Apple Legacy Contact: How to Set It Up, and How to Use It After a Death

The phone is on the kitchen table, and nobody is sure what's on it or how to get to it. If your parent or partner died recently and you're trying to reach their photos, messages, notes or documents stored in iCloud, Apple's Legacy Contact system is the official route - and this guide walks through every step of it, including what to do if they never set one up.

Before you start

What you need in hand:

• The person's Apple Account email address or phone number (the one they used for iCloud)

• A copy of the death certificate

• The access key they generated when they named you as a Legacy Contact (more on this below)

• An iPhone, iPad or Mac signed in to your own Apple Account, or any web browser

One thing not to do: Do not erase or factory-reset the person's device. Anything stored only on that device, and not in iCloud, would be gone for good.

You don't have to do this today. But once Apple approves a Legacy Contact request, a clock starts: the data stays available for three years, then Apple permanently deletes the account.

The fastest safe way to access a loved one's Apple account

If the person named you as a Legacy Contact, you request access with the access key and a death certificate. Once Apple approves the request, you get a special Legacy Contact Apple Account that lets you view and download their iCloud data. No password, no two-factor codes, no legal grey area. This is the path Apple built for exactly this situation.

What a Legacy Contact can - and can't - access

According to Apple, a Legacy Contact can access iCloud Photos, Mail, Notes, Contacts, Calendars and Reminders, Messages in iCloud, call history, iCloud Drive files, Health data, Voice Memos, Safari bookmarks and Reading List, and the contents of iCloud Backup.

What is not included: purchased movies, music and books, subscriptions, payment information, and anything in iCloud Keychain, such as passwords and passkeys. Those stay with the account and cannot be transferred. Apple's page on what a Legacy Contact can access has the current list.

Step 1: Find the access key

When someone adds a Legacy Contact (possible since iOS 15.2 and macOS Monterey 12.1, in late 2021), Apple generates an access key. If they told you through Messages and you accepted, a copy is stored automatically in your own Apple Account settings. On your iPhone, go to Settings, tap your name, then Sign-In & Security, then Legacy Contact. If you're someone's Legacy Contact, their name appears there.

They may also have printed the key or kept it with their will or other estate documents. Check the folder where they kept important papers, a home safe, or an email to you.

If you can't find the access key, or you weren't named, the Legacy Contact route won't work. Apple then needs legal documentation instead, generally a court order naming you as the rightful heir to the person's personal information. That path is covered further down.

Step 2: Make the request

You can start the request on your own iPhone, iPad or Mac (Settings, your name, Sign-In & Security, Legacy Contact, then their name and Request Access), or on the web:

1. Go to digital-legacy.apple.com and choose to request access as a Legacy Contact.

2. Sign in with your own Apple Account - never the person's.

3. Enter the person's Apple Account email address or phone number.

4. Enter the access key.

5. Upload the death certificate. A clear scan or photo of the document works.

It takes about ten minutes if you have everything ready. The on-screen labels can differ by country and change over time; if something doesn't match, Apple's support page has the current steps.

Step 3: Wait for Apple to verify the request

Apple reviews every request before granting access, and emails you when it's approved. It doesn't publish a fixed turnaround, so allow anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks.

While you wait, list the other accounts the person used: email providers, social media, subscriptions with automatic payments. The waiting time is a reasonable moment to work through that list, so you're not scrambling later.

Step 4: Set up the Legacy Contact account and download the data

The approval email explains how to set up your Legacy Contact Apple Account. Then:

1. Follow the link in the email, or go back to digital-legacy.apple.com, to set up the account.

2. Sign in with the Legacy Contact Apple Account at iCloud.com to see photos, mail, notes and files, or on an Apple device.

3. To get a full copy of the data, request it at privacy.apple.com, signed in with the same Legacy Contact account.

4. Download to a computer with plenty of space. A full photo library can run to tens of gigabytes.

5. Make a second copy right away (see "Where to keep it once it's safe" below).

Access lasts three years from the first approved request. If there is more than one Legacy Contact, they share that same three-year window. After that, Apple permanently deletes the account. Download what matters early rather than leaving it in the legacy account.

Step 5: What about the device itself?

If you have the person's iPhone, iPad or Mac and you know the passcode, you can open photos and documents on it directly, without waiting for Apple.

If the device is locked and you don't know the passcode, nobody can get into it - not Apple, not an Apple Store, not with a death certificate. What changes after a Legacy Contact request is approved is that Activation Lock is removed from the person's devices, so a device can be erased and reused. Erasing deletes whatever was only on that device, so get the iCloud data first.

Step 6: Save email and other account data

iCloud Mail is part of what a Legacy Contact can access. To keep specific messages:

1. Sign in at iCloud.com with the Legacy Contact Apple Account and open Mail.

2. Read, forward or save the messages and attachments you want to keep.

3. For a complete copy of all mail, use the data request at privacy.apple.com.

Mail exports can be larger than people expect. Save to an external drive rather than only your desktop.

If you don't know the Apple Account email address

On an unlocked iPhone or iPad: open Settings and look under the person's name at the top of the screen. On a Mac: open System Settings (System Preferences on older macOS) and click the name at the top of the sidebar.

If the device is locked, look through old correspondence: an Apple receipt in their inbox, an App Store confirmation, or a note where they kept account details.

If none of that works, contact Apple Support through getsupport.apple.com and explain the situation; they will tell you what they need.

If you don't know the device passcode

There is no workaround for a locked device. Its data is protected by the passcode itself, and a death certificate doesn't change that.

The practical route is iCloud: through a Legacy Contact request, or through legal documentation if there's no Legacy Contact. iCloud often holds most of what was on the phone - photos, messages, backups - if those features were turned on. Check your own Photos app too: shared albums the person contributed to may already be there.

If the person didn't set up a Legacy Contact

Without an access key, Apple requires legal documentation. In the US and many other places, that generally means a court order naming you as the rightful heir to the person's personal information. Apple says the order needs to state the person's name and Apple Account, the name of the next of kin requesting access, that you are their legal personal representative, agent or heir, and that Apple is ordered to assist with access. In some countries Apple accepts other documentation instead; ask Apple Support what applies where you are.

Getting a court order takes time and usually means working with the estate's attorney. The same documentation also lets you ask Apple to delete the account or remove Activation Lock. Apple's page on requesting access to a deceased family member's account lists exactly what the order must include.

If the account has already been deleted

If the Apple Account was deleted - by a family member, or by the person before they died - its iCloud data is gone. Apple cannot recover a deleted account.

The device itself may still hold data if it wasn't erased, but you'll need its passcode to reach it. If the person backed up their iPhone to their own computer with Finder or iTunes, that backup may still be on that computer.

Where to keep it once it's safe

Keeping everything on one laptop is not a storage plan; it's a risk.

Once you've downloaded the data, make at least two copies: one on an external drive kept somewhere separate from your computer, and one in cloud storage under your own account. If photos are part of what you downloaded, put them somewhere the whole family can reach, so siblings and cousins aren't depending on you to be the keeper of a single hard drive.

When you're ready, a private Glow family space gives the whole family a place to see the photos you've gathered and add names, stories and voice notes to them - so the story doesn't stay locked in one person's Downloads folder.

Questions families ask about Apple Legacy Contact

Can I still access the account if they had two-factor authentication turned on?
Yes. The Legacy Contact process is designed to work without the person's password or two-factor codes. You use your own Apple Account to make the request, and Apple verifies it through the access key and the death certificate.

Can I change the password or keep using the account as if it were mine?
No. You get a separate Legacy Contact Apple Account for viewing and downloading the data. You can't change the original account's password, buy anything with it, or move it into your name, and Apple deletes it three years after the first approved request.

What if two people in the family both want access?
Each named Legacy Contact can make their own request with their own access key, and any one of them can make decisions about the data, including deleting it. They all share the same three-year window. It's worth agreeing first who will download what, and sharing copies with the rest of the family.

Will I be able to see the person's messages?
Yes, if they used Messages in iCloud: Apple lists Messages in iCloud, call history and iCloud Backup among the data a Legacy Contact can access. If the messages were only on the phone and never synced or backed up to iCloud, they aren't there to access.

How long does Legacy Contact access last?
Three years from when the first Legacy Contact request is approved. After that, Apple permanently deletes the account. Download what you want to keep well before then.