Apple's new Digital Legacy feature is now available to beta testers, giving the first clear indication of exactly what data Apple will make available to your next of kin when you pass away.
First outlined in June with the unveiling of iOS 15, Digital Legacy is a new feature designed to let you set a person as your Legacy Contact, giving the person access to your Apple ID account and personal information in the event of your death.
The Legacy Contact option can be accessed by opening up the Settings app, tapping on your profile picture and then selecting "Password & Security." From there, choose "Legacy Contact" from the list and you can choose a trusted person to access your account after you pass away.
When they need to, the Legacy Contact can visit digital-legacy.apple.com to request access using an access key and a copy of death certificate. There, they can access the following data from the deceased user's iCloud:
iCloud Keychain logins and passwords will not be made available, nor will any licensed media. Apple says that Digital Legacy also includes access to other personal information from a user's iCloud account, but it is not yet clear exactly what additional data will be available.
Apple did not include Legacy Contact in the initial versions of iOS 15 that were released to the public as the feature was not yet ready, but it is available in the iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 betas that were recently seeded to developers and public beta testers.
iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 also include a number of new features, such as Find My lost item tracking, Communication Safety, improvements to the Notification Summary, and more. For a full list of features that have been added with each iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 beta, we have dedicated guides for the initial beta and the second beta.
Wednesday January 25, 2023 9:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
After announcing new Mac and HomePod models last week, Apple adjusted its trade-in values for select devices in the United States.
iPhone trade-in values decreased by up to $80, and most Android smartphones also went down. Mac trade-in values remained unchanged or increased by up to $40 depending on the model, while some Apple Watch models increased in value and others decreased. Trade-in...
Tuesday January 24, 2023 4:53 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are expected to be announced in September as usual. Already, rumors suggest the devices will have at least seven exclusive features not available on the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.
An overview of the seven features rumored to be exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro models:A17 chip: iPhone 15 Pro models will be equipped with an A17...
Tuesday January 24, 2023 1:11 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
While the new Mac mini with the M2 chip has a lower $599 starting price, the base model with 256GB of storage has slower SSD read and write speeds compared to the previous-generation model with the M1 chip and 256GB of storage.
A teardown of the new Mac mini shared by YouTube channel Brandon Geekabit reveals that the 256GB model is equipped with only a single 256GB storage chip, while the...
Friday January 20, 2023 11:43 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 16.3 will be released to the public next week. The software update will be available for the iPhone 8 and newer and includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes.
Below, we've recapped bigger features in iOS 16.3, including support for physical security keys as a two-factor authentication option for Apple ID accounts, worldwide ...
Wednesday January 25, 2023 5:39 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
The iPhone 15 will support Wi-Fi 6E, according to a research note shared this week by Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O'Malley. The analysts did not specify whether the feature will be available on all models or limited to the Pro models.
Apple has added Wi-Fi 6E support to a handful of devices so far, including the latest 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook...
Tuesday January 24, 2023 1:45 pm PST by Juli Clover
The new M2-series MacBook Pro and Mac mini models launched today, marking the debut of the first M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. We have the M2 Pro Mac mini on hand, and thought we'd take a look at the machine and do a series of benchmarks to see how it fits into Apple's lineup.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Base model Mac mini machines come with either an M2 or M2 Pro...
Tuesday January 24, 2023 10:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released tvOS 16.3, the third major point update to the tvOS 16 operating system that originally came out in September. Available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, tvOS 16.3 comes six weeks after tvOS 16.2, an update that added Apple Music Sing.
The tvOS 16.3 update can be downloaded over the air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System > Software...
Thursday January 26, 2023 12:14 pm PST by Juli Clover
New 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the latest M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are available in Apple retail stores and are already in the hands of customers, and we picked up one of the new M2 Max machines to answer all of the questions MacRumors readers considering a purchase might have.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Yesterday, we asked MacRumors fans on...
Apple on January 23 released iOS 16.3, delivering support for Security Keys for Apple IDs, changes to Emergency SOS functionality, support for the second-generation HomePod, and more.
