Platform settings pass on data. Your letters need a different plan.

Apple and Google both offer real, thoughtful settings for what happens to your account if something happens to you or you stop using your account: Apple Legacy Contact and Google Inactive Account Manager. If you use either platform, they're worth turning on.

But they were designed to pass on account data: whatever happens to be in your Apple Account or Google Account. They weren't designed for the letter you want your daughter to read, or a video meant for one person and nobody else. That needs a plan of its own.

What Apple Legacy Contact does

Per Apple's public support documentation (confirm the current docs for your region and device):

  • You can add one or more Legacy Contacts in your Apple Account settings, and share an access key with them.
  • To request access, a Legacy Contact needs the access key and a death certificate, per Apple. Documentation requirements can vary by country or region.
  • With access, they may reach certain Apple Account data, such as photos, messages, notes, files and device backups. Apple says some things are excluded, such as Keychain passwords and certain purchases.

This is Apple's process, with Apple's requirements.

What Google Inactive Account Manager does

Per Google's Account Help page on Inactive Account Manager (confirm the current settings):

  • You choose a period of inactivity after which Google acts.
  • You can choose up to 10 people to be notified, and share all or only specific data types with them, including different data with different people. Some information can't be shared.
  • Google says it looks at signals such as sign-ins and recent activity to decide whether an account is inactive.

This is Google's process, tied to your Google account activity.

Why your letters need something else

  • They share data, not messages. A Legacy Contact might receive your whole photo library, but not the letter you'd want read first.
  • One platform each. Your letters, videos and documents may be spread across devices and services.
  • They don't let you set aside specific items for specific people in the way a letter to one child calls for.

A plan for letters and videos

MemoryShield is an encrypted digital-legacy vault. You keep letters (plain text plus an optional file), videos you record in your browser or upload, photos and documents. You choose the named trustees who receive each item. They see nothing while you keep answering your email life-check.

Here is what happens if you stop answering your email check-ins. Nothing is released because of one missed email. First there's extended monitoring: more check-ins, more time. Then your backup contact is notified; they can't see your vault. Then there's a waiting period. Only after all of that do your verified trustees receive the items you designated for them. MemoryShield doesn't certify death and has no death-certificate, legal or medical review step. Full walkthrough: How an email life-check and verification work before vault release.

Unlike platform processes, MemoryShield has no death-certificate step and doesn't certify death. It also can't open your Apple or Google accounts. Those stay with each platform's own process.

A quiet note on security: your vault is encrypted at rest (AES-256), with escrowed keys so release can work after verification; not zero-knowledge. Item-level encryption is opt-in: you can turn it on for an item, and it's off unless you do. MemoryShield isn't a password manager or a will, and it can't open anyone's other accounts. How security works.

Side by side

Apple Legacy Contact Google Inactive Account Manager MemoryShield
What it passes on Certain Apple Account data Selected Google data Letters, videos, photos and documents you set aside
What starts it A request with an access key and documentation Account inactivity Missed email check-ins, then multi-step verification
Who receives it Your Legacy Contact People you named Your named trustees, item by item
Replaces the others? No No No. It's a separate, independent service

Use them together

  1. Set up Apple Legacy Contact and Google Inactive Account Manager if you use those platforms.
  2. Write the letters and record the videos that account data won't carry.
  3. Put them in your vault and choose who receives each one.
  4. Add a note telling trustees which platform settings you've turned on.

For social media legacy settings, see A memorialized profile isn't a goodbye message. Education only, not legal advice.

Start on the Free plan ($0)

Turn on your platform settings, then write the one letter no platform will carry for you.

Start on the Free plan ($0). No card required. The Free plan holds up to 5 items and 1 trustee. If you later want more room, Premium is $9.99/mo or $99/yr (up to 200 items and 5 trustees); paid plans have a 30-day trial and need a card or PayPal at checkout.

Security: https://memoryshield.life/security · Plans: https://memoryshield.life/public-pricing · Support: support@memoryshield.life

Apple and Google are trademarks of their respective owners. MemoryShield is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.