"iCloud vs Browser" which is a better place to keep your passwords

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Using a MAC, with iCloud enabled for storing your password allows you to store your passwords on your iCloud account which is accessible across all registered devices that are linked with same iCloud account. My question would be

1) Do I need to store my passwords additionally in browser (You can see all saved password in Google Crome -> Settings -Advanced -> Manage Passwords)? In case if I prefer to keep all this data in sync using my google account it worries me since I have two different places where all my passwords are stored.

2) is it the same copy that's stored separately across these different platforms ?

How can I work with only one copy of password being kept in iCloud and still be able to access it from any of my device and in all browsers (Safari on iPhone and Google Crome on My Mac).

As of now I find it unsettling that I have to trust two different parties to keep all my passwords safe.

Rahul Sharma

Posted 2015-10-28T19:41:32.227

Reputation: 103

Question was closed 2015-10-30T21:58:09.223

2It seems like an easy choice to me, don't store them if security is of any concern, especially not in Apple's cloud services which have been hacked far too many times through both true hacks and social engineering of Apple's product support. – Austin T French – 2015-10-28T19:49:07.573

My intent is to store at only one place and still be accessible across all devices. At this point duplicacy is a concern here. – Rahul Sharma – 2015-10-28T20:04:58.683

Answers

1

You can store your passwords in single place by using Safari.

Mac

screenshots of password management on Mac

On the Mac, you can see your stored passwords by navigating to Safari \ Preferences \ Passwords. Ensure that the AutoFill user names and passwords option is checked. (A, in screenshot above)

Open the System Preferences app and navigate to iCloud. Ensure that the Keychain option is checked. (B, in screenshot above)

There is no way to sync passwords stored in iCloud into Google Chrome. For my own personal workflow, I try to use Safari on Mac as much as possible. If I need to use Chrome on Mac, then I open Safari and navigate to the Preferences \ Passwords tab and right-click to Copy Password. (C, in screenshot above)

Then I paste it into the password field in Chrome for Mac. After logging in, when Chrome prompts me, I save the password in Chrome as well so I won't have to copy the password from Safari in the future.

iOS

screenshots of password management on iOS

On iOS, for iPhone and iPad, you can access your stored passwords in the Settings app. Navigate to Safari \ Passwords. (D, in screenshot above)

Tap Back and then navigate to Safari \ AutoFill. Ensure that the Names and Passwords switch is turned On. This will fill in username and password fields automatically when you visit a website in mobile Safari. (E, in screenshot above)

To turn on iCloud syncing, navigate in the Settings app to iCloud \ Keychain. Then ensure the iCloud Keychain switch is set to On. (F, in screenshot above)

Ben Morrow

Posted 2015-10-28T19:41:32.227

Reputation: 158

Thanks Ben for answering so descriptively, Appreciate that. As you said "There is no way to sync ..." I get that. My real concern was duplicity and trusting two sources that my data will be secured. I guess that's one of the limitations of using apple products. I can live with that but still there should be some way to keep everything streamlined. – Rahul Sharma – 2015-10-29T02:00:10.620

1The good news is that Chrome stores passwords in the OS X keychain. So technically, on your physical computer both the iCloud passwords and the Chrome passwords are in the same password management system. If your OS X user account is password protected then this is quite secure. On Apple's servers your iCloud keychain is also quite secure. As far as I know there have been no hacks where iCloud keychain data was exposed. – Ben Morrow – 2015-10-29T02:43:20.307

Asked: 2015-10-28T19:41:32.227

Viewed: 224 times

Active: 2015-10-30T18:10:13.453