Legacy contact and inactive accounts: what iPhone, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Instagram offer
Anuxis · Reviewed by David Merinas, founder ·
Apple, Facebook and Instagram have a “legacy contact”, but it only comes into play after a death. If what worries you is being unable to get into your accounts one day because of a hospital stay or an accident, only two services offer anything: Google's Inactive Account Manager and Microsoft OneDrive's Digital legacy. Android and Google have nothing called a “legacy contact”: their equivalent is that Inactive Account Manager. And no service hands over passwords or unlocks your phone.
This is what each one offers according to its own help pages, checked in October 2026, and how to set it up.
Summary: what each service offers
| Service | What it is called | Does it help if you are alive but cannot get in? | What the person you trust receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google and Android | Inactive Account Manager | Yes, after the period of inactivity you choose | A notification and, if you wish, the data you choose (for example, email or Drive) |
| Microsoft | OneDrive Digital legacy | Yes, 72 hours after they use the code you give them | Read-only access to your OneDrive files and photos |
| Apple (iPhone) | Legacy Contact | No, only after a death | Photos, messages, notes, files and backups; not passwords |
| Legacy contact | No, only after a death | Looking after the memorialised profile; they cannot log in to your account or read your messages | |
| Legacy contact | No, only after a death | Making some decisions about the memorialised profile; nobody can log in to it | |
| None | No | Nothing; it also deletes inactive accounts |
Google and Android: Inactive Account Manager
It works while you are alive. If your account goes without activity for the length of time you choose, Google notifies the people you have named and, if you wish, lets them download the data you decided to share. Google says explicitly that it is for cases of death or inactivity.
- You can choose up to 10 people and share different things with each one.
- For each one you give their email address and mobile number: Google uses the phone to check that they are the person downloading the data.
- Signing in, using Gmail or your Android phone checking in all count as activity.
- You set it up on the Inactive Account Manager page of your Google Account: you choose the waiting period, add the people and choose which data to share with each one.
Source: Google Help. If you set nothing up, Google may delete an account that has not been used for at least two years.
Microsoft: OneDrive Digital legacy
It works while you are alive. Microsoft presents it as being for when you die or cannot use your account: it gives the person you invite read-only access to your OneDrive files and photos.
- On onedrive.com, go to Settings and then Digital legacy, and invite someone by email. That person accepts with their Microsoft account.
- Select Get code and give the code to them. The code does not change and does not expire.
- When the time comes, that person goes to Digital legacy, requests access with the code and, 72 hours later, can see your files.
Be careful: Microsoft's help page does not describe any check before access is opened. Whoever has the code can request it whenever they like, so give it only to someone you trust completely, or leave it with your important papers. Source: Microsoft Support.
If you do not sign in to Outlook.com and OneDrive at least once a year, Microsoft may close them (Microsoft Services Agreement).
Apple (iPhone): Recovery Contact and Legacy Contact
Apple has two different features, and it is worth not mixing them up:
- Recovery Contact: someone who helps you get back into your account if you are locked out, by giving you a code. They cannot see anything in your account.
- Legacy Contact: someone who will be able to access your photos, messages, notes, files and backups, but only after your death, with the access key you give them and the death certificate. It does not include saved passwords or purchases.
To add a Legacy Contact on your iPhone: Settings, tap your name, Sign-In & Security, Legacy Contact, and Add Legacy Contact. Apple gives you an access key that you can send by iMessage or print and keep with your important papers. A recovery contact is added from the same menu, under Recovery Contacts. Sources: Legacy Contact and recovery contact.
Facebook and Instagram: legacy contact
On both of Meta's networks, the legacy contact only steps in when the profile is memorialised after a death, and nobody can log in to that profile. On Facebook, the legacy contact also cannot read your messages. On both, you can choose instead to have the profile deleted.
- Facebook: the legacy contact can write a pinned post, update the profile picture and cover photo, request the removal of the account and, if you allow it, download a copy of what you shared. You set it up from your profile picture: Settings and privacy, Settings, Accounts Centre, Profiles and personal details (or Manage accounts), Account ownership and control, Memorialisation. Sources: what they can do and how to add one.
- Instagram: the legacy contact can make some decisions about the memorialised profile; without one, the profile can no longer be changed. You set it up in More, Settings, Accounts Centre, Personal details, Account ownership and control, Memorialisation. Sources: memorialised profiles and how to add one.
WhatsApp: nothing to set up, and a time limit worth knowing
WhatsApp has no trusted-person feature at all. What it does have is a time limit: as a rule, it deletes accounts that go more than 120 days without connecting. What is stored on the phone stays there as long as the app is not deleted. Source: WhatsApp Help.
Your phone: what nobody can do for you
If you forget an iPhone's passcode, Apple says it has to be reset, and that erases its data. Google says the same about an Android phone that cannot be unlocked; and to restore its Google backup afterwards, you need the PIN or pattern the phone had when the backup was made. In other words: if nobody knows your passcode, what is on the phone is lost, perhaps its backup too, and with it the messages in which your banks send you verification codes.
That is why your phone passcode is among the minimum your family would need in an emergency.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a legacy contact on Android or Google?
Not by that name. The equivalent is the Inactive Account Manager, which also works while you are alive, if your account goes inactive.
Can my legacy contact read my messages?
On Facebook, no. On Instagram, nobody can log in to a memorialised profile. With Apple, the Legacy Contact can access your messages, but only after a death.
Do any of these services hand over passwords?
No. None of them hands over passwords or unlocks the phone.
What to do this week
- If you use Gmail or an Android phone, set up the Inactive Account Manager.
- If you use OneDrive, invite someone to your Digital legacy and keep the code safe.
- If you use an iPhone, add a recovery contact and, if you wish, a Legacy Contact.
- If you use Facebook or Instagram, choose a legacy contact or decide to have the profile deleted.
- Leave your phone passcode and the instructions for getting into your email somewhere safe that someone you trust knows about.
That last point is the one no service solves, and it is what Anuxis does: it keeps those instructions encrypted and delivers them to whoever you choose if you stop responding to its inactivity checks. Google's and Microsoft's features each cover their own part; Anuxis keeps the key to reach everything else.