What Is Apple Keychain & How To Use It

What Is Apple Keychain & How To Use It.

Apple Keychain, also known as iCloud Keychain, is a password manager service for Apple devices provided by Apple itself. You can use it to store and retrieve your website usernames and passwords, app credentials, and even credit card information on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.

With iCloud Keychain, you don’t need to remember any accounts as Keychain automatically fills in your login names. Plus, it syncs your saved information across all your devices using iCloud This way, the password saved on the iPhone can be used on the Mac and vice versa.

What data does iCloud Keychain store?

ICloud Keychain securely stores the following personal and confidential information:

• your website and app usernames and passwords.
• Your credit card details but no security code.
• Passwords of all Wi-Fi networks you have ever connected to.
• Digital signatures.

ICloud Keychain asks for your consent when storing certain types of passwords in its database.

How to use Apple iCloud Keychain on iPhone / iPad

To use iCloud Keychain on iOS devices, you must first enable this feature, and then you can save and access its contents.

Turn on iCloud Keychain on iPhone / iPad

You must be signed in to the same Apple account on your iPhone that you use on other devices to sync Keychain content.

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1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Click on the banner with your name above.

3. Select the iCloud option to manage your iCloud account settings.

4. Scroll down and tap the Keychain Access option.

5. Turn on iCloud Keychain.

View passwords stored in your keychain on iPhone / iPad

If you’ve already saved your iCloud Keychain sign-in information, you can access that data directly from your iOS device, such as iPhone or iPad.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap the Passwords & Accounts option.

3. Tap the Website and Application Passwords option at the top of the screen.

4. Sign in using Touch ID or Face ID.

5. You will see all the accounts you have ever saved in Keychain. Click on a website in the list to view its logins.
6. On the next screen, you will see the username and password for this website.

Add Personal Information and Credit Card Information to Keychain

ICloud Keychain allows you to manually add information to your Keychain. In this way, you can store both your personal data and your credit card details in this service. You will then be able to access this data on any of your iCloud-enabled devices.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap the Safari option.

3. Click AutoComplete in the General section.

4. Tap the My Info option to add your personal information.

5. Select your contact card to add your personal information to Keychain Access.
6. Click Saved Credit Cards.

7. Verify your identity with Touch ID or Face ID.

8. Click Add Credit Card.

9. Enter your credit card information and your card will be added to the Keychain.

How to use iCloud Keychain on Mac

On a Mac, you can use iCloud Keychain to store, retrieve, and even create passwords for your online accounts. It is also possible to manually add data to the keychain.

Enable iCloud Keychain on Mac

You don’t need an app or similar to turn on iCloud Keychain on Mac.

1. Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your screen and select System Preferences.

2. Click iCloud on the next screen.

3. In the right pane, you will see the services used with your iCloud account. Select the Keychain Access checkbox and Keychain Access will be activated on your Mac.

Access iCloud Keychain Passwords on Mac

Your Mac allows you to access your Keychain content in two ways. You can use a web browser or the built-in application to view your saved usernames and passwords

Using Keychain Access

1. Click Launchpad in the Dock, find Keychain Access and open it.

2. You will see all the saved keychain content.

Using Safari

1. Launch Safari on your Mac.

2. Click the Safari menu at the top and choose Preferences.

3. Click the Passwords tab.

4. Enter your Mac password and press Enter.

5. You will have access to your saved Keychain passwords.

Using iCloud Keychain Data in Safari on Mac

Before Safari can auto-fill fields on various websites from your Keychain data, you need to enable the Keychain Access option in that browser on your Mac.

1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.
2. Click the Safari option at the top and choose Preferences.

3. Select the AutoFill tab on the next screen.
4. You will see several checkboxes on the screen. Check the box for the information that Safari should automatically fill out from your iCloud Keychain.

Automatically generate passwords using keychain in Safari

A lesser known feature of iCloud Keychain is that it lets you automatically create strong passwords for your online accounts. This way, you don’t need to create a password manually.

The password generated by this feature will be automatically saved in your iCloud Keychain.

1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.

2. Open the website where you want to create a new account. It can be any website of your choice.
3. After you go to the website, click the password field and Safari will automatically prompt you for the password. Click this password to add it to the password field.

4. If Safari does not offer a password, click the key icon in the password field and select Suggest New Password.

Add credit card to keychain manually

Just like your iPhone, you can manually add a credit card to iCloud Keychain from your Mac.

1. Open Safari on your Mac.
2. Select Safari and then select Preferences at the top of the screen.
3. Select the AutoFill tab on the next screen.
4. Click Edit next to Credit Cards.

5. Click the Add button below to add a new credit card to your iCloud Keychain.

6. Enter your credit card details and click “Finish” at the bottom. Your card details will be saved in your Keychain.

7. To remove a card, select it and click Remove.

You can also use Apple iCloud Keychain to view your saved Wi-Fi passwords.

What’s your favorite password manager for your Apple devices? Is it iCloud Keychain or a third party tool? Let us know in the comments below.

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What Is Apple Keychain & How To Use It