Planning ahead for your Apple accounts
Steps you can take now to control who receives Apple Inc. accounts
Apple Inc. has a transfer process for Apple accounts after the account holder dies. Lifetime planning complements this by giving the account holder direct control over accounts while alive.
How to protect your Apple accounts
9 lifetime planning steps for your Apple accounts:
Family sharing
Apple Family Sharing lets an organizer and up to five other family members share access to Apple services such as iCloud+, Apple Music, and Apple TV. When the organizer's account is terminated, family members lose access to shared subscriptions and to content the organizer purchased; each member keeps their own purchases. The Digital Legacy program is separate from Family Sharing: a Legacy Contact can be chosen from a Family Sharing group or from Contacts, does not need an Apple device or an Apple Account, and must be over the age of 13 (the age varies by country or region). An account holder can add more than one Legacy Contact, and per Apple's setup page "Any one of them can individually make decisions about your account data after your death, including permanently deleting it."
Should you save your passwords for your family?
Some people store account passwords so a family member can sign in later. The practice has three practical limits:
- Two-factor authentication often blocks it. Most accounts require a second factor — a code sent to a phone, an authenticator app, a passkey, or a physical key. A saved password alone frequently does not grant access, and the recovery codes that would are easy to lose or let go stale.
- It usually conflicts with the platform's terms. Most operators prohibit account sharing and signing in as another person, including after a death. Stored credentials are not the operator's recognized access path, and using them can violate the terms of service.
- Operators provide other paths. Where an operator offers a designation tool — Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, a beneficiary designation — that mechanism grants access the operator recognizes. A password manager's own emergency-access or legacy feature passes credentials through a controlled process. Digital assets named in a will or trust give a fiduciary authority under each state's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA).
Frequently asked questions
Go to Settings > [your name] > Sign-In & Security > Legacy Contact on an Apple device running iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, or macOS Monterey 12.1 or later, or System Settings on a Mac. Two-factor authentication must be on. You can choose someone from a Family Sharing group or from Contacts. More than one Legacy Contact can be added, and Apple states that any one of them can individually make decisions about the account data after death, including permanently deleting it. A Legacy Contact does not need an Apple device or an Apple Account, but must be over the age of 13 (the age varies by country or region). Apple shares the access key by iMessage, which stores a copy in the contact's Apple Account settings, or by printing a copy — and Apple states it cannot access or replace an access key that has been lost or misplaced, so a printed copy stored with the estate documents is the failsafe.
Add one or more Legacy Contacts and get each one the access key, storing a printed copy with your estate documents, since without a key Apple documents a court order instead. A Legacy Contact can reach most of the account data with the access key, including end-to-end encrypted Health Data and Voice Memos, but four categories stay out of reach: iCloud Keychain (move credentials into a password manager that has its own estate-planning mechanism), payment information for the Apple Account or Apple Pay, purchased movies, music, and books, and subscriptions and in-app purchases. You can also request a full copy of your data at privacy.apple.com as an added backup. Note your Apple Account email address or phone number in the estate file — that is what identifies the account on every pathway, and no pathway requires sharing your password.
Recording that a Apple account exists, alongside other accounts, gives a fiduciary the information needed to reach the operator through its official process.
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 (16 pages reviewed). How we research.
Is this your situation?
Get a complete guide for your specific circumstances.
New Baby or Adoption
Your family is growing. Your protection should too. Guardian nominations, trusts for minors, beneficiary updates, and the documents new parents need in place.
Learn more
Marriage
What married couples need in place: one joint trust or two, wills, beneficiary updates, and the spousal rights your state grants you automatically.
Learn more
New Home
How to put your house in a revocable trust: the deed you record, what it does to your mortgage and property taxes, and when a TOD deed is simpler.
Learn more
Retirement
Retirement changes your financial picture. Healthcare directives, beneficiary reviews, long-term care planning, and protecting what you've built.
Learn moreMore estate planning resources
Explore related tools and documents to complete your estate plan.
How Much Does Probate Cost?
Estimate attorney fees, executor fees, court costs, and timeline for probating an estate in your state. See if the estate qualifies for simplified probate procedures.
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Find out who inherits your estate and how much they get if you die without a will. Based on your state's intestate succession laws.
How Much Are Estate & Inheritance Taxes?
Calculate federal estate tax, state estate tax (12 states + DC), and inheritance tax (5 states) for an estate or trust.
What Does Estate Planning Actually Cost?
See the true cost of estate planning. Compare SimplyTrust, Trust & Will, LegalZoom, and attorneys including life events like marriage, divorce, and having children.
How Much Does a Revocable Living Trust Cost?
Compare the cost of creating a revocable living trust. See how SimplyTrust, Trust & Will, LegalZoom, and attorneys compare over 5 years including life events.
How Much Does a Will Cost?
Compare the cost of creating a will. See document costs plus probate fees your heirs will pay. Compare SimplyTrust, Trust & Will, LegalZoom, and attorneys.
