Recode: A Blueprint for Your Digital Afterlife

Andrew Jay Schwartzman highlighted this Recode article, which contains important considerations for anyone with a digital presence.

We all know that we’re going to die someday. But what happens to our digital life after we’re gone?

A few months ago, a friend’s mother suddenly passed away. Her iPhone 5s was password protected, but no one knew the code. She had recently visited my friend and his family and used the iPhone to take several pictures with family members. Sadly, these are some of the last photos my friend has of his mother, but they’re all stuck on her iPhone.

Since then, my friend has been working with Apple to try to gain access to the photos. As the representative of his mother’s estate, he thought the process would be straightforward, but it is proving to be anything but.

This situation got me wondering about my own digital afterlife. What would happen to the tens of thousands of photos, documents and emails I’ve stored on devices or cloud services?

This week, I dug into this morbid topic with Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter to get some answers. I’m embarrassed to admit that, for the most part, I didn’t realize I had so many options for directing my digital data to someone else if something were to happen. This guide will help you and your friends and family feel more in control, despite the inevitable.

Read the rest of the article here.

A Blueprint for Your Digital Afterlife (Recode, Apr. 22, 2015)