The “Google 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. Google will give access to selected parts of your Google account whoever you name.
How to manage your inactive Google account after your death?
Go to Accounts Page and find the Account Management section and enable the Inactive Account Manager Provide your mobile phone number in the “Alert Me” field. Google will send you a warning text message a month prior to the release of your data. The “Timeout period” field allows you to set the period of inactivity. The time ranges from 3 to 18 months. You can name up to 10 contacts to whom you would like to share your data in the “Notify contacts and share data” field. Each get the access to your selected data once the period of inactivity crosses. You need to provide your contacts phone number so Google can send a verification code in order to download the data. They have time of 3 months to do so. And if you don’t wish to share your data at all, you can delete everything in your account. Set it up in the final field of “Optionally delete account”.
What all you can share with your contacts?
You have the option of sharing specific data to different family members and friends. Not all the data will be downloaded by every contact. You can even assign a message instructing each contact. Here is the list of included services-
Mail +1s Blogger Contacts Google Drive Google+ Circles, Pages, Streams, Photos Hangouts Location History Picasa Web Albums Google Voice YouTube
You can set an auto-response for all incoming e-mails to your Gmail address once it becomes inactive.
Why you should consider setting up the Inactive Account Manager?
Image credit – blog.kaspersky.com There is no harm if you pre plan your ‘Digital Afterlife’. Many of our credentials are linked to our Google account. Management of those will become difficult for your family as they are behind the bars of your password. By providing access to your data after your life will free up from the legal procedures and headaches. Yes, it is pretty awkward to think about your own death but being a little organized before can be a great relief for your loved once. But who knows, there might come a time where you can access your Google from paradise! But till then take this step for sure.
