Families locked out of dead relatives' phones face 'grisly problem' accessing fingerprint, FaceID

In funeral homes across Toronto, there’s a growing dilemma facing staff: the digital remnants of a deceased person's life are trapped behind the lock screen of the phone they left behind, and a fingerprint or face scan is the family’s last hope for access before the body is buried.

Passcodes, in many cases, were never communicated to the people managing the estate, and whether it is to salvage family photos or disarm the security system of the home they now need to access, executors are hoping to break in with biometrics.

“The frequency is certainly increasing,” technology analyst Carmi Levy told CTV News Toronto.

“The last resort for a family member often is [to] go to the funeral home, get an image of the body, and then gain access to the systems. It’s a grisly problem.”

But it’s also a practical problem for families overseeing end-of-life affairs if their loved one’s life was tied to technology and organized by apps.

One funeral director told CTV News Toronto he receives a few requests a month from executors trying to retrieve camera roll photos, access digital documents, and more.

“Whenever it happens, I know that funeral service providers will do whatever they can to ensure that they help the families to the best of their ability,” Allan Cole, president of the Funeral Association of Canada, said.

“People have a tremendous amount of personal and private information trapped in their phones.”

But digital access after death isn’t always possible. Another funeral director, who didn't want to be named due to professional repercussions, told CTV News Toronto that family members have often locked themselves out of the deceased person’s phone through too many failed passcode guesses by the time they try to gain access through biometrics.

In one case, he said, the next-of-kin had to break a window to get into the deceased person’s home, since the doors were keyless and accessible only through the phone.

In other cases, the phone’s security system will prevent access if it detects that the device may have been lost or stolen.

Fingerprints may not be readable by the device after death, depending on how much time has passed and the electrical properties of the skin.

The sophistication of the biometrics system is also a factor, according to Levy.

“[FaceID] requires proof that the individual who is being recorded, in the photo, is in fact a very live person,” Levy said. “For example, Apple has incorporated technology to prevent people from taking pictures of dead bodies and gaining access to a system.”

“Generally I don’t think people really expect that someone would be going through their phone after they’re dead,” University of Toronto bioethicist Kerry Bowman said.

“Ethically, it’s very problematic to be accessing people’s personal material after they’re dead, even if it’s related to estate planning, access to the home, who knows what.”

But a legitimate executor of the estate operating in good faith would have access to the body, Cole said, with the caveat that the individual funeral home should seek legal advice on specific circumstances.

One funeral home director, who also asked not to be named due to potential professional repercussions, told CTV News Toronto access to bodies isn’t necessarily supervised, adding that family members looking for biometric access don’t have to state their intention to the staff.

The best way to avoid the digital dilemma altogether is to include a digital asset clause in your will, according to financial planner Luxmihaasan Rasappah, who recommends writing down usernames and passwords in a document in case of death.

“But one thing I will recommend: don’t put your login and password in the will, because the will becomes a public document,” he said.

Cole agrees, for the benefit of the loved ones left behind.

“It’s of tremendous importance to families to be able to access this somehow.”