Until now, when a loved one passed away, there was no easy way to access their iCloud account and absolutely no way to unlock their phone without knowing their password.
According to iCloud’s terms of service, the deceased’s data goes with the deceased person with a death certificate.
iOS 15.2 brings the new Digital Legacy program, allowing you to designate up to five people as legacy contacts. These people will be able to access your data and personal information stored on iCloud when you die, such as photos, documents and even purchases.
To activate Digital Legacy, Apple still requires proof of death and a passkey. Still, it’s a much simpler process than before, which could have required a court order confirming inheritance rights, and even then, there was no guarantee that the data would be accessible.
Both Google and Facebook have systems for assigning access to other people’s accounts, and it’s good to see that Apple is also joining this trend.
This functionality is available in the iOS 15.2 public beta for the iPhone, so we will have to wait for the full release of iOS 15.2. Apple has not said which version of macOS will support the feature.
