Ah, Apple. In a lot of ways, Apple does control our lives--46.9% of people who own cellphones in the United States own an Apple iPhone--a significant statistic. And anyone who has an iPhone knows how much it completely runs their lives.
But a creepy misprint on the manual for Apple's new Mac operating system, Monterey, makes it sound like Apple has a lot more control over our lives than is possible. The misprint gives the distinct impression that Apple knows exactly when its customer will die.
The print starts out normal enough, saying "Account Recovery Contacts makes resetting your password and maintaining access to your account easier than ever," but turns dark pretty immediately:
"And a new Digital Legacy program lets you designate people as Legacy Contacts so they can access your account in the event of your death.*. *Coming later this year."
While it's likely the asterisk was referring to the Digital Legacy program coming later this year, it did sound like imminent death would be coming for Apple Users later this year.
The point of the Digital Legacy program seems to be for loved ones to be able to get into the phones of recently dearly departed friends and family, in order to make sure all affairs are being carried out on that person's behalf.
But Apple has yet to correct the ghoulish wording, which is giving users equal parts dread and delight.
Mac OS Monterey is available beginning October 25, 2021. Most likely it does not come with an iron-clad death clause, but just in case, exercise caution when making your purchases from Apple.
