What happens to your data when you die? Here's how to prepare

Three quarters of Which? members* have no plan for what to do with their digital assets after they’ve passed away – that includes their photos, emails, and online accounts. 

In our survey, just 18% had recorded how to access their accounts for someone to follow, and only 3% included provisions in their Will. While there are set rules for how online banking services are handled after death, for every other aspect of our digital lives more planning is required to ensure loved ones can access treasured digital memories.

Below we explain more about the sorts of digital assets you need to consider, and how to create your own digital legacy plan.

Find out how Which? can simplify the process of writing a Will, including managing digital assets.

Weighing up your digital assets

With so much of our lives lived ‘digitally’ and online, it can be daunting to plan a digital legacy, but not everything needs passing on. The most important step is to weigh things up carefully to decide which platforms to prioritise, so you can preserve what matters the most. 

• Email: From messages and contacts to documents and photos, make it a priority to include the login details for your email in a digital legacy plan.
• Photos: Our photos are now more likely to be stored on a device or cloud service than placed in an album - so clear instructions will be required to access them. 
• Social media: Facebook and LinkedIn accounts were the hardest to access post mortem, followed by Twitter and Instagram. You can’t bequeath a social media account in your Will, but you can put a plan in place for someone to manage it for when you’re gone.
• Subscription services: Subscriptions will need keeping track of, and you'll need a plan in place for someone to shut them down rather than just relying on the bank to cancel a direct debit.
• Digital media: You generally don’t own any digital movies, music or books, but licence them to consume them in a certain way. Therefore, these can’t form part of your digital legacy.

How different platforms allow access to data after death

Some 6% in our survey had to access a loved one’s digital assets in the last three years, with the most common being email (74%), followed by photos (31%) and Facebook (24%). Unfortunately, many cited issues with account access, transferring files and dealing with unhelpful customer services. 

There's no overarching right to access someone’s data after death – data protection rights cease when an individual dies and so digital assets don’t get passed on automatically. Instead, a potentially complex and often unhelpful landscape of company policies needs to be navigated to understand what you can and can’t access or pass on. 

• Some companies, like Apple, offer to help with tools like its Legacy Contract, which allows you to name someone to have access to the data in your Apple account after your death. You can find this in your iPhone or iPad settings. 
• Google has an inactive account manager for services including Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube and more, and allows you to inform Google of someone you want to access your account after you pass away, and whether you want it deleted after a certain period of time.
• For Facebook, you can designate someone as a legacy contact after an account has been memorialised. This person can manage the account, write a pinned post to the profile, respond to new friend requests, and permanently delete the profile.

Other platforms, like Amazon, Microsoft and Instagram have more limited options. It's possible to securely share your Amazon email account and password with someone so they can sign in, but they also need access to additional verification (eg a smartphone that receives a code by text). Otherwise someone will need to supply Amazon with a death certificate and photo ID. 

Microsoft (including Hotmail, OneDrive, and LinkedIn) requires a court order to release account information, and even then it does not guarantee giving access, and on Instagram you’ll need both the birth and death certificate for the deceased person, and proof that you are their lawful representative.

Visit the STEP website for more information on how to protect your digital memories on different platforms.

Can I include digital assets in my Will? 

If provisions are put in place, some digital files and assets, including photos and original works, along with certain digital assets such as vouchers and loyalty card points can form part of your estate upon death and pass to your beneficiaries. Others, such as e-books, music files and social media accounts cannot typically be passed on. 

Most of the major Will writing companies do not encourage you to place digital assets directly into your Will. Instead, consider the steps to safeguard your legacy below, and read the policy for each digital asset and service you use to make sure you know where you stand.

Find out how a letter of wishes works and get advice on planning your digital legacy with Which? Will services. 

Three ways to safeguard your digital legacy

Creating a digital legacy plan is primarily about recording in a secure way instructions for accessing digital assets that you want to pass on to a trusted person or persons. Try to combine at least two of these methods, ideally all four if you can. 

Local storage 

If data isn’t stored in two places, it’s not reliably stored. It’s easy to backup important photos and other files, and include your digital legacy plan when you have one, on a USB stick or physical hard drive. This is one of the easiest initial steps to take – and you could drop off a duplicate of your photos and other important files and memories to loved one straight away. You can also password-protect the data, and share how to access it in your cloud service note, or in a letter of wishes. 

Cloud storage

Most cloud storage services, such as OneDrive, enable you to create a shared document and then securely share this with other people. You can include instructions here, and keep them updated. Also consider including smartphone PIN codes just in case. 

Use a password manager

Password managers, such as LastPass and Dashlane, are also useful for securely sharing passwords with others. Many also enable you to share notes containing information and guidance on logging into your accounts. Lastpass even offers a dedicated ‘digital contingency’ service. 

Establish a letter of wishes

It’s best not to include specific digital assets or services in your Will. Alongside issues around ownership, digital assets can also frequently change, so you won’t want the expense of constantly updating your Will. Instead, it’s often advised to include a ‘letter of wishes’. This is a separate document that accompanies the Will. It is not legally binding, but it can explain what you want to happen and provide more information to your executors and family.

*based on a survey of 14,631 Which? members conducted in May 2024.