Managing digital legacy Austria: email, social media, subscriptions
<p>A digital legacy in Austria goes far beyond email: social media, cloud storage, subscriptions, payment services and crypto wallets all belong to it. This guide shows how to review, close or memorialise each account. The <a href="/app" class="text-primary underline">Wegbegleiter App</a> provides an encrypted vault.</p>
What belongs to the digital estate?
A digital estate in Austria covers every online account of the deceased: email, cloud storage, social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), streaming (Netflix, Spotify), online banking, payment services (PayPal), online shops, crypto wallets and digital archives. Legally, these accounts pass to the heirs like any other asset.
Start with email
Always begin with email accounts: they are the key to everything else because password resets run through them. With a death certificate and grant of probate most providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) grant access or delete the account. Print invoices and contract confirmations before closing.
Prepare your own legacy now
To spare your own relatives later, record your main accounts in a password manager or an encrypted list. Appoint a digital executor. The Wegbegleiter App provides in Austria an encrypted emergency folder for logins, recovery codes and instructions on what to delete or keep.
Frequently asked questions
- May heirs simply use the passwords?
- Yes, once their status is established. Before that, there is a risk under computer-misuse laws.
- What happens to crypto without a password?
- Without the seed phrase, wallets are lost forever – recovery codes belong in the estate plan.
- Who deletes a Facebook profile?
- A close relative through the help centre with a death certificate – memorial state or full deletion.
- Can subscriptions be cancelled with the certificate?
- Yes. Most streaming services accept an email with contract details and certificate.
Wegbegleiter – the app for difficult moments
Checklists, letter templates and an encrypted emergency folder – free to start.
Social media and streaming
Facebook and Instagram offer a memorial state or deletion – a close relative submits the request online. LinkedIn closes profiles on request. Streaming subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, Disney+) and cloud storage must be cancelled individually, usually by email with a death certificate. Prepaid amounts are normally refunded pro rata.