your feed, including posts, photos, videos and profile information.
If you’d rather have your account deleted after you pass away, get to the Memorialization settings page and scroll down. Right above the Close button, select Request that your account be deleted after you pass away.
Wipe your search history and location data
You probably have a few things you’d prefer to stay private in your search, watch and location history. Google auto-deletes account records after 18 months by default. If you want to shorten that window, you can in a few steps.
- Go to your Google Activity controls and log in with your Google account.
- Under Web & App Activity, you’ll see Auto-delete. Be sure this is turned On.
- Click the arrow to choose your preferred timeframe: 3 months, 18 months or 36 months.
Or here’s another option if you missed it in yesterday’s email: Opera GX swaps out your real search history with nice-looking searches if you go 14 days without using the browser.
✅ Next action step: Create a digital will. Everyone needs a list of all their accounts, passwords and online assets. Here’s how to set it up.