How (and why) to add a Legacy Contact to your Apple account

By Rick Rouse
Rick's Daily Tech Tips

If you have an iPhone, iPad or Mac you probably have tons of irreplaceable photos and other things stored on your device(s).

Have you ever thought about what might happen to your precious photos and important files after you pass on?

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone you trust would be able to properly (and completely) dispose of your Apple account and save any photos and files that you want to pass on to your family after you’re gone?

If so, I have good news for you… 

Apple provides an opportunity for every user to designate one or more Legacy Contacts for their Apple account.

In a nutshell, a Legacy Contact is someone you designate to take control of your Apple account and your connected Apple devices when you eventually pass away.

Once you have designated at least one Legacy Contact that person will be able remove the Activation Lock on your devices and access everything that’s stored on them.

As you can see, this person should be someone you would trust with the key to your entire digital life, because that’s pretty close to what they will have.

Adding a Legacy Contact to your account will help ensure that you’ll be able to recover access to your devices if you ever get locked out of them. It will also help ensure that your photos and data are handled according to your wishes after you’ve passed away.

If you’re inclined to do so, you can add a Legacy Contact to your Apple account by following the steps below for the device you’re using.

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad:
1 – Tap the gear-shaped Settings icon.
2 – Tap on your  name.
3 – Tap Sign-In & Security.
4 – Tap Legacy Contact.
5 – Tap Add Legacy Contact and follow the prompts as they appear.
If you’re using a Mac:
1 – Click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner of the screen.
2 – Click System Settings.
3 – Click Sign-In & Security.
4 – Click Legacy contact.
5 – Click Add Legacy Contact and follow the prompts as they appear.

Your Legacy Contact should now be ready and able to help you should you ever need them.
At the time of your passing your Legacy Contact(s) will be able to request that apple remove the activation lock from your Apple devices and transfer control of those devices (and the data that’s stored on them) over to them. They’ll just need the following in order to complete the request:

1 – The access key that you generated when you designated them as your contact
2 – Your death certificate
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Bottom line: If you have an Apple account (and you do have one if you own one or more Apple devices) I strongly recommend that you follow the steps listed above to designate at one Legacy Contact for your account. Actually, two would be even better since there’s always a chance that your Legacy Contact might pass away before you do.

Bonus tip: If you just recently got your first MacBook (or you’d like to learn more about the one you’ve had for a while), you might want to check this out.  (#ad)