Can a Legacy Contact Access Locked Notes?

No. Access to an Apple Account does not grant access to the contents of a password-locked Note. Also not into Keychain, or some other details.

Once activated, a Legacy Contact is granted access to what is in iCloud and is not otherwise locked.

And a caveat around something that too often trips people here: Apple uses biometric authentication such as Face ID and Touch ID as a means to reduce the frequency that a password or passcode needs to be entered. Biometrics do not replace the password or passcode. You may or will get prompted for the password or passcode. And it is the password or passcode that allows the decryption of the data involved, not Face ID or Touch ID.

BeautifulSunshine7 wrote:

Thank you. Please correct me if I’m wrong – at the end of the day, an app that is locked with Face ID but whose data is backed up in iCloud is not blocked for Legacy Contacts.

In other words, Face ID only blocks access to the app on the device itself, but not to the data stored in iCloud (for example, Notes content that is backed up).

If the content inside the app itself is additionally locked (for example, a locked note), then Legacy Contacts would not be able to access that specific content, even if the app is backed up. So the protection of Face ID for opening the app is different from the protection applied to individual locked items inside the app. Did I get it right?

Nope.

Unless the Legacy Contact has the password or passcode associated with the file, a locked Note will not be accessible, whether stored on device or stored in iCloud.

Legacy Contact does not get password or passcode or biometric access to anything. Not past the Apple Account itself.

Anything locked in addition to your Apple Account or your device password or passcode — locked notes are but one example — is not granted access.

This includes not being granted access to the device passcode, and to the entirety of the device contents, in addition to not being granted access to the data encryption used for password- or passcode-protected Notes.

Apple does not have that data access to grant it.

If enabled, Advanced Data Protection (ADP) adds another whole layer to this, and I’d have to look into what happens there.

BeautifulSunshine7 wrote:

Hi, I really appreciate that you’re trying to help me but I’m still just a little confused. I would appreciate it if you could clarify one thing clearly:

If an app (for example, Noted) requires Face ID to open the app, but the content inside has no additional lock and is backed up to iCloud, can a Legacy Contact access that content after my death?

In other words: does Face ID on the app itself block access for Legacy Contacts, or can they access everything in iCloud for that app that isn’t protected by an internal password?

I understand that apps like Keychain and those related to payments will not be accessible to Legacy Contacts; I’m not referring to those.

TL;DR: Legacy contact locked note nope.

When Apple uses passwords (including passcodes), they use those passcodes as a means to encrypt and decrypt the protected data, not as a simple “guess the secret word” block. The contents of the protected data is encrypted using robust encryption, meaning the encrypted data is inaccessible without the key.

When Apple uses Face ID and Touch ID, the biometrics are not the password, they are a means to enter the password or password less often. The biometrics do jot replace the password/

Just as happens with iCloud Keychain and other similar password-protected mechanisms, Legacy Contacts also does not grant access to locked notes, because locked notes are encrypted, and Apple does not have the decryption key; the password.

Face ID is a shortcut to the password used to decrypt the data, whether the contents of the iPhone or iPad, or to a specific encrypted file such as a locked note.

Face ID does not replace the password, it’s used as a shortcut to enter the password less often.

The other common variation of this question: should the Face ID hardware get reset or should it fail, the user will get prompted for a password to unlock the Note, and if that password is forgotten, that data is now inaccessible.

Just as with the device password, and with the iCloud Keychain password. Apple does not have the password used with Notes, which means Legacy Contacts cannot be granted access protected by that password, a password that Apple doesn’t have.

The notes are backed up in a locked form. The pass information for unlocking the note is different from identification used to get access to the account.

I have a password for my computer but I also have encrypted files on my computer. Somebody with the computer password can get into the computer but they can't get into the files I have encrypted. Nor can they read the copy of the files on my backup drive.

BeautifulSunshine7 wrote:

So, if an app requires Face ID only to open it, meaning I enabled ‘require Face ID’ in the iPhone settings for this specific app, can a Legacy Contact access the app’s data backed up to the iCloud? From what I understand, only if there is an internal lock inside the app (for example, a specific note I chose to lock in the ‘Notes’ app, with Face ID) the Legacy Contact would not be able to access the data. Is that correct? Yes or no?

Again, thank you for your help.

Your “if” doesn’t exist, so you can’t get a “yes” or “no” here.

There is always a passcode. Always.

There is no Face ID only.

Again, there is always a password.

Again, there is no Face ID only.

That password is the data decryption key.

There isn’t a “lock” saved here, and there isn’t a saved password, it’s all based on data encryption. No decryption key, no access.

Face ID is a shortcut to avoid entering hat password as often.

Face ID does not decrypt or encrypt the file, the passcode does.

I can only assume you’ve also forgotten the existing passwords for your existing notes, or maybe used the device password as the Note password.

If you set a unique password and have forgotten it, you’ll want to fix that soonest by transcribing into a new note with a known password.

As for the device password, Apple doesn’t have that, and can’t provide it.

How to lock or unlock notes on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

TL; DR: Locked non-shared note, with no password (and there is always a password), no decryption, no data, no access, no legacy contact. Irrespective of Face ID.

So — without including a proposed solution, such as a locked (encrypted) note — what are you trying to do? Wht is your goal? Pass along some information? Or keep some information away from a legacy contact? Or something else?

You could place critical information into an encrypted file. Some applications have an encryption feature, and some archive utilities. Even the macOS has it thought it is a bit involved to set up. Give a trusted individual the password, but not the actual file, with instructions to whom to send the password should something happen to you.

At the risk of going for simplicity, and of low-tech…

Tape an envelope with the current Apple Account password and current device passcode to the back of the Mac. Or place it somewhere else, where you have communicated its location with your executor / executrix.

Include the master password for the password manager, and a pointer into it, too.

Probably also include info for accessing financial accounts and identify the related apps, and same for routine billing, and other paperwork.

Placing passwords in a password protected Note is not going to do what you want.

Or if there’s a safe deposit box with right of survivorship, or a lawyer with a will or such, you can keep the envelope there.

If these other services you’re using are Google, Google has an inactive account mechanism. If you trust Google to still be around and still be functional, etc. I’d not recommend this path (complexity, possibility of failures, etc), but it’s an option.

Leave the Legacy Contact for (maybe) transferring your equipment to new owners. You’re not using enough of the Apple iCloud Services to really make the entirety of the Apple Legacy Contact mechanism all that generally useful.

If nobody is going to be able to get into your account until you die and at that time you don't care about the content of the document, why not just store the information in a regular document in iCloud? Not encrypted. The security of iCloud provides the security for the document. There no need to keep it in something that needs a key if you then have it in something else that needs a key.

A Legacy Contact’s access to your Apple ID is limited as described in Request access to an Apple Account as a Legacy Contact - Apple Support