How to Set Up an Apple Legacy Contact on Your iPhone

When someone passes away, their digital accounts — photos, messages, documents, and more — are often locked away with no way for family members to access them. Apple created the Legacy Contact feature to give you control over who can access your Apple account and its contents after you are gone.

Setting up a Legacy Contact takes only a few minutes. But it can save your family significant stress and heartache. Without one, accessing an Apple account after death requires a court order, which is a lengthy and expensive process. With a Legacy Contact in place, the person you choose can request access directly from Apple using a special access key that you provide to them.

Your Legacy Contact can be anyone you trust — a spouse, an adult child, a sibling, or a close friend. They must have an Apple ID of their own. Once they request access after your passing, Apple will verify the death certificate and then grant them access to your photos, messages, notes, contacts, and other iCloud content. They will not be able to access your payment information, subscriptions, or App Store purchases.

The Legacy Contact feature is available on iPhones running iOS 15.2 or later. It is part of your Apple ID settings, not a third-party app. Once you set it up, Apple generates a printed or digital access key that you should give — or mail — to your chosen contact so they have it when needed.

This is one of the kindest things you can do for the people you love. Spending five minutes on this setup today means one less complication for your family during an already difficult time. Apple explains this feature in detail at support.apple.com.