How to Set Up a Legacy Contact on Apple, Google, and Facebook

Why Set Up a Legacy Contact

Companies protect account privacy, and that protection continues after a death. Microsoft, for example, says that to access an account's content it must first be formally served with a valid subpoena or court order, and that providing one does not guarantee access. Our guide to digital assets after death explains the legal background, including why a platform's own tool often takes priority.

A legacy contact gives your family a direct route instead. It does not replace your will or executor. It simply makes the platform step easier.

Apple, Google, and Facebook Compared

How to Set Up an Apple Legacy Contact

Apple describes a Legacy Contact as someone you choose to have access to certain data in your Apple Account after your death. You can name more than one, and any one of them can individually make decisions about your account data.

Requirements

• An iPhone, iPad, or Mac running iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, or macOS Monterey 12.1 or later.
• A Legacy Contact who is over 13, a threshold that varies by country or region. They do not need an Apple Account or an Apple device.

Steps on iPhone or iPad

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap Sign-In & Security, then Legacy Contact, then Add Legacy Contact.
3. Choose a Family Sharing member or someone from your Contacts.
4. Choose how to share the access key: send it by iMessage or print a copy.

On a Mac, the path is System Settings, your name, Sign-In & Security, Legacy Contact.

What happens after a death

Your contact needs both the access key and your death certificate to request access. They can then see data such as photos, messages, notes, files, and device backups. They cannot access movies, music, books, or subscriptions bought with your Apple Account, or iCloud Keychain data such as payment information, passwords, and passkeys.

Apple says you can view or print the access key later from the same settings. Give a copy to your contact and keep one with your important papers.

How to Set Up Google's Inactive Account Manager

Google's tool works differently. It acts when your account has been inactive for a period you choose, rather than when you die. You set up the plan at myaccount.google.com/inactive, as Google's help page directs.

What you can set

• The waiting period. You choose the length of inactivity before the plan starts.
• Who gets what. You can pick up to 10 people and share all your data or specific types. You can give different people different data. Some information cannot be shared.
• A notify-only option. Contacts can receive an email you write, with no data.
• Phone numbers. Each trusted contact needs a phone number, which Google uses to make sure only that contact can download your data.

Google judges inactivity from signals such as last sign-ins, My Activity, Gmail usage, and Android check-ins. Contacts are notified only after the period you specified. You can edit or turn off your plan on the same page.

How to Set Up a Facebook Legacy Contact

A Facebook legacy contact looks after your memorialized profile. According to Facebook, they can post a pinned message, update your profile picture and cover photo, request removal of the account, and download a copy of what you have shared if you allow it. They cannot log in, read your messages, remove friends, or send new friend requests.

Steps

1. Open Accounts Center from Settings & privacy, then go to Manage accounts.
2. Select Account ownership and control, then Memorialization, and choose your account.
3. Click Memorialize account, then Next.
4. Enter a friend's name, select their profile, choose whether they can download a copy of what you shared, and click Save.
5. Optionally, send them a notice that they are your legacy contact.

If you would rather it be deleted

In the same Memorialization area, choose Delete after death. This removes your account after death instead of keeping it memorialized. You must be 18 or older to choose a legacy contact, and the setting applies to your main profile only. Check Facebook's current Help Center page if the menus look different.

Microsoft Accounts: No Legacy Setting

Microsoft's help page does not describe a legacy contact or any setting you can configure before death. It says relatives do not need to tell Microsoft that someone has died. If you know the account credentials, you can close the account yourself, and a closed account can be reopened within 60 days by signing in again. If you do not know them, the account closes automatically after two years of inactivity. Access to content requires a valid subpoena or court order, and even that does not guarantee access.

For Microsoft accounts, the practical step is to record how your family can sign in, using a password manager, and to leave instructions in your letter of instruction.

Passwords and Password Managers

Apple's Legacy Contact cannot see your Keychain passwords, and other platforms offer no password access at all. A password manager fills that gap if it has an emergency feature.

Bitwarden, for example, offers Emergency Access to premium users: you name a trusted contact who must have a Bitwarden account, and you choose a wait time. The contact can have view access to your vault, or takeover access, in which they create a new master password. You can approve a request at any time before the wait expires. Other password managers have their own recovery options, so read your provider's help page and choose a plan your family can actually follow.

Do not write a master password in the same place as your will. Keep it where your executor can reach it with proof of authority, or use the manager's built-in emergency feature.

After You Set Them Up

1. Tell your contacts. A contact who does not know the role cannot act. Share the Apple access key in the way you chose.
2. Record where things are. Add each platform to your emergency information list and mention it in your letter of instruction.
3. Pick the right person. A legacy contact does not have to be your executor, but they should be someone you trust with private material. See how to choose an executor.
4. Review once a year. People change, and so do devices and menus. Confirm your choices still make sense.

If you are on the other side of this and have lost someone, our guide to closing accounts after death and executor guide cover the next steps.

Frequently Asked Questions