After you pass away, your family may want the photos on your phone and the messages and notes kept with them. Apple has a setting called Legacy Contact. A Legacy Contact is a person you name now who can ask Apple for the data in your Apple Account after you pass away. Your Apple Account is the account your iPhone, iPad or Mac is signed in to. The data the person can ask for includes your photos, messages, notes, files and device backups. A device backup is a saved copy of what is on a device.
When you name the person, Apple gives you an access key. The access key is a code, and you give that code to the person now. After you pass away, the person brings two things to Apple: the access key and your death certificate. Without the access key, there is a court process instead, and even then Apple may not be able to open data that is encrypted. Encrypted data is data that has been scrambled so that nobody can read it without unscrambling it first.
A printed copy of the access key does not depend on anyone's phone, so print the access key on paper. The paper goes with your will and estate documents; estate documents are the papers that say what happens to what you own.
Before you start
- About ten minutes.
- An iPhone, iPad or Mac that is signed in to your Apple Account and has two-factor authentication turned on. Two-factor authentication is Apple's name for two-step sign-in: Apple asks for your password and then for a second proof that it is really you. This page does not cover turning two-factor authentication on.
- The name of the person you are choosing and the person's phone number or email address. The person needs to be over 13; the age varies by country. The person does not need an Apple device.
- A printer.
- The folder where your will and estate documents are kept.
Name the person and print the key
Opening the Legacy Contact setting is different on an iPhone or iPad than on a Mac. Do only the part under the heading for the device you are using. Every step after that is the same on all three devices, and those steps are under the heading For everyone.
On an iPhone or iPad
An iPhone needs iOS 15.2 or later, and an iPad needs iPadOS 15.2 or later. iOS and iPadOS are Apple's names for the software that runs an iPhone and an iPad. On software older than iOS 15.2, the Legacy Contact setting is not there at all. So if you cannot find the setting, the device needs an update first. This page does not cover updating.
- Open Legacy Contact. Open the Settings app. Find your name and tap it. Find Sign-In & Security and tap it. On older software, this menu may be called Password & Security instead. Find Legacy Contact and tap it. Now go on to the steps under For everyone.
On a Mac
The Mac needs macOS Monterey 12.1 or later. macOS is Apple's name for the software that runs a Mac.
- Open Legacy Contact. Click the Apple menu. The Apple menu is the menu that opens from the apple symbol on your screen. Find System Settings and click it. System Settings is the settings app on a Mac. Find your name and click it. Find Sign-In & Security and click it. On older software, this menu may be called Password & Security instead. Find Legacy Contact and click it. Now go on to the steps under For everyone.
For everyone
On a Mac, click where a step says tap.
- Start adding the person. Find Add Legacy Contact and tap it. You may then be asked for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
- Choose the person. You can choose a member of your Family Sharing group or someone else. Family Sharing is Apple's name for a family group of linked Apple Accounts. To choose someone else, find Choose Someone Else and tap it. Then pick the person by phone number or email address.
- Print the access key. You are offered two ways to give the person the access key: Send an iMessage and Print a Copy. An iMessage is a message sent through Apple's Messages app. Find Print a Copy and tap it. Apple's page says nothing about the printing screen, so we cannot say what shows next. Put the printed paper with your will and estate documents. If you also choose Send an iMessage, the person's device keeps a copy of the key in their Apple Account settings.
- Tell the person. Tell the person that you have named them as your Legacy Contact, what the access key is for, and where the printed copy is kept.
- Check that it worked. Open Legacy Contact again the way you did under the heading for your device. Find the person's name and tap it. Find View Access Key. View Access Key should show the key, and you can print the key again from here if the paper is ever lost.
Print the access key and keep the paper with your will and estate documents.
What this does not do
- A Legacy Contact cannot get anything in iCloud Keychain: your saved passwords, passkeys and payment information. A passkey is a newer kind of sign-in that takes the place of a password.
- A Legacy Contact also cannot get movies, music, books or subscriptions bought with your Apple Account.
- Naming a Legacy Contact is not a will. The person you name gets no legal authority over your estate, which means everything you own.
- If you add more than one Legacy Contact, each one can make decisions about your data on their own, including deleting it.
If your screen looks different
If the menu names on this page are not on your screen, search Settings for the word Legacy. On a Mac, System Settings has the same search.
Sources
- Apple: How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account, read on 18 October 2026.