6 key features of 'iCloud Keychain', a powerful password manager in the Apple ecosystem

If you haven't activated the iCloud Keychain feature on your iPhone, we highly recommend using it. With a powerful password manager built into iOS and macOS, all your sensitive information is encrypted end-to-end and synced to all Apple devices. Even if you already use it to store apps, Apple Pay information, Wi-Fi, Internet, and other online passwords, you may not be using all of those features. Let's take a look at the main advantages of Apple's password manager and how to use it.

How to activate the iCloud Keychain feature

If you use an iPhone, you will have an iCloud account, and if you have an iCloud account, you can also use the iCloud Keychain feature. To see if this feature is enabled, tap your name in Settings on your iPhone or iPad, or click Apple ID in System Settings on your Mac and check the iCloud entry. Scroll down to the keychain item and check that the toggle is green. On Mac, see if it's checked instead of a toggle.

You may need to enter a password or passcode while activating it. You need to make sure that this feature is enabled on other Apple devices as well, but once you confirm, there is nothing to configure.

Auto-fill passwords with iCloud Keychain

With iCloud Keychain, you can quickly log into websites without typing. You don't even need to remember your ID and password. How to use this feature is also simple. On iPhone and iPad, go to Settings> Passcode> Auto-complete passcode, enable the toggle, and check iCloud Keychain. Face ID or Touch ID will now appear whenever there is a supported password field.

You can also use the iCloud keychain auto-complete feature on a Mac. However, it is only available on safari. Go to Safari preferences and go to the Autocomplete tab. There are several options, such as contact information, username and password, and credit card. Just select the one you want and check it.

iCloud Keychain is an easy way to remember your username and password

Using Face ID and Touch ID

If you use iCloud Keychain with Apple's biometric system, you can fill in passwords the fastest. If you aren't using this feature yet, you can activate it by going to Settings> Face ID & Passcode on iPhone and iPad, or Touch ID & Passcode on iPad Air. On a Mac, go to System Preferences> Touch ID tab and check Use Touch ID> Auto-complete password. After that, you don't need to enter the passcode every time you need to fill in the password.

Manually adding login

iCloud Keychain automatically saves that information the first time a user accesses a site or account, but there is also a way to add a new account to iCloud without waiting for a save notification pop-up. Like a third-party password manager, you can manually add it in the Passwords tab of your iPhone or iPad settings. Just press the '+' sign and enter your username and password for the website you want to save. On Mac, you can manually create password profiles in Safari. Go to Safari preferences, click the Password tab, and click the 'Add' button. You can create a profile by entering a website URL, username, and password.

Check for password leak

With hacking and data leakage incidents one after another, it is difficult to determine whether my information has been exposed to the outside. Fortunately, with iCloud, you can find passwords that could be leaked. On the iPhone and iPad, you can enable the Detect leaked password feature by tapping the security recommendations in the Password tab of Settings. This will tell you if the user's password was included in a known data breach if it's being reused on another site if it's not too easy.

In Safari on Mac, go to Preferences> Password. If you see an icon in the list with an exclamation point in a yellow triangle, it means that there are security recommendations. Click the icon to see details. Even if you see hundreds of notifications popping up from this list, don't be surprised. It is possible that the password is old or no longer in use. If you see an icon like this on the site or account you still use, you'll need to change your password. A link is included in the details so you can easily change your password.

You can manually add passwords to your iCloud Keychain

Create a secure note

In addition to the iCloud Keychain on iOS devices, there is a feature that the Mac calls Keychain Access. It is an app that can be used in other apps by checking the system key and root and exporting some keychain elements, which is more powerful than the iCloud Keychain. With this app, you can even create a secure note that keeps things to remember apart from stored passwords. It's like putting a passcode on a specific note in the Notes app. You can create notes in the Keychain Access app and only see the contents by entering your Mac password.

Using iCloud password in Chrome for Windows

iCloud is a service from Apple, but you can use this password with an iPhone or a regular PC. First, download iCloud for Windows and make sure it's up to date. Now download and install the extension from the Chrome Store and log in here as well. Once you enter the verification code, you can log in to the sites you visit in Chrome using the password in your iCloud Keychain as if you were using Safari on a Mac.

Use another password manager app

iCloud Keychain is secure and easy to use, but it's generally very tightly linked to Apple devices and Safari. It's not easy to export passwords, sync notes, and share them with other browsers. The same goes for accessing the keychain from a Chromebook or Android phone. In this case, a third-party password manager is an alternative. You can also use these apps with iCloud Keychain on Apple devices.