What happens to my iCloud account when I die?

[tacobell fan]

This morbid chain of thought started when I came across this Teller Report post. An excerpt:

The Münster district court has ordered Apple to grant the heirs of a deceased iCloud user access to its data. The relatives hope for information about the circumstances of death.

And:

According to the Bielefeld law firm Brandi, who represented the heirs in court, the father died during a trip abroad. Apple has rejected the desire of relatives to gain access to the data stored in the iCloud out of court.

The company did not want to comment on the case. Experts pointed out, however, that the iPhone group in the past in similar cases, the heirs have made possible access to iCloud data of the deceased even without trial. The submission of a certificate of inheritance was sufficient. In other cases, it needed a court order.

I suspect some of the details have been lost in translation. So I did a bit of digging.

From the official Apple iCloud terms of service page:

No Right of Survivorship

Unless otherwise required by law, You agree that your Account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or Content within your Account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your Account may be terminated and all Content within your Account deleted.

So there it is. Pretty clear. If you die, Apple’s policy is to delete your account. Seems to me, there should be a way to assign an heir, perhaps transfer all the files to the heir’s account. They could even limit heirs to family members in a family plan.

Not crazy about a policy that forces a grieving family to have to go to court to access their loved ones photos, etc.

[Anta Assamey]



[JAPAN]

vaarini intha kadha vundha 

[LazyRohit]

[tacobell fan]

16 minutes ago, Anta Assamey said:



[MobileMusic]

iOS/macOS/iCloud allow you to share your photos, files, apps, etc with your family members while you are alive. Apple does not want to get into the legalities of your situation. What if you are divorced and die? Just because it is expected of Apple to share/transfer data to your children, it also means your ex would be able to access this data and some of it may not be appropriate in your view. This is just one example and there are likely many more. The legal counsel comprising of dozens of experienced attorneys at Apple know exactly what they have drafted for terms.

It is the same reason why many states have “no-fault divorces” because the courts do not want to determine whose fault it was or why or expect us to prove faults - the court just wants you to reconcile and patch up or break up and move on.

[tacobell fan]

2 hours ago, MobileMusic said:

iOS/macOS/iCloud allow you to share your photos, files, apps, etc with your family members while you are alive. Apple does not want to get into the legalities of your situation. What if you are divorced and die? Just because it is expected of Apple to share/transfer data to your children, it also means your ex would be able to access this data and some of it may not be appropriate in your view. This is just one example and there are likely many more. The legal counsel comprising of dozens of experienced attorneys at Apple know exactly what they have drafted for terms.

It is the same reason why many states have “no-fault divorces” because the courts do not want to determine whose fault it was or why or expect us to prove faults - the court just wants you to reconcile and patch up or break up and move on.

Akkada photos is just one example. what  about bank passwords? If you have access to icloud you can retrieve them from keychain. Again this varies from case to case. Imagining a person never use Mac to sync the phone or use alternate apple device which can be used as secondary source. Not all people share photos. I find it very useful if they allow access to phone for those who died. I personally know the value of it. 

[kiladi bullodu]

kottabhothunamu

[tacobell fan]

2 minutes ago, kiladi bullodu said:

kottabhothunamu

scope leda Anna ee vishyam lo

[kiladi bullodu]

14 minutes ago, tacobell fan said:

scope leda Anna ee vishyam lo

8x undhi ga

[tacobell fan]

Just now, kiladi bullodu said:

8x undhi ga

ledu

[MobileMusic]

24 minutes ago, tacobell fan said:

Akkada photos is just one example. what  about bank passwords? If you have access to icloud you can retrieve them from keychain. Again this varies from case to case. Imagining a person never use Mac to sync the phone or use alternate apple device which can be used as secondary source. Not all people share photos. I find it very useful if they allow access to phone for those who died. I personally know the value of it. 

It is all part of Privacy laws. They did not budge to unlock the gunman's phone and cooperate with law enforcement in criminal investigation and many industry experts approved Apple's stand on it:

https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+opposes+unlock+gunman's+phone

[DrBeta]

Depressing

[tacobell fan]

9 minutes ago, DrBeta said:

Depressing

@ekunadam_enkanna suggested pills to help the depression.