My parent died and I cannot get into their phone or accounts. What can I do?

Start by separating the device from the account — they require different processes, and conflating them wastes time.

If the phone itself is passcode-locked, Apple is direct about this: "devices locked with a passcode are protected by passcode encryption, and Apple can't help remove the passcode lock without erasing the device." Source There is no support process, no death certificate, and no court order that gets you past a passcode without wiping the device and losing what's on it — this is a hard technical limit, not a policy Apple could waive. Before you consider erasing it, check the obvious: a written note, a password manager on another device, or a family member the deceased may have shared their passcode or Face ID with while alive.

For the Apple Account (iCloud) itself — separate from the physical device — Apple's fallback process (if no Legacy Contact was set up in advance) requires "a death certificate, and might also require a court order." In the U.S., a court order naming you as the rightful inheritor of the account is generally sufficient. Source This can get you account-level access (photos, notes, files) even without ever touching the locked device, since iCloud data is separately stored.

For a Google account, Google's deceased-user process can, "in certain circumstances," provide content from the account or close it — but explicitly states it "cannot provide passwords or other login details" under any circumstance. Source

For a Microsoft account, the bar is the highest of the major platforms: "Microsoft must first be formally served with a valid subpoena or court order to consider whether it is able to lawfully release a deceased or incapacitated user's information," and even then, "sending a request or providing a subpoena or court order does not guarantee that we will be able to assist you." Source There are narrow documentation-only exceptions in Germany and China, but not in the U.S.

Practically: gather the death certificate first — every path above needs it. Then check whether any legacy/inactive-account tool was already configured (that's the fast path if so). If not, expect the process to take real time and, for anything beyond basic account closure, likely a court order.

What we could not verify: the specific timeline any of these companies typically takes to process such a request — none of the pages fetched state a service-level expectation.

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