Most people have thousands of photos spread across their phone, cloud accounts, old albums, shoeboxes, and external drives — with no clear organization and no guarantee that family members could access them after their death. Organizing and preserving your photos and videos is one of the most tangible gifts you can leave for future generations.
Why This Matters for Legacy Planning
Photos and videos stored only in your phone or personal cloud account may be inaccessible after your death. Cloud services typically don't allow others to access accounts without the password or a legacy planning tool. Without action, years of family memories may simply disappear.
Step 1: Gather Everything in One Place
Start by identifying where all your photos currently live:
- Your phone's camera roll
- Cloud services: iCloud Photos, Google Photos, Amazon Photos, Dropbox
- Social media: Facebook, Instagram have photos that can be downloaded
- Printed photos in albums or boxes
- Old computer hard drives or external drives
- DVDs, VHS tapes, slides, or negatives
Download copies from cloud services and social media, and gather physical media in one location.
Step 2: Digitize Printed and Analog Media
Printed photos, slides, negatives, and VHS tapes need to be digitized to survive long-term and to be easily shareable.
- Printed photos: Scan with a flatbed scanner (300 DPI minimum, 600 DPI for small prints), or use a professional service like ScanMyPhotos or ScanCafe
- Slides and negatives: These require a dedicated slide/negative scanner or a professional service
- VHS tapes: Use a VHS-to-digital transfer service or a device like the Elgato Video Capture. Professional conversion services are also available.
- 8mm or 16mm film: Professional conversion is recommended
Step 3: Organize and Label
Organize photos by year and event, using a consistent folder naming convention (e.g., "1985-Summer-Maine-Vacation"). Label photos with the names of people in them, the date, and the location — information that exists only in your memory and will be lost if not documented.
Google Photos and Apple Photos both offer face recognition tagging and automatic organization by date. Adding manual descriptions or location tags significantly increases the value of your collection.
Step 4: Share Access with Family
Once organized, ensure your family can access your photos:
- Share a Google Photos album: You can share entire albums with family members who can view and download them
- iCloud Family Sharing: Allows sharing of certain photos with family members
- External hard drive backup: A physical drive that you give to your executor or next of kin
- Private family photo service: Services like Forever, Mylio, or Cluster are designed specifically for family photo preservation and sharing
Step 5: Back Up Multiple Ways
Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule: at least 3 copies, in 2 different formats, with 1 off-site. For photos this might mean: cloud storage + external hard drive at home + a second drive at a family member's home.
Photos stored only in one place — especially digital-only photos stored only on your phone or one cloud service — are at risk. Both cloud services and hard drives can fail, be discontinued, or become inaccessible.
For more ways to preserve your memories, see our complete guide to preserving your life stories.