What happens to your Google account when you die: the steps as of 2026-10-18

About Inactive Account Manager

Inactive Account Manager is a way for users to share parts of their account data or notify someone if they’ve been inactive for a certain period of time. You can use this tool to designate a third party, like immediate family members, to receive certain account data in the event of the user's death or inactivity. To set it up, visit the Inactive Account Manager page.

Which data can I share?

When you set up Inactive Account Manager, you'll find the data options you can share after your account becomes inactive for a specific amount of time. You can select up to 10 people to receive this data, and choose to share all or only specific data types. You can also share different data with different people. Note that some information can’t be shared.

How do we detect activity?

We look at several signals to understand whether you are still using your Google Account. These include your last sign-ins, your recent activity in My Activity, usage of Gmail (e.g., the Gmail app on your phone), and Android check-ins.

When will my data be shared as I've instructed?

We’ll only trigger the plan you set up if your Google Account has been inactive for a certain period of time.

Tell us how long we should wait before we do so by setting up your plan at your Inactive Account Manager page.

What happens when your account gets deleted?

Deleting your Google Account will affect all products associated with that account (e.g., Blogger, AdSense, Gmail), and affect each product differently. You can review the data associated with your account on the Google Dashboard. If you use Gmail with your account, you'll no longer be able to access that email. You'll also be unable to reuse your Gmail username.

Why do I need to provide a phone number for a trusted contact?

We'll use the phone number for the sole purpose of ensuring that only the trusted contact can actually download your data. Verifying the identity using a mobile phone number prevents data access from unauthorized people who might get hold of the email we send to your trusted contact.

What will trusted contacts receive?

Contacts will only receive notification once your account has been inactive for the specified amount of time -- they will not receive any notification during setup. If you chose to only notify your contacts of your inactive account, they'll receive an email with a subject line and content that you wrote during setup. We'll add a footer to that email, explaining that you've instructed Google to send an email on your behalf after you've stopped using your account. This footer might say something like this:

John Doe (john.doe@gmail.com) instructed Google to send you this mail automatically after John stopped using his account.

Sincerely,

The Google Accounts Team

If you chose to share data with your trusted contact, the email will additionally contain a list of the data you have chosen to share with them, and a link they can follow to download the data. An example of such message could be:

John Doe (john.doe@gmail.com) instructed Google to send you this mail automatically after John stopped using his account.

John Doe has given you access to the following account data:

Blogger

Drive

Mail

YouTube

Download John's data here.

Sincerely,

The Google Accounts Team

Can I change trusted contacts or modify my choices?

Yes. To edit your choices or turn off your plan, visit the Inactive Account Manager page.

What happens to my data if I don't set up a plan with Inactive Account Manager?

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As published on 2026-10-18, https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546

Submit a request regarding a deceased user's account

People expect Google to keep their information safe, even in the event of their death.

Make plans for your account

Inactive Account Manager is the best way for you to let us know who should have access to your information, and whether you want your account to be deleted. Set up Inactive Account Manager for your account.

Make a request for a deceased person's account

We recognize that many people pass away without leaving clear instructions about how to manage their online accounts. We can work with immediate family members and representatives to close the account of a deceased person where appropriate. In certain circumstances we may provide content from a deceased user's account. In all of these cases, our primary responsibility is to keep people's information secure, safe, and private. We cannot provide passwords or other login details. Any decision to satisfy a request about a deceased user will be made only after a careful review.

Account Closure Requests

If you select to close the Google account, Google is unable to process any request to turn over the contents of the account at a later date. If you have already submitted a request for the contents of the account please wait for that request to be complete before submitting any subsequent requests.

What would you like to do?Close the account of a deceased userSubmit a request for funds from a deceased user's accountObtain data from a deceased user's account

As published on 2026-10-18, https://support.google.com/accounts/troubleshooter/6357590