- Families are going to extreme lengths to try to open the devices of loved ones
- Using fingerprints of dead corpse usually doesn’t work as no electric charge
- Face ID relies on eye movement so cannot be unlocked with dead person’s eye
- Solicitors drawing up more ‘digital wills’ which contain passwords to accounts
Families who have just lost a loved one are so desperate to unlock smartphones of dead relatives that they are using the corpse’s fingers to try and unlock them.
Solicitors are saying that families are going to extreme lengths to try and retrieve photographs, messages and social media accounts from deceased relatives.
Despite the family’s best efforts, most of the time they do not work as sensors rely on electrical charge to be running through the skin.
Apple’s new face ID on the iPhone X uses natural eye movement so mobiles cannot be unlocked if the person is dead.
Solicitors are saying that families are going to extreme lengths to try and retrieve photographs, messages and social media accounts from deceased relatives (stock image)
The chairman of the Law Society wills and equity committee said he had heard of cases where family members were placing hand of recently deceased person who was ‘slightly warm’ on mobile phones to unlock them.
Ian Bond told The Times: ‘Although this sounds a bit sinister it is done with the best intentions.’
Apple has strict privacy terms whereby unless a third party knows the user’s password, they cannot open up the device.
Facebook does not typically allow friends or family members take over the account of someone who has died unless a user has nominated a ‘legacy contact’.
Mr Bond said people were not planning ahead for their death during a period where sentimental photo albums had been replaced by camera phones.
He added: ‘We are all very used to dealing with dividing physical things, but most people’s lives are now made up of digital, not just phyiscal, assets.’
Digital wills are being drawn up by solicitors, where passwords and codes for devices are left. Clients have also been told to back up data onto cloud storage so that loved ones can assess the contents after their death.
Families who have just lost a loved one are so desperate to unlock smartphones of dead relatives that they are using the corpse’s fingers to try and unlock them (stock image)
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