Apple Will Let Your Family Access Your Data If You Die

In the past when everything was mostly done on paper, if you or a family member died, it’s not that difficult to just pass all your files and documents to someone else. However, in the digital age where everything is encrypted and locked behind passwords, this can be a bit tricky, but Apple is trying to make that easier with its new Digital Legacy program.

In this Digital Legacy program, Apple ID users will be able to assign people as their Legacy Contacts. This means that in the event that the person passes away, people who have been assigned as Legacy Contacts will be able to gain access to their Apple ID and personal information stored in that account.

This should include important things like photos in which family members might appreciate being able to look back fondly on. While this is admittedly a rather morbid subject to think about, it’s also very practical. This is because at the moment, trying to access someone’s Apple ID account even with a death certificate is rather difficult, so this should make things a lot easier.

The feature doesn’t seem to be live yet but as it is part of iOS 15, we expect that it will most likely be available this coming fall.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, General
Tags: iOS, ios 15, Privacy, wwdc, wwdc 2021