Preparing your digital legacy
Your photos, your messages, your accounts: a large part of your life is online. Without preparation, your loved ones will be able to recover almost nothing. A few settings, made once, change everything.
The essentials
No platform hands over a deceased person's password. So that your loved ones can recover your data, name a legacy contact on Apple and Facebook, and set up Google's Inactive Account Manager. Also note, for each account, whether to keep it, close it or pass on its content.
The steps, in order
- 01
List your accounts
Email, social networks, photo storage, paid subscriptions. A simple list, without the passwords, already helps your loved ones a great deal.
- 02
Apple: name a legacy contact
In your Apple account settings. The chosen person receives an access key: with it and your death certificate, they will be able to request access to your data.
- 03
Facebook: choose a legacy contact
They will be able to manage your profile once it becomes a memorialised account, or request its removal.
- 04
Google: set up the Inactive Account Manager
It lets you name people who will receive some of your data if your account remains inactive, for example after your death.
- 05
Say what you want
For each account: keep it as a memory, close it, pass on the photos. Written down somewhere, this wish spares your loved ones from deciding in your place.
- 06
Review it from time to time
A new account, a contact who changes: review the list and your settings when your life evolves.
Frequently asked questions
Should you leave your passwords?
It is not the best solution: legacy contacts and the Inactive Account Manager let you pass things on without them, and a password written in plain text can fall into the wrong hands.
What happens if I prepare nothing?
Your loved ones will have to prove their rights to each platform, with a death certificate, and will rarely recover the content: none gives out a deceased person's password.
Your digital wishes, kept safe
In Aïon, write down what you want for your accounts and name two trusted people, who will have access when the time comes.
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Official sources
- Apple — Ajouter un contact légataire
- Facebook — Ce que devient votre profil après votre décès
- Google — Gestionnaire de compte inactif
Updated on October 23, 2026. This guide summarises the usual steps; it does not replace advice from a notary, a lawyer or your country's authorities. How we write our guides