Upon my death, delete: how to plan your digital legacy

Our favourite memories and important documents used to be kept as physical objects: photo albums, scrapbooks, postcards, contracts and certificates of ownership. That meant, when we died, these things would be relatively accessible to the loved ones we left behind.

In the internet era, a lot of that information is stored in the cloud. Everything from photos and videos to emails, documents and contracts, and even social media posts are not easily accessible without legacy planning.

Like me, many people also use social media for private journaling of family memories, in the hope those posts can still be seen in the future. Moreover, reminders from social media platforms about a deceased person can be painful and upsetting.

This is an issue that online platforms are increasingly aware of, and many now allow you to issue instructions for what should happen in the event of your death.

Depending on the platform, both preservation and deletion of your account are possible, but it does require forethought, and each platform has a different process.

In December of 2021, Apple introduced legacy contacts, allowing you to choose one or more trusted people to access your account after your death. You generate and share an access key with your nominated contact.

After you die, your contact will need to request access, provide the key you shared, and upload your death certificate to access your Apple account.