To give your family access to your iPhone if something happens to you, leave your passcode somewhere they’ll find it, such as a sealed envelope with your will, and add an Apple Legacy Contact so they can reach your iCloud data. Then make a separate plan for your passwords and for any app that keeps its own encryption, because neither the passcode nor Apple’s process covers those.

There are really 3 locks to plan for: the iPhone itself, your Apple Account, and the apps that encrypt things on their own. Each one needs something different.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you’re writing a will or naming an executor, a lawyer such as James Miller in our examples can tell you how to refer to digital accounts where you live.

Lock 1: the iPhone

Your iPhone’s storage is encrypted with a key tied to its passcode. Apple can’t unlock it for your family without that passcode. Face ID and Touch ID don’t help after a restart, because the iPhone asks for the passcode then. Anything that lives only on the device, such as photos with iCloud Photos turned off, messages not synced to iCloud, or files in “On My iPhone”, is reachable only with the passcode.

What to do: write the passcode on paper and put it in a sealed envelope with your important papers, or give it to your lawyer. Mark the envelope with the date. When you change your passcode, replace the paper.

What to avoid: a note in the Notes app on the same phone (your family can’t open the phone to read it), or a text message that sits unprotected on someone else’s phone for years.

If you’d rather not hand out the passcode, accept that on-device-only data will be lost, and turn on iCloud Photos and iCloud Backup so the important parts aren’t only on the device.

Lock 2: your Apple Account

Your Apple Account holds iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, mail, notes, messages in iCloud and your iCloud Backups. Apple’s way to pass these on is Legacy Contact.

Add one: Settings → your name → Sign-In & Security → Legacy Contact → Add Legacy Contact. On a Mac: Apple menu → System Settings → your name → Sign-In & Security → Legacy Contact.
Share the access key. Apple generates it when you add the contact. You can send it by iMessage or print it. Print a copy for your papers either way.
What they’ll need later: the access key and a copy of your death certificate. Apple reviews each request.

According to Apple’s support pages (checked Oct 24, 2026), a Legacy Contact can’t reach your iCloud Keychain, which holds your saved passwords, passkeys and payment details, or your purchased movies, music and books. Their access lasts 3 years from Apple’s first approval, and then Apple deletes the account. Our Apple Legacy Contact guide has the full detail.

Recovery Contact is different. It helps you back into your account if you’re locked out while alive; it gives nobody your data. It’s still worth adding: Settings → your name → Sign-In & Security → Recovery Contacts → Add Recovery Contact.

Lock 3: passwords and apps with their own encryption

Even with your passcode and a Legacy Contact, your family can get stuck at:

Saved passwords. Not included in Legacy Contact. See password manager emergency access for the options, including Apple’s shared password groups.
Two-factor codes. If your bank texts a code to your phone number, your family will need the phone, the SIM and the carrier account. Note which accounts use an authenticator app.
Crypto wallets. A wallet’s seed phrase is the wallet. See how to pass on crypto wallet recovery details.
Vault apps. A well-built vault app can’t be opened by Apple or by the app’s makers, and that includes Bunker. Your passcode doesn’t open a Bunker vault; its Pattern or its Recovery Phrase does.

Your choices for a Bunker vault

If you keep private photos, scans or notes in Bunker, pick one of these for each vault:

Choice	Who can open it	Good for
Do nothing	Nobody	Things you’d rather nobody sees
Leave the Recovery Phrase with your papers	Whoever holds the paper and also has your device, or your Apple Account with Encrypted Backup on, fully, at any time	One person you trust completely
Make it a Legacy Vault (Bunker Pro)	Enough trusted contacts together, read-only	Spreading trust, so no single person can open it

A Legacy Vault lets you choose up to 5 trusted contacts and how many must come together, for example any 2 of 3. Each gets a printed Legacy Card. A card alone opens nothing, unless you chose a set of just 1. Together, enough cards open a read-only copy of that one vault, and your other vaults are never included or revealed. Being a trusted contact is free.

Here’s the limit: Bunker can’t know whether you have died. In this version, enough contacts acting together can open a Legacy Vault at any time, including while you’re alive. Bunker usually lets your devices know afterwards, but that’s best-effort. A waiting period is planned, not built yet. Choose people you’d trust with it today.

An example

Sarah writes her iPhone passcode on a card, seals it in an envelope with her will and gives it to her lawyer, James Miller. She adds her daughter, Emma Clarke, as her Apple Legacy Contact and prints the access key for the same envelope. Her passwords are in a password manager with emergency access set up for Emma.

Her “Family Papers” vault in Bunker holds scans of her deeds and policies. She makes it a Legacy Vault with any 2 of 3 cards, held by Emma, Olivia Bennett and James. On one page, she writes where everything is and gives a copy to Emma.

The one-page note

Your family needs to know these things exist before any of them help. Keep a short note with:

where the passcode envelope is;
who your Apple Legacy Contact is, and where the printed access key is;
which password manager you use and who has emergency access;
which Bunker vaults matter, and who holds Legacy Cards (not the cards themselves);
your lawyer’s name and number.

Our if something happens to me folder guide shows what else to keep with it, and the digital legacy checklist lets you tick things off as you go.