You have their phone but not the passcode

Start with the people around you

Before you touch the phone again, ask the people closest to the person whether they know the code. A spouse, a grown child, a close friend, a carer. People often share a passcode with one person and never mention it. Check a written list, a password book, a note in a drawer, or a password manager they used on a computer. The answer is more often sitting in a drawer than in a support queue.

If someone does know it, have them unlock the phone once and write the code down somewhere safe. Do not change the code yet. A changed code can lock out the person's other devices and signed-in accounts in ways that are hard to undo.

What not to try

Do not guess repeatedly. Most phones lock for longer after each wrong try, and some wipe themselves after too many. A wiped phone loses photos, messages and notes that nobody can get back.

Do not take the phone to a repair shop to be broken into. Do not buy software that claims to crack a passcode. Do not follow videos that promise a reset. A reset erases the phone and leaves you with a clean device and nothing on it.

What the phone maker may be able to do

Apple and Google each have a process for families asking about a dead person's account. What they can offer depends on the person's settings, the documents you can provide, and their current rules. Some people set up a legacy contact or an inactive account manager in advance, which makes this far easier. If they did, that person can request access.

You will usually need a death certificate and proof that you are the person handling the estate. The exact steps and the forms change, so check the company's current help page for the account before you send anything. For Apple, our guide on iCloud after a death walks through the usual path. For Google, see a Google account after death.

Be ready for a partial answer. The company may help with account access or data, but it will not hand over the phone's passcode, and it cannot unlock the device itself. What you get is usually account-level, not the locked screen in your hand.

Keep the phone number alive

The number matters more than the handset. It is the recovery route for email, banking, utilities and social accounts. It is also how people who have not heard the news will try to reach them.

• Keep the SIM in the phone and the phone charged while you decide.
• Contact the mobile carrier and ask what they need to keep the line active or move it to a family member. Rules and fees vary, so check their current help page.
• Ask whether the line can be kept as a number that receives texts, even if the phone itself stays locked.
• Tell the carrier the situation plainly and ask what they can and cannot do.

Do not cancel the number in the first days. Cancelling it can cut off the two-factor codes you need to get into email and other accounts, and it lets the number be reassigned to a stranger.

What can wait

The photos and messages on the phone can wait a few weeks. The urgent things are the number, the email account, and any account that holds money or sends bills. Sort those first. Then come back to the phone when you have the paperwork and a clear head.

If the phone is the only place a will, a list of accounts, or the details of a funeral plan might be stored, say so to whoever is handling the estate. A locked phone is not the place to look first, but it is worth naming.

Write it down for your own family

The reason this moment is hard is that nobody wrote the code down. You can spare your own family that. In your envelope, under Devices and codes, list each phone, the passcode, and which account the phone number is tied to. Add the carrier and the account holder name. If you have set up a legacy contact or an inactive account manager, name that person.

A sealed envelope that opens only when it should is the point. You can read how that works on the how it works page, and there is a checklist for the rest of the details. One line about a passcode now saves a family a locked screen later.