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What happens to your photos when you die?
Most families don’t lose a loved one’s photos to malice or disaster. They lose them to a locked phone, a password nobody knows, and an account a company deletes after two quiet years. It happens constantly, and almost all of it is preventable in an afternoon.
How photos actually get lost
- The locked phone. The newest photos usually live on one device, behind one passcode, with no recovery path for family.
- Inactivity deletion. Google deletes accounts (and their photos) after extended inactivity; other services have similar policies. An account nobody can log into is on a countdown.
- No legacy contact. Apple and Google both offer legacy/inactive-account tools — Apple Legacy Contact, Google Inactive Account Manager — but they only work if someone set them up beforehand.
- The password problem. Even willing companies can’t help a family with no credentials and no legal setup. Courts are a slow, uncertain route.
Set these up this week (any service, not just Roon)
- Turn on Apple Legacy Contact or Google Inactive Account Manager and tell the person you named.
- Make sure at least one other human can reach your photo library — a shared album, a family account, a sealed note with your executor.
- Download a full copy of your most important photos somewhere boring and durable, and say where it is, out loud, to a person.
Roon’s part — narrow, and we keep it that way
Roon is not an estate-planning service, and this page won’t pose as one. What’s true about Roon: you can export everything — originals included — free, at any time, on every plan, so the story is never trapped here. And the Forever plan includes legacy handoff: name who inherits your family’s story, so it passes to a person on purpose instead of by password archaeology. The chapters and letters your family keeps here are written down and organized — which makes them far easier to hand over than a raw camera roll.
The goal isn’t immortality. It’s that the story reaches them — on purpose, in order, with the names attached.
start smaller
Legacy is just keeping, done on purpose.
You don’t need a lawyer to begin. Begin by preserving your family photos properly and recording your parents’ stories while they can still tell them. The paperwork can follow the love; it usually has to. And for the living side of the handover — how the photos reach your children, and who keeps the originals — read passing family photos down to your children.
plain answers
Questions, answered straight.
Can my family access my iCloud or Google Photos after I die?
Only if you set it up: Apple’s Legacy Contact and Google’s Inactive Account Manager exist for exactly this, but neither works retroactively. Without them, families face locked accounts and slow legal processes, and inactive accounts may eventually be deleted.
What should I set up now for my photos?
Three things: a legacy contact on Apple or Google, at least one other person who can reach your library, and a downloaded copy of the most important photos in a place your family knows about. An afternoon covers all three.
What does Roon’s legacy handoff do?
On the Forever plan, you name who inherits your family’s story. Combined with free full export on every plan, it means the story can pass to a chosen person directly — written, organized, and with everyone’s names attached — instead of being recovered from a locked phone.
Is Roon an estate-planning service?
No, and we won’t pretend to be. Roon keeps your family’s story and lets you export it anytime and hand it down on the Forever plan. Wills, executors, and account law are still yours to arrange — the steps on this page are the photo-specific part most guides skip.
We're building this with a small group of families first.
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