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janporter

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 12, 2013
1
0
My brother just passed away and left me his IPad 2 and his IPhone 5. Can I use the things he left on these devices as well as set up an account for myself. I would be very upset if apple made me delete everything he has. Please help
 
First, I'm sorry for your tragic loss.

I'm sure the other poster is probably right. This is probably a stupid suggestion, but you might try calling Apple, explain your situation, and see if there is any way to work around the loss of data.

I doubt it will work, but all things considered, nothing lost by trying.
 
Very sorry to hear about you losing your brother. When you say use the things left on these devices, do you mean the apps that he downloaded and purchased? The thing with iOS devices is that they're not multi-user capable. Meaning you can't really log out of his account and login to your's like you'd typically do on a computer. Tell me more about what you're wanting to do and I'll try to provide you with my best advice.
 
sorry for your loss.

and like others have said, you cannot keep/use his purchased apps unless you stay logged into his apple ID. the minute you wipe it and log into yours, his apps will be gone.
 
Please accept my condolences on the death of your brother.

Do you have your brother's Apple account password, if not can you try to reset it? If you can get into his account, then you can probably try to adopt his account (change account email and password, credit card etc), although then you wouldn't be able to use any purchases that you have made on your account. There was some news in the media last year when Bruce Willis found that he could not leave his iTunes content to his daughters when he dies. I seem to recall a subsequent change in the rules but it might need some searching of Apple's T&Cs to find it. Sadly you cannot use multiple accounts on iOS devices. I'd be sure of the rules before going to Apple for any help in merging accounts as they might insist on cancelling your brother's account. If its too painful for you to do, maybe a friend can help?

I bought an iPad for my father to use in hospital last year. When he died on New Year's Eve, it came back to me but I gave it to a friend. That required re-setting the device which was very upsetting, even though he only ended up using it for a couple of weeks, so I can imagine how you are feeling about losing that link to your brother.
 
My condolences on your loss. Try not to be too upset with Apple if they don't allow it. I am sure there are people out there who have used this excuse in the past in order to use a family members account. As bad as that sounds.
 
There are softwares you can use to back up texts, pictures, call logs, notes etc. if that's what you are concerned about losing. Then you could continue on those devices with your own accounts and not completely lose your brothers data. I think the one I use is iExplore for Mac.
 
You probably have a lot going on but reply back when you get a chance. As you see there's a lot of people here who are ready to help.
 
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