Digital After Life ProjectYou do not need to know what a “digital footprint” is to begin. Tell the page what you came to understand—an account, photographs, a bill, the moving numbers or a first step—and it will point you to useful guidance. You can also follow the ordinary links below. Nothing here asks you for a name, password or someone else’s account details.
Choose a topic and the situation you are thinking about. The result gives one question to investigate, a practical next step, a caution and a link to relevant guidance. Choose general subjects rather than entering personal account information; this does not contact a provider or change an account.
First ask: Which ordinary item matters today—your email, phone, pictures or an essential bill?
Then try: Choose that subject from the sixteen guides. Read the after-death or living-incapacity explanation before deciding what to do.
Before you act: The guides cannot reveal accounts, authorize access or confirm whether a specific provider will release records.
First ask: Do you want to understand Today, Historical or the assumptions behind the digital traces?
Then try: Read the definitions first, then change an illustrative example to see how assumptions affect a modeled result.
Before you act: The changing displays are estimates, not observation of individual deaths or digital belongings.
First ask: If one phone or email stopped working, which other account would become difficult to use?
Then try: Check one connection between sign-in, notices, verification and recovery—without typing an email address or password.
Before you act: Do not bypass a service’s identity checks or use someone else’s credentials without authority.
First ask: Is there a separate copy you can open if the original device or online account is unavailable?
Then try: Choose the storage situation and receive a small copy-and-restore test for material you are permitted to handle.
Before you act: A synchronized view or shared link may disappear; a backup of another person’s private files requires permission or other proper authority.
First ask: Would ending this payment interrupt something essential or erase access to important material?
Then try: Sort the type of payment, circumstance and authority. Record what needs checking before changing an arrangement.
Before you act: Stopping a card charge does not necessarily end the underlying agreement; avoid interrupting housing, utilities or care without checking.
First ask: What category should someone authorized be able to locate without being given a list of your passwords?
Then try: Start with a broad category, note whether a decision is still needed, and keep any detailed private record separately under your own control.
Before you act: The starter is not a vault or legal document. Do not enter recovery codes, account numbers or passwords.
First ask: Which one issue would create difficulty for you or someone assisting you if it were left unresolved?
Then try: Use the First-Step Planner to choose a concern and get a realistic question, three actions and a limitation.
Before you act: The planner cannot contact companies, establish authority or execute an instruction on your behalf.
First ask: Is the statement based on published data, an official provider policy, or assumptions in this project’s model?
Then try: Use the source finder to open the original publisher and read what the cited material can—and cannot—establish.
Before you act: An official source can change; a good citation does not make a digital-trace assumption an observed fact.
First ask: Are you locating information, gaining permission to handle it, or requesting access from a provider?
Then try: Read the differences between existence, access, ownership, consent and the separate processes after death or while someone is alive.
Before you act: Being related to a person or holding their device does not automatically authorize entry into all their online services.
Choose a familiar subject, then select your situation and whether you are preparing or helping. Each complete guide includes practical steps, cautions and source scope.
Explore all sixteen guidesChoose a question and take one practical step. These tasks do not connect to accounts, cancel payments or send messages.
Choose a topic in Find the Right Starting Point. If you are unsure where to begin, select the closest ordinary subject—email, photographs, bills, devices or the moving numbers—and the situation that fits. Follow the resulting link to the relevant guide or task. You can also use the ordinary links below without the selector.
If you need urgent help with a suspicious withdrawal, interrupted essential service or compromised account, contact that provider through a trusted channel. This page helps you locate explanations; it cannot handle an emergency or act for you.
Select Explore the 16 guides to see familiar subjects such as email, phones, photographs, bills and social-media accounts. You can look through five subject groups or enter an ordinary keyword such as “photos” or “payments.” The search is for topics, not people. It does not identify whether a particular account exists.
Each topic provides a short description before you open the full guide. The guide should show what might happen, why it matters, what you could prepare now and what a person helping someone else should consider. Two reading choices matter: Preparing for myself or Helping someone; and After death or Unable to manage it. Those choices change the explanation because authority and consent are different in each situation.
For example, someone preparing their own photographs can make a separate copy and test opening it. A person helping someone living should first seek that person’s wishes and permission when possible. After death, an authorized representative may need to work through a provider’s designated process. The guides cannot bypass that process. After reading, return to the subject list or follow a practical link to a specific planning check; the site should never trap you in a chain of introductions.
Choose one account that connects other parts of your life, such as the email receiving bills and recovery notices. Ask how you would know it is important if you were locked out of the phone you usually use. You do not need to write the address or password in this website.
Or choose one set of photographs you could not recreate. Confirm whether there is a genuinely separate copy and try opening one older and one recent file from that copy. If you are not the owner, do not copy material until permission or authority is clear.
Finally, if the immediate concern is an essential recurring payment, establish what the service provides before ending the charge. A small check that prevents data loss or disruption is more useful than an impressive list of tasks no one can act on.
Two choices can change what a guide says. “Preparing for myself” concerns arrangements you can make for your own records; “Helping someone” considers a person’s wishes and the limits of a helper’s authority. “After death” is different from “Unable to manage it” because the responsible people and provider procedures may differ.
If the person is alive, involve them in decisions wherever possible, including accessible ways to communicate. If you are unsure who may authorize an account change, stop at the information-gathering stage and check the provider’s official requirements or obtain appropriate local advice. You can read the guide without entering personal credentials.
The moving figures are modeled estimates, not reports of individual deaths or inventories of a person’s accounts. Choose Today for the current UTC day or Historical for a longer modeled period. If the display is unavailable, Methods explains the calculation and Research and Sources identifies the kinds of evidence used. Do not interpret a frozen or missing number as an observed count.
The practical checks on the site are educational decision aids. For example, the recurring-payment sorter asks about a type of service, the circumstances and your authority; it returns a question and next steps. The copy checker explains how to test a separate backup. The First-Step Planner helps narrow several concerns to one manageable action. None of these tools signs in to your accounts or carries out a change with a bank, cloud provider or utility.
A printable worksheet is useful when someone prefers paper or needs to work without a dependable connection. Use blank or general descriptions whenever possible. Keep detailed copies in a place you control. Do not enter passwords, authenticator codes, bank numbers, medical details or another person’s private account information into a public form.
Printing, downloading and clearing a selection do different things. Printing uses your device’s print dialog. Downloading saves a file you can locate and open. Clearing resets your choices on the current screen. None of these actions, by itself, confirms that a message was sent or that a secure backup exists. Check the downloaded file before relying on it, and keep any notes in a place you trust.
If search gives no result, clear the filters and try a shorter subject such as “email” or “photos.” You can also use the ordinary guide links. If a guide opens in a panel, use Close or Escape to return to the list; if the panel does not respond, leave it and use the full-text or printable guide where available.
With a keyboard, move through the page using Tab, then activate the focused link or button with Enter or Space as appropriate. On a phone, use labeled controls rather than relying on hover. If a step cannot be reached or focus becomes stuck, use the ordinary page links and report the exact control through Corrections.
A saved or printed page may be available offline. Live numbers, external links and current provider policies may not be. If a source fails to load, check it again later from an official channel; do not assume an older printout states today’s account rules.
For a particular email, phone, social profile or cloud service, begin at the company’s own support pages using a trusted route you already know. A search result, forwarded message or unexpected pop-up may imitate support. Before supplying documents or identity information, verify that the request comes from the provider and that you are using its authorized process.
Providers may offer different processes for account recovery, legacy access, data export and after-death requests. These are not interchangeable. What works for your personal account might not apply to a work, school or jointly managed service. Read the current conditions for your region and account type, including which records may not be supplied.
If you suspect identity theft, fraud or unauthorized changes, use the provider’s security channel and relevant consumer-protection reporting route. This project does not investigate individual accounts or receive secret evidence. Seek professional help when legal authority, contested ownership or a deadline is involved.
You do not need the moving counter to understand the estimates. If animation is uncomfortable, read the written Methods page instead; your device’s reduced-motion setting may help when the site supports it. Browser zoom and reader settings can make smaller text easier to follow. Use the ordinary topic links if a filter is difficult to operate.
If you use a screen reader or keyboard and cannot reach an action, write down the page title, the control label and what happened. Corrections gives you a way to prepare that report without sending confidential records. If a printable guide is easier, keep in mind that provider details in an older copy may have changed.
If a factual statement looks wrong, identify the exact sentence and open Research and Sources. Check whether the original publisher supports that specific claim, for the right date, country and account type. A demographic source can support a population estimate; it cannot establish what happened inside one person’s accounts.
Use Corrections to prepare a note with the page title, the claim and public evidence. Preparing or downloading a note does not send it. You can decide separately whether to email the project; do not include screenshots of private accounts or another person’s personal information.
For account recovery, cancellation, fraud or urgent legal decisions, contact the responsible provider or a qualified professional through a trusted channel. This project cannot identify someone’s accounts, unlock devices, verify legal authority or make changes to external services. Use its guides to prepare a better question before you approach the person or organization that can act.
The guides describe what may remain in digital life. These tasks help you do something with that understanding. The Account Connection Check can help you identify a single sign-in dependency. The Backup and Export Check can help you plan a small restore test. The Recurring Payment Sorter can help you distinguish a bill that protects an essential service from a membership that may be optional.
After using a task, keep its question and result in a place you control, or write down the next check on paper. The practical-task directory also describes a paper alternative when a form cannot be used. Nothing on this page needs your passwords, recovery keys, bank numbers or medical records.
Neither. “Explore Your Digital Life” is the sixteen-subject guide collection on this website. It does not connect to accounts, scan a phone, or discover private records. Start with the Explore the 16 guides button and choose a familiar subject.
One choice concerns your role—preparing for yourself or helping someone. The other concerns the circumstance—after death or while someone is alive but unable to manage a task. The combination changes the explanation; it does not decide what authority you have.
No. Choosing a topic tells the page what educational content to display. Any printable checklist or local selection must explain whether it is temporary, printable or downloadable. Do not assume it was saved to an account or private vault.
Try the full text version on the same page, check whether scripting is disabled, or use a plain link to the subject. If a page shows an error instead of a guide, use the readable page text or choose the ordinary subject link again.
No. The mortality display is modeled from published population data and the digital categories rely on additional assumptions. The project does not monitor individual deaths, devices, emails or cloud services.
No. The site provides background and preparation steps. Access depends on the provider’s process, any relevant account settings, the person’s wishes and applicable law. Being related or possessing a device does not automatically settle that question.
Only in a way that respects their choices, privacy and the authority of whoever is assisting. Begin with broad categories and obtain consent when the person can provide it. A blank planning sheet is not permission to read someone’s private messages.
Do not cancel first and investigate afterward. Identify the service and its purpose, who is contractually responsible, and how continuity will be maintained. The sorter can help frame the question, but it cannot cancel or reinstate service.
Read one guide in ordinary text and choose one action that does not require transferring large files. A private written note about where an important category can be found may be enough for today. Use a trusted Wi-Fi connection for a later export only when it is safe.
The blank worksheets and print-friendly guidance are designed for working without submitting account credentials to this project. Check the browser’s print preview before printing on a shared printer, and keep completed personal worksheets under your control.
Choose Find the original evidence on this page, or open Research and Sources. Check the publisher, date, jurisdiction, relevant product and the limitations described beside the citation.
This is an educational project, not a provider account-support service. This page offers self-service explanations, not a personal account-recovery channel. For a particular account or security incident, contact the responsible provider through its official support or security process.
Use the ordinary topic links or the complete guide text if a custom selector is difficult with a screen reader or keyboard. If a control traps focus or has no understandable label, note the page and control and prepare a correction report. You do not need to send personal account information to describe the barrier.
Educational navigation only; no account recovery, no private submission and no promise of human support.
These references explain the evidence and its limits. Inclusion here does not verify current provider procedures or establish authority in your circumstances.
Choose one practical task or print a blank worksheet to complete privately.
Choose from eight practical tasks Browse eight printable worksheets Explore all sixteen topics