What is Inactive Account Manager?

Google's Inactive Account Manager (IAM) lets you decide what happens to your Google account if it becomes inactive for a period you choose. You can nominate trusted contacts who will be notified and optionally given access to your data.

This covers Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, YouTube, and every other Google service tied to your account.

Why you should set it up

Without IAM configured, your family would need to go through Google's lengthy deceased user process - which requires legal documentation and can take months. With IAM, your trusted contacts get notified automatically and can download your data with a few clicks.

Step-by-step setup

1. Open Inactive Account Manager

Go to myaccount.google.com/inactive and sign in to your Google account.

2. Choose your timeout period

Google will consider your account inactive after the period you select. Options range from 3 months to 18 months. The default of 3 months works well for most people.

Google sends you reminders (by email and SMS) before taking any action, so there's no risk of a false trigger during a long holiday.

3. Add trusted contacts

You can add up to 10 people. For each contact, you choose:

• Their email address - they'll be notified when the timeout triggers
• What data to share - you can select specific Google services (Gmail, Drive, Photos, etc.) or share everything
• A personal message - an optional message that's included in the notification email

4. Choose whether to delete your account

At the bottom of the settings, you can optionally request that Google delete your entire account after notifying your contacts and giving them time to download data.

5. Verify your phone number

Google uses your phone number to send reminder alerts before taking action. Make sure it's current.

6. Review and confirm

Save your settings. Google will send you a confirmation email.

Tips

• Review annually - check that your trusted contacts' email addresses are still correct and that your phone number is up to date
• Tell your contacts - let them know you've added them so the notification doesn't come as a surprise
• Record it in LifeBeacon - add your Google account to your digital vault so your trustees know IAM is configured and who your trusted contacts are

What your contacts receive

When the timeout triggers, each trusted contact gets an email from Google with:

1. A notification that your account has been inactive
2. A link to download the data you selected to share
3. Your personal message (if you wrote one)

They have 3 months to download the data before the links expire.

Limitations

• IAM only works with personal Google accounts, not Google Workspace (business) accounts
• You can't grant someone ongoing access to your account - they only get a data download
• Two-factor authentication keys and app passwords are not shared