What happens to a WhatsApp account when someone dies
Meta Platforms publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a request goes in through Meta Platforms' online form.
Under Meta Platforms' terms, a WhatsApp account closes when the holder dies and nothing in it passes to anyone.
Meta Platforms publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a request goes in through Meta Platforms' online form. The request takes 5 documents.
What to do
- •Android: a Google Account backup, through Google's process for a deceased user's account.
- •iPhone: an iCloud backup, through Apple's Legacy Contact or deceased-user process.
- •Keep the WhatsApp account open meanwhile: deleting it deletes the Google Account backup.
- •Cancel WhatsApp Plus from the same app, device type and account used to subscribe, at least 24 hours before the renewal date.
- •Stop the charge at the card or bank if the app-store account cannot be reached.
- •Add another admin to any channel the deceased ran alone; a sole admin's channel is permanently deleted with the account.
- •For WhatsApp Pay in India, contact the bank whose account was linked; the payments move through that bank account.
- •With the phone: open Settings > Account > Delete my account on the primary device and enter the phone number in full international format.
- •Without the phone: submit the WhatsApp Support form with the phone number, a contact email, the platform and a message stating the death.
- •Without any action, WhatsApp removes the account automatically after deactivation or inactivity.
- •Send the death certificate and letters if WhatsApp asks for them.
Required Documents
- Deceased's phone number in full international format: The WhatsApp Support form asks for the phone number used for the WhatsApp account, and every field is required.
- A contact email address for the person making the request: Entered twice on the form; WhatsApp replies by email from an address ending in @support.whatsapp.com.
- The platform the deceased used: Android, iPhone, Web and Desktop, KaiOS or Other.
- Lawful custody of the deceased's phone: if chats are to be exported or the account deleted in the app. Deletion in the app needs the account logged in on its primary device, not a linked device.
- What the cloud platform's own survivor process requires: for a Google Account or iCloud backup. WhatsApp states Google Account backup storage is provided and managed by Google, and iCloud storage by Apple.
What Meta Platforms, Inc.'s terms say at death
- The terms
“You will not transfer any of your rights or obligations under our Terms to anyone else without our prior written consent.”1
What Meta Platforms, Inc. says happens9
- Inactive accounts and expiry
The Terms reserve the right to disable or delete an account that does not become active after registration or remains inactive for an extended period of time.1
Accounts are generally deleted after 365 days of inactivity in the US and 120 days elsewhere; inactivity means the account has not connected to WhatsApp with an internet connection.2, 3
Content stored on the device before deletion stays until WhatsApp is removed from the device, and contacts may see a notice that the profile was removed automatically.2
Where an account cannot be deleted because the phone line was cancelled, the number was lost or the device is gone, WhatsApp states the account is still removed automatically.3
- Deletion and data retention
A deactivated account is deleted 30 days after deactivation if it is not re-registered, and messages sent to it stay pending for up to 30 days.4
Deleting the account erases its message history, removes it from its groups and deletes its Google Account backup; other users keep their own copies of the messages it sent them.3
Deletion may take up to 90 days from the start of the process, copies may remain afterward in disaster-recovery backup storage, and WhatsApp cannot restore chats or backups from a deleted account.3
- Disclosure of account content
A WhatsApp cloud storage backup is always end-to-end encrypted, and a Google Account backup is not stored on WhatsApp's servers; a backup can be restored only if one was enabled.5
WhatsApp states that it "cannot and does not produce the content of its user's messages in response to government requests," and message content is kept only on the phone and any backup the user chose.6
WhatsApp does not store message logs once messages are delivered, in the ordinary course of its service.6
The in-app Request Account Info report gives a user their account information in a ZIP file, and it does not include messages.7, 8
- Court orders and legal process
WhatsApp's Law Enforcement Response Team reviews government requests, and a response may include basic subscriber information and account information such as profile photos, group information and the contacts list.6
- What carries over to a new account
Mobile providers recycle phone numbers. WhatsApp treats a number as recycled when its account is unused for 45 days and then reactivated on a new device, and then removes the old profile photo and About section.9
Until the old account is deleted, a new holder of the number and their contacts may see the previous owner's profile photo and About section on it; the new holder does not gain access to the old account.9
- Subscriptions and billing
WhatsApp Plus renews automatically each month unless cancelled; to avoid another charge it must be cancelled at least 24 hours before the renewal date, from the same app, device type and account used to subscribe.10
When a WhatsApp Plus or Meta One plan ends and the backup is over the free 2 GB, new backups stop, and after 120 days without a successful backup restoring it may not be possible.5
- Continuing a shop, channel or listing
Where a WhatsApp Channel has other admins, ownership transfers to the admin who has followed it longest; a sole admin's channel is deleted permanently, with no way to recover it or its follower list.3
The WhatsApp Business app runs under its own terms, the WhatsApp Terms for WhatsApp Business App.11
- Balances, payouts and refunds
WhatsApp payments in India move over UPI through designated payment service provider banks, from a bank account the user owns; the user's relationship with that bank is separate from WhatsApp.12
SBI's terms for UPI on WhatsApp let the bank end the service without notice on the user's death.13
- Other ways to reach the provider
The in-app chat and the website contact form are the only ways to reach WhatsApp Support; WhatsApp no longer accepts support requests by email, and response times vary by issue.14
Other companies and product lines involved2
Not in WhatsApp's published guidance5
- A process for a deceased account holder
- How long a request takes
- A phone number for this
- A complete list of the documents to send
- Memorialization
Sources15
- 1.WhatsApp Terms of Service, Effective Date: January 4, 2021
- 2.About inactive account deletion
- 3.How to delete your account
- 4.About account deactivation
- 5.Can't back up or restore your chat history
- 6.About government requests for user data
- 7.Privacy Policy Questions form
- 8.How to request account information
- 9.About seeing your phone number already in WhatsApp
- 10.How to manage your WhatsApp Plus subscription
- 11.WhatsApp Business Terms of Service
- 12.WhatsApp India Payments Terms of Service, Last modified: August 17, 2026
- 13.SBI Bank's Payment Service Terms
- 14.How to contact WhatsApp Support
- 15.How to back up your chat history
A written request to Meta Platforms can ask it to close the account, provide purchase and transaction records for the estate inventory, transfer the accounts to a named family member and preserve the account while the estate is opened.
Nothing in the account survives the holder, and Meta Platforms allows no lifetime transfer of it either.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for WhatsApp drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Meta Platforms, Inc. primary sources (19 pages reviewed). How we research.
WhatsApp estate claims
WhatsApp Support
Mailing address
Website
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