Of these 3 popular password managers on iPhone, only Bitwarden has true emergency access: a trusted contact requests access, and if you don’t reject it within a wait time you set, they get in. 1Password relies on its printable Emergency Kit and, in family accounts, recovery by a family organizer. Apple Passwords has no emergency access at all, and Apple’s Legacy Contact doesn’t include passwords, so the only built-in option is sharing passwords in a group while you’re alive.
We checked each product’s own help pages on Oct 24, 2026. These features change; check again before you rely on one.
At a glance
| Bitwarden | 1Password | Apple Passwords | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in emergency access | Yes | No | No |
| How someone gets in | Requests access; granted after your wait time unless you reject it | Your Emergency Kit, or a family organizer recovers the account | A shared group you set up in advance |
| Works after your death without your email | Yes | Emergency Kit: yes, if your password is written on it. Family recovery: no, it needs your email | Yes, for passwords already shared |
| You can stop it | Yes, during the wait | Only by changing your password | Yes, by removing them from the group |
| Included with Apple’s Legacy Contact | — | — | No |
| Cost of the feature | Bitwarden Premium ($19.80 a year) or a paid organization; the contact can be free | Part of any plan | Free |
Bitwarden: Emergency Access
Bitwarden’s help pages describe the most complete version.
- Setup: in the web app, Settings → Emergency access → Add emergency contact. Enter their email, choose View or Takeover access, set a wait time, and save. They accept by email within 5 days, and then you confirm them.
- Access levels: View lets them read every item in your individual vault, including attachments. Takeover lets them set a new master password and take full control; your old master password and two-step login methods are removed.
- Wait time: at least 1 day. When they request access, you can approve or reject it. If you do nothing, access is granted when the wait time ends.
- Who can use it: Premium users and members of paid organizations (Families, Teams, Enterprise). Your contact needs only a free Bitwarden account. Bitwarden says there’s no limit on the number of contacts.
- Catch: it covers your individual vault, not items you only hold in an organization. If your organization turned on its automatic confirmation policy, emergency access isn’t available.
Choose the wait time with care. Long enough that you’d notice the email if you’re alive (a week or more, for most people), short enough to be useful.
1Password: Emergency Kit and family recovery
1Password’s support pages describe no request-and-wait feature. Two tools cover the same need:
The Emergency Kit. A PDF with your sign-in address, email, Secret Key and a space for your account password. Get it on 1Password.com: select your name → Manage Account → Save Emergency Kit. 1Password suggests printing it, writing your password on a printed copy, and keeping it somewhere safe, such as a safe deposit box or with someone you trust, such as a spouse or a person named in your will. If you use two-factor authentication, it suggests writing the 16-character secret on the kit too. Anyone who has the completed kit can sign in as you, at any time, so store it like the original will.
Family organizer recovery. In 1Password Families, an organizer can recover a member’s account: on 1Password.com, People → the member → Begin Recovery. But the member gets an email and must act on it, so after a death this works only if someone can get into that person’s email. Make at least 2 people organizers, since you can’t recover your own account.
You can’t use your Emergency Kit to stop someone who already has it. If a kit may have been seen, change your account password.
Apple Passwords: shared groups
Apple Passwords (the Passwords app on iOS 18 and later, and iCloud Keychain before that) has no emergency access. Apple’s Legacy Contact explicitly excludes iCloud Keychain: passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords and payment details. So after your death, an approved Legacy Contact can read your iCloud mail and photos but not sign in to your accounts.
The only built-in way to pass passwords on is to share them now. In the Passwords app, create a shared group, add people, and move passwords into it. Members need iOS 17, iPadOS 17 or macOS 14 or later and must be in your contacts. According to Apple, every member can add, view, edit or delete the passwords in the group at any time, and each password can be in only one group.
That’s fine for the household’s shared logins: streaming, utilities, the Wi-Fi. It’s a poor fit for your bank or your email, because the people in the group can see them today.
Which to choose
- You already use Bitwarden: set up Emergency Access with View, and a wait time you’re comfortable with. It’s the closest thing to a real plan in this list.
- You use 1Password: print the Emergency Kit, write the password on it, and keep it with your important papers or your lawyer. In Families, add a second organizer.
- You use Apple Passwords: share household passwords in a group, and for the rest, write the few accounts that matter most on paper with your papers, or move to a manager with emergency access.
Where Bunker fits
Bunker isn’t a password manager, and we wouldn’t suggest storing all your passwords in a vault. A password manager fills them in, syncs them and warns you about breaches. If you only need your passwords passed on, Bitwarden’s Emergency Access does that job well.
Where a Legacy Vault helps is the part around the password manager: the 1Password Emergency Kit, the Bitwarden master password, the instructions for your family and the documents they’ll need. With Bunker Pro, you choose up to 5 trusted contacts and how many must come together, for example any 2 of 3. Each gets a printed Legacy Card. A card alone opens nothing (unless you chose a set of just 1), so no single person holding a card can sign in as you.
The limit: Bunker can’t know whether you have died. In this version, enough trusted contacts acting together can open a Legacy Vault at any time, including while you’re alive. Bunker usually lets your devices know afterwards, but it’s best-effort and there’s no wait to cancel. A waiting period like Bitwarden’s is planned, not built. Choose people you’d trust today.
An example
Sarah uses Bitwarden. She adds her daughter, Emma Clarke, as an emergency contact with View access and a 7-day wait. Her household logins are also in a shared Apple Passwords group with her partner. Her master password and a short note on which accounts matter go in her “Family Papers” vault in Bunker, a Legacy Vault that any 2 of Emma, Olivia Bennett and her lawyer, James Miller, can open.
For more detail, see Bunker vs Bitwarden Emergency Access and Bunker vs 1Password.
Related
- The Legacy guides
- Apple Legacy Contact: what it covers and what it doesn’t
- What to put in an “if something happens to me” folder
Questions
Does Apple's Legacy Contact include my saved passwords?
No. Apple excludes iCloud Keychain, which holds passwords, passkeys and payment details. To pass passwords on with Apple's tools, share them in a shared password group while you're alive.
Does 1Password have emergency access?
Not as a request-and-wait feature. 1Password's tools are the Emergency Kit, which you can leave with your papers, and account recovery by a family organizer in 1Password Families, which needs access to the member's email.
How does Bitwarden Emergency Access work?
You invite a trusted contact with View or Takeover access and a wait time of at least 1 day. If they request access and you don't reject it before the wait ends, access is granted automatically. It needs Bitwarden Premium or a paid organization; the contact can use a free account.