Can you pass on your Apple account when you die?
An Apple account can pass to a family member after a death.
Protecting Apple accounts while the account is active
Beneficiary designation available, accounts can only be redeemed, not transferred, and 9-step plan.
How to protect your Apple account while you are alive →Someone died. Handling Apple accounts after a death
Accounts can be transferred to family members, 6-step process, and 6 required documents.
What happens to an Apple account when someone dies →An Apple Account (formerly Apple ID) holds iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, iCloud Mail, App Store and iTunes purchases, Apple Music, Messages in iCloud, Apple Pay and Apple Cash, iCloud Keychain, Find My, Health data, device backups and Family Sharing under one sign-in.
Apple's terms give a family member a path to an Apple account after the holder dies. Apple allows no transfer of the account while the holder is alive.
What happens to Apple at death
Naming who acts after a death
- Legacy Contact
The account holder can add more than one Legacy Contact, from a Family Sharing group or from Contacts, who needs no Apple device or Apple Account and must be over 13 (the age varies by country or region). Any one of them can individually make decisions about the account data after death, including deleting it.3
Other companies and product lines involved2
- Apple Cash and person-to-person payments support
An Apple Cash balance, which Digital Legacy does not cover4
Phone: 1-877-233-8552
- Apple Developer Support
Transferring the Account Holder role on an Apple Developer account5
Sources5
- 1.iCloud Terms and Conditions
- 2.Request access to a deceased family member's Apple Account, published August 10, 2026
- 3.How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account
- 4.Contact Apple Support, published August 26, 2026
- 5.Transfer the Account Holder role (Apple Developer)
Apple publishes its own process for a deceased person's account: Apple Digital Legacy — request access to, or deletion of, a deceased family member's Apple Account; a request goes in through Apple's online form. Apple lets the account holder name, in advance, who may act on the account after a death, through Legacy Contact.
Sources
- support.apple.com
- apple.com
- developer.apple.com
- digital-legacy-account.apple.com
- digital-legacy.apple.com
Data sourced from Apple Inc. primary sources (15 pages reviewed). How we research.
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