Free and automatic
After 3 to 18 months without activity, depending on what you set, it fires on its own.
Comparison
Google Inactive Account Manager: what it covers and what it doesn't.
If you use Gmail, turn it on today. It's free, and it's the only one of these systems that fires without anyone having to file a document. Then it's worth knowing where it stops.
01What it does
What it does, and does well.
It notifies up to ten people
And it can hand them the Google data you choose, service by service.
No paperwork
No death certificate, no procedure. It fires on silence, which is how it should work.
02Where it stops
Where it stops.
None of this is a flaw in Google. It's the scope they chose.
Google data only
Not the bank, not the insurer, not the advisor, not the mortgage.
The passwords don't leave
The ones your account stores stay there. Nobody inherits them.
It delivers files, not instructions
Your people get folders with no note saying which one matters first.
03In parallel
Both of them, one beside the other.
| What | Inactive Account Manager | My Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| When it opens | After 3 to 18 months without activity on your Google account. | When a full sequence of reminders goes unanswered, or on the date you choose. |
| What it delivers | The Google data you ticked. | A letter that explains the order, plus the files you assigned to each person. |
| Passwords | No. They stay in your account. | Yes, if you upload them: it's the copy that opens once, for the people you named. |
| Which accounts it covers | Google's. | All of them, wherever they live, because you write them down. |
Scroll the table sideways to see the full comparison.
What to do with both.
Leave the manager on: it's the best thing going for mail and Drive, and its three-month minimum is already a net. Put in My Lasts what Google will never hand over, which is the account map outside Google, the credentials and the note about what to do first.
Set up both.
The free one covers its own platform. My Lasts covers the rest and explains the order.
3 months at no charge. Then $90 the first year.
My Lasts is not a legal document and does not replace a will.