What Happens to Your Google Account When You Die?

We live a big part of our lives online now. Our emails, photos, videos, saved passwords, work files, and even money are all stored in the cloud.

For many people, much of this is tied to their Google account. But there’s one thing most people never stop to consider — what happens to all of it after they die?

Google has a built-in tool that can help. It’s called Inactive Account Manager, writes Ziare.

It lets you choose what happens to your account if it hasn’t been used for a while — either because you forgot about it or because something serious happened, like death.

Here’s how it works. You choose a time period — between 3 and 18 months — during which your account must be inactive before Google takes any action.

When that time is up, Google will try to contact you. It will send an email and a text message.

If there’s no response, it will move on to the next step — the plan you set up in advance.

You can pick up to 10 people you trust. Each of them can be allowed access to parts of your data.

For example, you can let someone see your Gmail and Google Photos but not YouTube or Drive.

You have full control over who gets what. You can also choose to delete your account entirely once the plan kicks in.

This is an important step. Without it, families often get locked out of loved ones’ accounts.

They can lose precious photos or vital documents. And Google doesn’t share access unless you’ve made arrangements ahead of time.

On the flip side, an abandoned account can become a security risk. Hackers can target it. Sensitive information can be exposed.

Even though it may feel strange to think about, it’s worth taking the time. Go to myaccount.google.com/inactive and walk through the setup.

It only takes a few minutes to give your digital life a safer, clearer ending — on your terms.