PRACTICAL GUIDE · OCTOBER 2026

Digital inheritance: wishes, access and authority

Naming a person in an app is not, by itself, a legal transfer of ownership or authority over all your accounts.

Separate three decisions

What should be preserved or removed? Who should handle it? How can they obtain authorized access? These are different questions. A personal message and a business account may need different recipients, rules and supporting documents.

Use official tools for official accounts

Apple offers a Legacy Contact process with an access key and documentation requirements; Google handles deceased-account requests separately. A contact in one app is not automatically recognized by another provider. Check the official instructions and tell your contact where necessary information is kept.

Make the handoff understandable

Plain-language instructions help a representative understand your wishes. Review legal arrangements with a qualified adviser in the relevant jurisdiction. Keep credentials out of broadly shared instructions. Test the clarity of a fictional handoff before relying on a real one.

A small next step

Distinguish wishes from credentials.
Choose recipients for particular information.
Check documentation and legal authority.
Do a fictional walkthrough with a trusted person.

Where Digital Keep fits

Digital Keep's invitation-only beta lets you try private notes, documents and explicit read-only sharing with fictional information. Adding a person does not grant access; you choose sharing separately. Automatic death verification and inheritance delivery are not active. Digital Keep does not replace provider tools or legal advice.

Do not upload passwords, seed phrases, bank credentials or irreplaceable data during the beta. Read the security boundaries and keep independent copies.

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