Two-Step Verification After Death: Don’t Lock Your Family Out
In shortMost important accounts ask for a second step: a code by text, a code from an authenticator app, or a security key. After a death, that code usually goes to the phone. Keep the phone charged and the SIM active, keep backup codes on paper, and make sure your authenticator app is backed up to an account your family can reach.
Why it locks families out
Even with the right password, an account that asks for a code sent to a phone, or shown in an authenticator app, can’t be opened without that phone. Cancelling the phone contract, letting the SIM lapse or resetting the phone can shut the door for good.
What to do now
- Print the backup codes for your email, password manager and bank where they’re offered, and keep them somewhere safe and private.
- Turn on the backup option in your authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator and others can back up to your account).
- If you use a security key, keep a second one registered and stored safely.
- Write down which phone number receives your codes, and ask your family not to cancel it.
After a death
- Keep the phone charged and switched on, and don’t reset it.
- Keep paying for the phone number for a few months; text codes go to the number, not the handset.
- Don’t guess passwords repeatedly: many accounts lock after a few attempts.
How Successionly Helps
Successionly records which phones, numbers and authenticator apps protect your accounts, checks for loops (like a password manager whose code is on a phone whose passcode is in the password manager), and gives your printed report ruled spaces to write the details by hand.
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