How do you leave your passwords and online accounts to your family

Why a sheet of passwords is the wrong answer

The first instinct is to write every password on one sheet and leave it in a drawer. That solves one problem and creates two: the sheet goes out of date the next time a site asks for a new password, and anyone who finds it has everything. FEMA's Ready preparedness campaign advises being careful about sharing bank account, Social Security and credit card numbers, and a password sheet holds more than any of those.

The large platforms now offer their own ways to name someone in advance, and they work without anyone knowing your password. Some also cover things a password alone would not, such as removing the activation lock from a phone.

A better split looks like this: use each company's legacy feature where one exists, keep one recovery kit for your password manager somewhere safe, and write down in your family binder which accounts exist and where that kit is.

Apple: Legacy Contact

Apple lets you name one or more Legacy Contacts for your Apple Account. According to Apple Support, you need a device running iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or macOS Monterey 12.1 or later, and the setting is under Settings, then your name, then Sign-In & Security, then Legacy Contact. The person you choose does not need an Apple device or an Apple Account.

Adding someone creates an access key. Apple says your Legacy Contact will need both that key and your death certificate to request access, and that Apple cannot access or replace a key that has been lost. You can send the key by iMessage, print a copy for them, or save a copy with your estate planning documents. Printing a copy and noting in your binder where it is kept covers the case where a phone is lost as well.

Know what it covers. Apple Support lists iCloud Photos, notes, mail, contacts, calendars, Messages in iCloud, files in iCloud Drive and iCloud backups among the data a Legacy Contact can reach. It excludes purchased movies, music and books, subscriptions, payment information and anything in iCloud Keychain, so saved passwords are not passed on. Once Apple approves a request, Activation Lock is removed from devices that used the account, and access lasts for a limited time.

Google: Inactive Account Manager

Google's tool is called Inactive Account Manager, and it works on inactivity rather than paperwork. You tell Google how long to wait, and if your account has been inactive for that period, Google notifies the people you chose and can share the data you picked with them. Google's help page says you can choose up to 10 people and share different data with different people.

To decide whether an account is still in use, Google looks at signals including recent sign-ins, activity in My Activity, Gmail use and Android check-ins. Your trusted contacts are not told when you set up the plan, only when it triggers, and Google verifies them by phone before they can download anything.

If no plan is set, Google says it may delete an account that has been inactive across its services for at least two years, and that in many cases it can work with immediate family members to close a deceased person's account. Setting up the plan is the way to make your own choices known in advance.

Facebook: a legacy contact, or deletion

Facebook lets you choose a legacy contact for your main profile, and you must be at least 18 to add one, according to Facebook's Help Center. Once the profile has been memorialized, that person can write a pinned post, update the profile and cover photos, and request that the account be removed.

A legacy contact cannot log in to your account or read your messages. If you would rather your profile not stay up at all, Facebook lets you choose to have your account permanently deleted instead. Services without a legacy feature are covered by the list in your binder and by your password manager.

Password managers: emergency access and recovery kits

If you use a password manager, it may already have a way to pass access on. Bitwarden's help center describes Emergency Access, available on its premium plan and on paid organization plans, which lets you name trusted contacts who can request access to your vault. You choose whether a contact can only view your items, passwords included, or take over the vault, and you can reject a request so that access is not granted.

1Password takes a different approach with its Emergency Kit, a PDF holding your sign-in address, email address and Secret Key, with a space to write your account password. 1Password suggests printing a copy to keep in a safe deposit box or with your passport or birth certificate, and giving a copy to someone you trust, such as your spouse or someone in your will.

Either way, the binder's job is the same: say which password manager you use and where the kit or emergency access details are, not what the master password is.

What to write down for your family

With those tools in place, the phones and online accounts page of a binder becomes short and safe to print. List your main email address, your phone and its carrier, the accounts that matter most, such as banking, utilities, photo storage and social media, which legacy features you have set up and who you named, and where your password manager's kit is kept.

Common mistakes are easy to avoid once you know them: naming a legacy contact without telling them, losing the Apple access key, which Apple cannot replace, letting the list of accounts go stale, and keeping a master password next to the list it protects. A yearly review, which the National Institute on Aging recommends for all of your important papers, catches most of these.

LastBinder has a phone and online accounts topic among its 8, and it asks you to note where things are kept rather than how to open them. It never asks for passwords, and what you write stays on your phone until you print or share it.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Each company's rules can change, so check its help pages before relying on a setting. Who can legally access a person's accounts after death depends on where they lived, so questions about an estate are for a lawyer.

Frequently asked questions