How to Set a Legacy Contact on Your iPhone — and What Happens If You Don't
There's a setting on your iPhone that decides one thing: if something happens to you, does your family get your photos, messages, and notes — or do they face Apple's legal department?
It's called a Legacy Contact. It takes about three minutes to set, it's free, and most people have never opened the screen it lives on. Here's exactly how to set it, what it actually covers (less than most people think), and the two gaps it leaves open.
What happens if you don't set one
Without a Legacy Contact, Apple requires your family to produce a court order naming them as the rightful inheritor of your digital assets before it will grant access to your account — a death certificate alone is not enough. That's not a horror story; it's Apple's own stated policy ("How to request access to a deceased family member's Apple account"). Court orders take months and legal fees — for photos that a three-minute setting would have handed over.
How to set it (iPhone, 3 minutes)
You'll need iOS 15.2 or later — that covers essentially every iPhone still receiving updates.
- Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
- Tap Sign-In & Security → Legacy Contact.
- Tap Add Legacy Contact and confirm with Face ID or your passcode.
- Choose the person — spouse, adult child, closest sibling. They don't need an iPhone.
- Share the access key. Apple generates a QR code / key. Send it to them AND print a copy — this is the part people skip, and the key is required later.
Full official instructions, including Mac and iPad paths: Apple — How to add a Legacy Contact.
What your Legacy Contact can — and can't — access
| They CAN get | They CANNOT get |
|---|---|
| Photos and videos in iCloud | Saved passwords (Keychain is permanently excluded) |
| Messages, notes, mail stored in iCloud | Payment methods and Apple Pay |
| Contacts, calendars, reminders | Movies, music, books you licensed (purchases aren't inheritable) |
| Files in iCloud Drive and device backups | Anything only stored on a locked phone that wasn't backed up |
Source: Apple's official Legacy Contact documentation.
Read that right column again — it's the part nobody expects. Your passwords don't transfer. Ever. Your banking login, your email password, the streaming accounts that keep charging the card — Apple's Legacy Contact system deliberately excludes all of it.
Using Android or Gmail? The Google version
Google's equivalent is the Inactive Account Manager: you pick trusted contacts and Google shares chosen data with them after your account goes quiet for a period you set. It's here: Google — About Inactive Account Manager. Same three minutes, same logic, same gap: it shares Google data, not your passwords to everything else.
The two gaps Legacy Contact leaves open
Gap 1: passwords. As above — no tech company hands your passwords to your family. The only way your family gets into accounts is if you wrote the access down somewhere they can find: a password manager with a shared master key, or a written list with your important papers.
Gap 2: everything that isn't Apple or Google. Your bank, your insurance, your utilities, your subscriptions — each has its own process, and none of it is covered by a phone setting. What covers it is old-fashioned: one organized place your family knows about — a family emergency binder is the standard way to build it.
That's the bigger project, and it's less work than it sounds — the full walkthrough is in our getting your affairs in order checklist (with a printable version).
Common questions
Who should I choose as my Legacy Contact?
The person who would realistically handle your affairs — usually a spouse or an adult child. Two tie-breakers: pick someone likely to outlive you, and someone organized enough to keep the access key findable. You can add more than one.
Can my Legacy Contact see my stuff while I'm alive?
No. Access only opens after Apple reviews a death certificate plus the access key. Setting a Legacy Contact changes nothing about your privacy today.
Does a Legacy Contact replace a will?
No — it's an access mechanism, not a legal document, and this page isn't legal advice. A will says who gets what; a Legacy Contact just makes sure your Apple data is reachable at all.
What if the person I chose changes?
You can remove or replace a Legacy Contact any time in the same Settings screen. Revisit it after any big life change.