Photos and cloud storage: iCloud, Google Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive

Of these four, only Apple and Google offer a built-in way to pass on photos and files.
Without that set-up, families usually face a court order, and even then access is not guaranteed.
Inactivity rules can delete a dead person’s files after one or two years, so act early.
A local backup on a drive is the simplest safety net.

Family photos now sit in cloud accounts, behind logins no company will hand over. What you can do depends on the service and on what was set up in advance.

How the four services compare

Service	Set up in advance	After a death, without set-up	Inactivity rule
iCloud	Legacy Contact	Court order in the US and some other countries; UK route unclear	Apple may close an account inactive for a year, with 30 days’ notice
Google Photos and Drive	Inactive Account Manager, Partner Sharing	Request form; data may need a US court order	Personal accounts unused for two years may be deleted
Dropbox	None found	Court order	Free accounts closed after 12 months; files deleted within 90 days
OneDrive	None found	Subpoena or court order	Frozen after one year; files deleted shortly after

Policies change, so check each company’s help page.

Set it up now

iCloud: add a Legacy Contact

An Apple Legacy Contact can reach iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, Notes, Mail and iCloud backups after your death. You need iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or macOS Monterey 12.1 or later. The contact doesn’t need an Apple device, and must be over 13 (the age varies by country).

Each Legacy Contact gets an access key. Keep a printed copy with your estate papers, because Apple can’t replace a lost key. Access lasts three years from Apple’s first approval, then the account is permanently deleted. Our Apple Legacy Contact guide has the steps.

Inactive Account Manager lets you name up to 10 people to receive data you choose, such as Drive files, once your account has been inactive for a period you set (up to 18 months, per Google’s 2023 announcement). See our Google guide.

Partner Sharing works while you are alive. It shares photos of chosen people, or from a chosen date, with a partner as they back up. Photos the partner has saved stay in their library after sharing ends.

Dropbox and OneDrive

We found no legacy contact feature at either. Share folders with a trusted person, and list the account in your digital asset inventory so your executor knows it exists.

Keep a copy outside the cloud

Which? recommends local backups on a USB stick or external drive, with duplicates. If the drive goes in a home safe, check the rating: a safe rated for paper (UL Class 350 or EN 15659 LFS) is not designed for drives. A media rating such as UL Class 125 or EN 1047-1 DIS is meant for heat-sensitive data media, so check with the maker before relying on a safe for drives.

Apple’s iCloud Shared Photo Library shares with up to five other people, but Apple doesn’t say what happens to it when the organiser dies. Don’t treat it as a backup.

If someone has died

Look for a Legacy Contact or trusted contact. It is the easiest route. An Apple Legacy Contact needs the access key and death certificate.
Ask for data before closure. Google’s form offers three choices: close the account, request funds, or obtain data. If you close the account first, Google can’t process a data request later.
Note the deadlines. Outlook.com and OneDrive freeze after a year without a sign-in. Free Dropbox accounts close after 12 months. Google may delete after two years.
Gather paperwork. Get several copies of the death certificate.

What each company asks for

Apple, no Legacy Contact: in the US, Israel and other locales, Apple gives access with a court order stating, among other things, that you are the deceased’s legal personal representative, agent or heir. Apple names France, Germany, Japan, Australia and New Zealand as examples of places that can use other documents. The UK is not named, so ask Apple what it needs rather than assuming a grant of probate is enough. Some data is end-to-end encrypted and Apple can’t decrypt it.
Google: a data request needs your ID, the death certificate, and certified English translations of documents in other languages. Google’s data request form says that if the request is approved and Google LLC is the provider, you will need a court order issued in the United States. Approval is not guaranteed.
Dropbox: government ID and a court order establishing that the deceased intended you to have access and that Dropbox is compelled by law to provide the files. Its page mentions only a court order, so ask Dropbox before relying on UK probate documents.
OneDrive: Microsoft considers releasing data only after being formally served with a valid subpoena or court order. European orders go to Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd in Dublin. See our Microsoft guide.

A Google account with an active paid subscription isn’t deleted for inactivity, so it may keep charging the card. See subscriptions and recurring payments.

Don’t sign in with the dead person’s password, even if you know it. It can breach the provider’s terms, and in the UK, accessing an account without authority is a legal risk under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. No prosecution of a relative has been reported, so it is an untested risk, but use the official routes.