Use iCloud Keychain to keep your website and app passwords and passkeys, credit card information, Wi-Fi network information, and other account information up to date across all your approved devices and Mac computers. iCloud Keychain can also keep the accounts you use in Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Messages up to date across all your iPhone and iPad devices and Mac computers.
It’s secure, too. iCloud Keychain is secured with 256-bit AES encryption during storage and transmission, and its data can’t be read by Apple. And if all your devices are lost or stolen, you can still recover your iCloud Keychain.
Set up iCloud Keychain
You can set up iCloud Keychain now if you didn’t do it when you first set up your iPhone.
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap your name, then tap iCloud.
- Tap See All (next to Saved to iCloud) and tap Passwords & Keychain.
- Turn on Sync this iPhone and then follow the onscreen instructions.
Set up iCloud Keychain on an additional device
Turning on iCloud Keychain on an additional device sends a notification to your other devices using iCloud Keychain. It asks for your approval. Approve the additional device on one of your other devices, and iCloud Keychain automatically begins updating on it. Without access to your other devices, you can approve iCloud Keychain with your iCloud Security Code by following the onscreen instructions.
Recover your iCloud Keychain if all your devices are lost or stolen
iCloud Keychain syncs across devices to provide convenience and redundancy in case you lose a single device. If all your devices are lost and you’ve added a recovery contact to your Apple Account, your contact can help you recover your iCloud Keychain. Go to Settings > [your name] > Sign-In & Security, tap Recovery Contacts, then tap Learn More. You can also recover your iCloud Keychain through iCloud Keychain escrow, which is also protected against brute-force attacks. iCloud Keychain escrows a user’s keychain data with Apple without allowing Apple to read the passwords and other data it contains. Your keychain is encrypted using a strong passcode, and the escrow service provides a copy of the keychain only if a strict set of conditions is met. To recover your keychain through iCloud Keychain escrow, authenticate with your Apple Account on a new device, then respond to an SMS sent to a trusted phone number. After you authenticate and respond, you must enter the device passcode. iOS, iPadOS, and macOS allow only 10 attempts to authenticate. After several failed attempts, the record is locked and you must contact Apple Support on the Apple Support website to be granted more attempts.
