Movies, music, and ebooks you've purchased won't be handed over even with a "Legacy Contact" in place—this is one of the most overlooked rules in Apple's digital legacy system. Whether it's Google or Apple, accounts don't automatically vanish after a user passes away, but for family members to successfully take over the data, the account holder needs to have set things up in advance. Without that setup, each company follows its own timeline and rules for handling these accounts.
Google has offered the Inactive Account Manager feature since 2013, letting users specify that an account trigger follow-up actions after 3, 6, or 12 months of inactivity: users can choose to have the data deleted outright, or have content like emails, contacts, and YouTube channels transferred to up to 10 trusted contacts. Google product manager Andreas Tuerk wrote in an official blog post at the time that he hoped the feature would let users "plan their digital afterlife in a way that protects their privacy and security."
Google: No Setup Means a Two-Year Wait, and Family Still Gets Nothing
If Inactive Account Manager is never set up at all, Google's system will determine an account to be inactive and delete it after two consecutive years without login activity or use of the Gmail app or other Google services. During this period, family members can also contact Google directly to request early deactivation of a deceased relative's account, but even if the request is approved, family members still won't receive any of the original data from the account.
