Where your Google account goes when you stop using it

Many of us keep a large part of daily life inside a Google account: email, photos, documents, contacts, and years of messages. If you stop using that account, whether you passed away or simply can no longer get to it, the question of what happens next is worth answering in advance. Google gives you a free way to decide. It is called Inactive Account Manager.

What it is

Inactive Account Manager is a free Google setting. It lets you decide ahead of time what should happen to your account and your data if the account goes quiet for a set period of time. You can ask Google to do one of two things: notify someone you choose, or share chosen parts of your data with one or more people you trust. You set it up yourself, and you can change it or cancel it at any time.

How Google decides you are inactive

Google looks at several signals to judge whether you are still using your account. These include your recent sign-ins, your activity in My Activity, your use of Gmail (such as opening the Gmail app on your phone), and regular check-ins from Android devices. The plan you set only starts if the account stays inactive for the full period you chose. Google contacts you by email, and by text if you added a phone number, before anything happens. That means a quiet stretch, such as a long trip, is not a problem as long as you sign in again.

Setting it up, step by step

1. Open the Inactive Account Manager page. Go to myaccount.google.com/inactive and sign in to your Google account. You can also reach it from your Google account settings under Data and privacy.
2. Choose your waiting period. Google offers several choices, from about 3 months to about 18 months of inactivity. The options are 3, 6, 12, or 18 months. A shorter period acts sooner. A longer period gives you more room to stay away without a false start.
3. Add your trusted contacts. You can add up to 10 people. For each person, decide whether Google should only notify them, or also share data with them.
4. Choose which data each person gets. You can share everything, or pick specific Google products such as Mail, Drive, Photos, YouTube, and Blogger. Different people can receive different things. A few kinds of information cannot be shared.
5. Add a phone number for each trusted contact. Google uses the phone number for one purpose only: to confirm that the right person is downloading your data. It helps stop the wrong person from using the email that was sent.
6. Write the message, if you are only notifying someone. If you choose to notify someone without sharing data, you can write the subject line and the message they will receive.
7. Review and turn the plan on. Google shows you exactly what will happen. After that, you are finished.

What your trusted contact can and cannot do

Your trusted contact can:

• Receive an email you wrote, but only after your account has been inactive for the period you chose.
• If you shared data with them, receive a list of the data you chose and a link to download it.
• Download that data after confirming their phone number.

Your trusted contact cannot:

• Get your password, or sign in as you.
• Read anything you did not choose to share.
• Reach your account before the waiting period is over.
• Change your account or its settings.

Contacts receive nothing during setup. They are contacted only after the waiting period you set has passed.

How this differs from sharing your password

Sharing your password is different, and riskier. A password opens everything, right away, and it keeps working until someone changes it. It can also let the other person read your email, which is the key to many other accounts.

Inactive Account Manager works the opposite way. Your trusted contact never receives your password. They receive only the data you chose, and only after the account has been quiet for the period you set. You stay in control, and you can change or cancel the plan whenever you like.

The waiting-period choices (3, 6, 12, or 18 months) are the options Google shows on the Inactive Account Manager page itself. Google can update them over time. If a menu or setting looks different, check that page or the official help page linked at the bottom of this lesson.