iCloud Keychain is a great way to keep track of your passwords, credit cards, and login details, protecting them across devices through iCloud.
Between email addresses, online banking, streaming services and more, you likely have a whole bunch of usernames and passwords. Some sites force you to create more elaborate passwords than your favourite go-tos (since when is "Password" not secure? Oh...always? Nevermind) which means you can end up with slightly different passwords for the sites you use most frequently, giving you lots of info to track and input.
By trusting iCloud's Keychain, important login information can be stored so you can input it quickly and keep it more secure on your iPhone and iPad.
How to enable (or disable) iCloud Keychain on iPhone and iPad
How to generate a password with iCloud Keychain on iPhone and iPad
How to access and view passwords in iCloud Keychain
How to delete saved passwords and credit cards from iCloud Keychain for iPhone and iPad
How to manually add your credit card information to iCloud Keychain
How to stop Safari from storing or autofilling passwords and credit cards from iCloud Keychain
How to enable (or disable) iCloud Keychain on iPhone and iPad
iCloud Keychain is part of iCloud and allows you to save passwords, credit card numbers, and forms for easier autofill later.
It can even help you generate new passwords for new logins when you need help creating a stronger password. However, before iCloud Keychain can save your personal info, you'll need to enable it.
Launch Settings from the Home screen
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Keychain.
Toggle iCloud Keychain slider to on by moving it to the right.
Enter your password for your Apple ID to enable iCloud Keychain.
If you've set up an iCloud Keychain password before, you will be asked to enter your existing password after enabling iCloud Keychain. If not, you will be asked to create a password. You also have the option to verify with another device. However you decide to finalize your account, you'll be ready to store important info more securely on your iPhone or iPad.
To disable iCloud Keychain, repeat the steps above but toggle iCloud Keychain to OFF instead.
How to generate a password with iCloud Keychain on iPhone and iPad
Have a go-to password you love to use for all your accounts! Well...that's bad. It means if someone gains access to one of your accounts, they can get access to all of your accounts. Next thing you know you're being billed for surfing classes in Costa Rica and DVDs teaching you how to knit your own surfboard and suddenly your email account is asking your friends for money for knitting and surfing classes! What a mess!
iCloud keychain makes password management easy, ensuring you use stronger passwords, and even suggesting unique passwords for you to try!
Launch the Safari app on your iPhone or iPad.
Navigate to the site you'd like to create an account and generate a password for.
Fill out any information that's needed and then tap on the password field where you'd normally enter a password.
Tap on the Suggest Password button which will appear above your keyboard.
A popup menu will then appear with a randomly generated password, tap on Use Suggested Password.
Note: Some sites block tools like iCloud Keychain. Sometimes it's for security or privacy reasons (for example, public terminals), other times they're just not compatible. If iCloud Keychain doesn't give you the option to generate a password, it's likely because the site is blocking the functionality, not that you are doing something wrong.
In this case think of a random actor's name, a sandwich topping, and your current weight and mash that info together for a password.
How to access and view passwords in iCloud Keychain
iCloud Keychain will generate and store all your Safari-based passwords and autofill them for you where and as needed. However, there may be times when a website doesn't allow autofill (for example, at public terminals or shared computers), or you want to use a password outside Safari (for example, in another app), and then you'll need to find it, copy it, and paste it in manually.
Luckily, you can do just that if you know where to look!
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Safari.
Tap on Passwords under the General section.
You will now see a list of accounts with saved passwords. Tap on the account you would like to view the password for (I checked an account called 2 Chainz).
View your password which will written under the username field.
That's all there is to it. Note that the list in Saved Passwords can become quite long if you save a lot of passwords, so depending on how many you use, you may have to do a bit of scrolling to find the account you want.
How to delete saved passwords and credit cards from iCloud Keychain for iPhone and iPad
One of the side-effects of an easy-to-use system like iCloud Keychain is that sometimes you accidentally end up saving a password you didn't intend to. That, or you simply stop using a certain site and no longer need its password saved, or some glitch comes up and it's not working properly, and you just want to start over. Regardless of the reason, you can remove the unwanted password, or even credit card number, out of iCloud Keychain easy enough.
How to delete a saved credit card from iCloud Keychain
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Safari
Under the General tab, tap on AutoFill.
On the next screen, tap on Saved Credit Cards.
Tap on the credit card you want to remove.
Tap on Edit in the top right corner.
Tap on Delete Credit Card.
You'll be asked to confirm your intent to delete this card. Tap on Delete.
Your credit card will no longer be stored in Keychain. You can always re-add this credit card again if you want it back in Keychain.
How to delete a saved password from iCloud Keychain for iPhone and iPad
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Safari
Under the General tab, tap on Passwords.
Tap on Edit in the top right corner.
Tap on the delete button (looks like a red circle with a minus sign) next to the account you want to remove the password protection for.
Tap on the delete button to delete the password information.
That's all there is to it, all the logins you chose to delete won't autofill or be remembered in iCloud Keychain any longer, on any of your devices.
How to manually add your credit card information to iCloud Keychain
iCloud Keychain isn't just great for managing your passwords, you can also store your credit card info as well. This can be handy for those all-important online auctions, ticket purchases, and more that you make from your phone or tablet.
Keep your credit card info always accessible by manually adding it to iCloud Keychain!
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Safari
Tap on AutoFill under the General section.
Tap on Saved Credit Cards.
Tap on Add Credit Card.
Fill in your credit card information into the blank fields, or tap the Use Camera button and hold your phone above your card to have the text fields automatically update.
Tap Done in the top right corner to save this card's info.
iCloud Keychain will now remember that card and sync it across your Apple products.
How to stop Safari from storing or autofilling passwords and credit cards from iCloud Keychain
Just because you've got all your passwords and credit card info protected by iCloud Keychain, doesn't necessarily mean you want Safari to automatically fill that in on every site you visit.
Don't worry, with a few taps, you can make sure Safari is minding its own business!
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Safari.
Tap on AutoFill under the General section.
From here, you can control whether or not Safari remembers your credit card and password info.
Move the Names and Passwords slider to the left to prevent Safari from saving this info.
Move the Saved Credit Cards slider to the left to prevent Safari from saving this info.
That's all there is to it. Safari will no longer prompt to save or autofill passwords stored to iCloud Keychain for that specific device. Just repeat the process on any devices you don't want autofill to work with for iCloud Keychain.
How to reset your iCloud Keychain security code
iCloud Keychain stores all of your passwords so you don't need to remember them. But iCloud Keychain itself has its own security number! If you happen to forget that password, take a moment to appreciate the irony, and then follow the steps below.
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Keychain
Tap on Advanced.
Tap on Change Security Code.
Type in your iCloud password
Type in a new iCloud security code
Type in your iCloud security code again.
Don't get thrown off because it says "Create" your iCloud security code instead of "rename." Because you already entered your iCloud password earlier, your phone trusts that it is you who is changing your iCloud Keychain code.
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