What happens to your Apple ID when you die?

If you use an iPhone, your Apple account probably holds your photos, your messages, your notes and backups of every device you own. Apple has renamed the Apple ID to Apple Account, but it is the same login, and most people still search for it by its old name. This guide uses both.

Apple handles death differently from most companies. Its systems are built so that even Apple cannot read some of your data, and that strong privacy has a cost: if nobody prepared anything, a family may find that much of what they want is out of reach. The good news is that Apple offers a planning feature, Legacy Contact, that takes a few minutes to set up. This page describes Apple's procedures at the time of writing (October 2026); check the linked Apple Support pages for the current version. It is general information, not legal advice, and rules differ between countries.

Without a plan: what Apple can and cannot do

When an Apple account holder dies, the account simply stays as it is. Apple's support article Request access to a deceased family member's Apple Account explains what family can ask for. Apple needs legal documentation, typically a death certificate. In the United States and some other countries, it may also need a court order that names the deceased person and their Apple Account, names you as the rightful inheritor, and directs Apple to provide access.

With that documentation, Apple says it can:

• Remove Activation Lock from a device, so it can be erased and reused. The data on that device is not recovered by this.
• Provide access to some data stored in iCloud. Apple notes that some data is end-to-end encrypted and it cannot decrypt it.
• Permanently delete the account and its data on request.

Apple does not reveal or reset an iPhone passcode. If nobody knows it, anything that exists only on the phone is effectively gone once the phone is erased. This is the single most common way families lose photos and messages.

Legacy Contact: Apple's planning tool

Apple's article How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account describes the feature in full. In short, you choose one or more people who will be able to request access to your account data after your death. To add one you need two-factor authentication turned on and a reasonably recent system (iOS or iPadOS 15.2, or macOS Monterey 12.1, or later). Your Legacy Contact does not need an Apple device. On an iPhone, you find it under Settings, then your name, then Sign-In & Security, then Legacy Contact.

The access key

When you add someone, Apple generates an access key. You can send it to them through Messages, in which case it is stored in their own Apple Account settings, or you can print it and keep it with your will or other papers. Without the key, being named as a Legacy Contact does not help. If you print it, tell the person where it is.

What your Legacy Contact needs, and what happens next

After your death, your Legacy Contact needs both the access key and your death certificate. They can start the request on their own Apple device or on Apple's Digital Legacy "Request Access" website (digital-legacy.apple.com). Apple reviews the request. If it is approved, the contact gets a special Legacy Contact Apple Account to sign in with. According to Apple, access lasts three years from when the first request is approved; after that the account is permanently deleted. Any Legacy Contact can also choose to delete the data sooner.

What a Legacy Contact can see, and what is excluded

Apple's page Data that a Legacy Contact can access lists the details. At the time of writing, a Legacy Contact can access things such as:

• iCloud Photos, Notes, Mail, Contacts, Calendars and Reminders
• Messages in iCloud and call history
• Files in iCloud Drive, Health data and Voice Memos
• Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• iCloud Backups of devices, which may contain app data and more photos

They cannot access:

• Movies, music, books and other content you bought, which are licensed to you rather than owned
• Subscriptions and in-app purchases
• Payment information for your Apple Account or Apple Pay
• iCloud Keychain, which means your saved passwords, passkeys and stored card details

That last point matters. Many people assume that whoever gets their iPhone data will also get their passwords. With Legacy Contact, they will not. If your family will need to sign in to your bank, email or utilities, you need a separate plan. Our guide to sharing passwords with family compares the options, including password manager emergency access.

A sensible plan for your Apple account

1. Add at least one Legacy Contact, ideally two in case one is not able to act.
2. Make sure each of them can find the access key. A printed copy stored with your important papers is a good backup.
3. Decide what to do about your iPhone passcode. Some people leave it in a sealed letter or a password manager's emergency access, so the phone itself can be opened.
4. Keep iCloud Photos or backups switched on if you want photos to be recoverable, as data that is only on a lost or erased device cannot be passed on.
5. Note which services you sign into with "Sign in with Apple". Our digital legacy checklist has space for this.

Where Final Saying fits

Legacy Contact gives someone your data. It does not tell them what any of it means, which photos matter, or what you wanted to say. Final Saying covers that part. You write messages now, to the people you choose. We email you a check-in on your schedule. If you stop responding, we send reminders on days 7, 12 and 15, Premium users also get a WhatsApp reminder on day 16, and only on day 17, and only if the final reminder was actually sent, are your messages delivered by email or WhatsApp.

Final Saying does not give anyone access to your Apple account. A message might simply say: "You are my Legacy Contact. The printed access key is in the blue folder in the desk." That one sentence can save a family weeks. You can read how messages are stored, and who could read them, on our security page.

See also our guides on your Google account, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the wider topic of digital legacy planning.

Frequently asked questions