iPhone Legacy Contact setup

MallyGirl

Reading an article on the BBC about a widower who couldn't get photos and contacts off his deceased wife's iPhone I saw the comment that Apple gives users the chance to nominate a legacy contact who could access their data after their death, in the settings menu on their iPhone.
It is under the Family -> Family Checklist menu.
Worth doing if you are Apple users

squirrelpie

I just tried it. The user interface is absolutely awful, IMHO. It prompted me for a survey part way through! The first time I tried it just locked up, but luckily came back when I tried later. And as part of it, you have to print a key on paper. And the only way todo that is with an AirPrint printer. But I don't have such a beast. It needs to let me send the page to my computer (via iCloud is how I usually transfer things) and then I can print it from there. So 0/10 for usability, I'm afraid.

400ixl

If you are on Android / Google then they have https://myaccount.google.com/inactive

MX5huggy

Or just know your loved ones phone passcode. Being a second face for Face ID does not work because you need the passcode if the phone is switched off. 

squirrelpie

MX5huggy said:

Or just know your loved ones phone passcode. Being a second face for Face ID does not work because you need the passcode if the phone is switched off. 

Yes, that's a good solution if possible. But if there's a real reason why it's not, as stated in the original story, then the problem arises. I can think of cases where the correct action is to deny access, so it's not a simple 'human' problem for apple to solve.

Tightboy

squirrelpie said:

I just tried it. The user interface is absolutely awful, IMHO. It prompted me for a survey part way through! The first time I tried it just locked up, but luckily came back when I tried later. And as part of it, you have to print a key on paper. And the only way todo that is with an AirPrint printer. But I don't have such a beast. It needs to let me send the page to my computer (via iCloud is how I usually transfer things) and then I can print it from there. So 0/10 for usability, I'm afraid.

We did this just last week. My iPhone 14 Pro & wife's iPhone 11 can print directly to my ancient hp Envy 5640 wi-fi enabled printer. So long as the printer shows up in the network on your phone then it should just work.

westv

Why not upload all the important ones to the cloud and have access available to both parties all the time?

Sarahspangles

squirrelpie said:

MX5huggy said:

Or just know your loved ones phone passcode. Being a second face for Face ID does not work because you need the passcode if the phone is switched off. 

Yes, that's a good solution if possible. But if there's a real reason why it's not, as stated in the original story, then the problem arises. I can think of cases where the correct action is to deny access, so it's not a simple 'human' problem for apple to solve.

We’ve lost both sets of parents, with the couple who were early adopters of digital stuff it helped that a family member who was an executor had been given passwords and codes. As well as photos, it effectively gave them access to the digital equivalent of the contents of the safe/desk/files/address book that all help an executor to deal with an estate.

However passwords alone don’t give family the ability to memorialise social media accounts and I’m aware of some upsetting examples where these have been hacked. It’s a priority for me to have arrangements in place.

WastedWords

Legacy access key ( also recovery key) can be saved as pdf.

Select "Print a copy"

then "share"


"save to files"

michaels

westv said:

Why not upload all the important ones to the cloud and have access available to both parties all the time?

It terrifies me when people say they have stuff they want only on their phone not backed up anywhere....

cfw1994

MallyGirl said:

Reading an article on the BBC about a widower who couldn't get photos and contacts off his deceased wife's iPhone I saw the comment that Apple gives users the chance to nominate a legacy contact who could access their data after their death, in the settings menu on their iPhone.
It is under the Family -> Family Checklist menu.
Worth doing if you are Apple users

That is a great point…
My wife (& indeed our offspring) know how to get at various passwords, & nothing is only stored in one place, but this feels like an extra step worth taking 👍

thanks!