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Passwords

How to make your passwords and passkeys available across devices with iPhone and iCloud Keychain

by Tyler Stephen

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.

  1. Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap your name, then tap iCloud.
  3. Tap See All (next to Saved to iCloud) and tap Passwords & Keychain.
  4. 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.

Tags: iCloud, Passwords
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How to share passwords and passkeys with people you trust on iPhone

by Moses Johnson

Shared password groups are an easy and secure way to share passwords, passkeys, and Sign in with Apple credentials with your family and trusted contacts. Anyone in the group can add passwords, passkeys, and Sign in with Apple credentials.

When a shared credential changes, it changes on everyone’s device. You can create a group, manage it, and respond to an invitation to join one.

Here’s how to share passwords and passkeys with people you trust on iPhone.

Create a group

Note: You need to be signed in to your Apple Account to create a shared password group.

  1. Open the Passwords app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the New Shared Group button.
  3. Enter a name for the group, then tap Add People.
  4. Type the name, email address, or phone number of the person or people you want to add and tap Add. Note: To add someone to your group, they must be in your contacts and have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14, or later. If they can be added to the group, their contact information appears in blue. If it appears in gray, their iPhone, iPad, or Mac might not support shared password groups.
  5. Tap the Create button.
  6. Select the passwords you want to share with the group. Tap Move.

If you don’t want to share any passwords yet, tap the Close button. You can notify the people you’ve invited to the group, and they can also see the invitation in Passwords > Group Invitations. Your shared passwords are saved in iCloud Keychain, and you can use them like any other saved password. You receive a notification whenever anyone else is invited to the group.

Manage a group

If you created a group, only you can add or remove other members, or delete it. Other members don’t have these options, but they can leave at any time.

  1. Open the Passwords app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the name of your group. You can add or remove other members, or delete the group.
  3. Do any of the following:
    • Add a member to the group: Tap your name and then tap Add People.
    • Remove a member from the group: Tap the member’s name, then tap Remove From Group.
    • Remove a shared password or passkey from the group: Tap Select and select the shared account with the shared password or passkey. Then tap the Delete button.
    • Delete the group: Tap your name and tap Delete Group.
  4. When you’re finished making changes, tap the Done button.

Respond to an invitation to join a group

  1. Open the Passwords app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap the invitation and then tap Accept to join the group. You can also decline the invitation.

Important: Don’t accept an invitation if you don’t recognize the sender.

Tag: Passwords
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