Google Inactive Account Manager, compared with iyawt

Google’s Inactive Account Manager is a good tool for what it does: after a period of inactivity, Google can notify people you’ve chosen and share your account data with them, or delete the account. It’s free and it’s built in. If you have a Google account, turn it on.

It’s also not the same thing as a message.

What Inactive Account Manager does

• Waits for a period of inactivity you choose (3 to 18 months).
• Sends a reminder to you first, then an email to up to ten trusted contacts.
• Shares the account data you selected (Drive, Photos, Gmail and so on) with those contacts, or deletes the account.

What it doesn’t do

• It hands over files, not a moment. Your contacts get a download link to data. They won’t get a message recorded for them, delivered to them alone.
• No person checks first. Inactivity is the only signal. A long trip, a lost phone or a new account can look the same as not being there.
• No waiting period you can stop. Once it fires, it fires.
• No per-person privacy. Everyone you list can receive the same data; there’s no “this video is only for Maya”.
• No delivery on a date. You can’t set a message for an 18th birthday.

What iyawt does differently

• You record a private video for a specific person, and it’s delivered only to them.
• A missed check-in starts a slow, careful process: reminders, a second request, a question to your trusted contact, and a 7-day waiting period you can stop with one tap. See how a message is released.
• Messages can be set to arrive on a date, years from now, on Milestones and Generations.
• A missed payment never sends your messages, and never deletes them without months of notice.

Use both

Turn on Inactive Account Manager for your Google data. Use iyawt for the things you’d actually want to say. They don’t compete; one is a filing cabinet and the other is your voice.

Free tools hand over files. We hand over a moment, to the right person, at the right time.