Can you pass on your WhatsApp account when you die?
Meta Platforms' terms forfeit a WhatsApp account at death.
Protecting WhatsApp accounts while the account is active
No beneficiary designation, accounts can only be redeemed, not transferred, and 9-step plan.
How to protect your WhatsApp account while you are alive →Someone died. Handling WhatsApp accounts after a death
Accounts are forfeited under the official terms, 6-step process, and 5 required documents.
What happens to a WhatsApp account when someone dies →WhatsApp is Meta's messaging app. An account is tied to a mobile phone number and holds message history, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, group memberships, Channels, status updates and WhatsApp Business data.
Under Meta Platforms' terms, a WhatsApp account closes when the holder dies and nothing in it passes to anyone. Meta Platforms allows no transfer of the account while the holder is alive.
What happens to WhatsApp at death
Naming who acts after a death
- Designation
WhatsApp offers no way to name someone in advance to manage or close the account after a death.3
Other companies and product lines involved2
Sources4
- 1.WhatsApp Terms of Service, Effective Date: January 4, 2021
- 2.How to delete your account
- 3.WhatsApp Help Center
- 4.How to back up your chat history
Meta Platforms publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a request goes in through Meta Platforms' online form. There is no way to name a beneficiary or successor on a WhatsApp account.
Sources
Data sourced from Meta Platforms, Inc. primary sources (19 pages reviewed). How we research.
WhatsApp customer support
WhatsApp Support (in-app chat or the website contact form; no support email or phone)
Website
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