What is Keychain Access on Mac, where to find it, and how to reset it
Source: What is Keychain Access on Mac, where to find it, and how to reset it
Keychain Access is a powerful tool for Mac users. On the surface it looks like a password manager. But it also does many other things. You can see every login transaction your Mac completes along with every password, login attempt, and certificate your Mac receives. It’s definitely a power user tool, so be careful when using it. Let’s talk more about Keychain Access on Mac.
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Keychain access is a way of checking your Mac’s keychain, which stores almost all logins, traffic, and device connections. Although we recommend using passwords from the System Settings menu, Keychain Access is a valuable tool for power users.
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What is keychain access and how does it work?
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Keychain Access sits in the middle of a few different services on your Mac. Every time you log into a website, connect to a Wi-Fi access point, or something similar, it goes through your Mac’s keychain. The keychain is an encrypted container that holds things like website certificates, credentials, and so on.
Keychain Access gives you an unobstructed, raw look at everything in your Mac’s keychain.
Keychain Access allows you to view everything that has gone through your keychain. Everything is backed up to iCloud for use on your other macOS or iOS devices. You can view some of this information in a simpler format by going to passwords under system settings. Thus, Keychain Access sits right in the middle of a few different services and gives you a good look at the raw data.
Keychain access is a little confusing at first until you realize what you’re looking at. You can see each login, Wi-Fi connection, or other password-protected item. We’ll get into more of that later, but rest assured this is for power users only. For website logins, we recommend using the built-in Passwords app by going to system settings and then passwords.
How to Use Keychain Access on Any Mac
There are many different things to talk about here, so let’s take it one tutorial at a time.
Turn on Keychain Access
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- Open system settings and type AppleID.
- If you’re not there already, tap iCloud option on the left edge.
- In the next box, check the box next to keychain.
- That should do it. The keychain is now enabled and Keychain Access should start displaying information. Note: The MacBook Air I used for this tutorial had it on by default.
Open Keychain Access
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- Open finder and search keychain access.
- Double-tap the icon that appears in the search.
- Keychain Access should now be open.
Navigate to Keychain Access
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Most of the information here is primarily helpful for viewing. However, a good reason to look through this stuff is to find the password for a website you recently logged into where you can’t remember what password you used to do so. We’ll go through it and tell you what each section does.
- Login (left margin) — This will show you each instance where you log into something.
- iCloud (left edge) – This will show you every instance of signing in to something that has been backed up to iCloud so it can be synced across your devices.
- system (left edge) — The system shows you every time your computer is connected to something, be it a Wi-Fi network, a Bluetooth device or an FTP server. Basically, system passwords are stored here.
- system roots (left edge) — System certificates are stored here. You should never have to mess around there unless something went seriously wrong.
- All articles, passwords, etc — The tabs are at the top of the screen All elements, passwords, Safe Notes, my certificates, keyand certificates. These are categories that help you better sort and search information in Keychain Access. Everything is listed in it All elementsbut only password logins are visible under passwords.
Edit keychain items in Keychain Access
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- Find the item you want to edit and double-click it. Not everything in Keychain Access is editable, so this only works for things you can edit.
- Almost all fields can be edited. You can see in the screenshot above that I used the edit feature to hide my Facebook email and left a comment on the keychain item.
- Beat those save Changes button when finished.
- Note: Be careful when changing this stuff. It won’t break things beyond repair, but it can occasionally mess things up if you don’t know what you’re doing. For example, if you heavily edit your Facebook entry, it may not register correctly and prevent the autofill from doing its job.
Delete a keychain item in Keychain Access
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- Find the item you want to delete and click to highlight it.
- Tap the Extinguish key on your keyboard and press the Extinguish Delete button on your screen.
- Note: If you delete information in Keychain Access, it is also deleted in passwords. For example, if you delete all Facebook content in Keychain Access, the next time you visit Facebook you will have to manually log in because you just deleted all your login information.
Create a keychain item in Keychain Access
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- You should see a box icon with a pencil at the top of the screen. Click on this icon.
- Keychain item name — Name your keychain item. We recommend only using the website if it’s a website password or location or Wi-Fi router.
- Account designation — This is the username you use when you log into the thing you’re storing. For most websites, this is just your email address.
- password — This is the password to log into the account.
- Password strength bar — A bar that changes from red to green when evaluating your password. Red means your password is bad, orange means average, and green means it’s a decent password.
- Show password field — Check the box to display your password. We recommend using it to ensure your password is entered correctly.
- When you’re done, tap Add to Button to add the item to your keychain.
More keychain management tips and tricks
There are a few other things we can tell you about keychain access that you should probably know.
Only use Keychain Access when you really have to
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Simply put, don’t use it. Today’s Macs and iOS devices have a much more streamlined way of handling passwords, using the built-in passwords app on system settings. You can also find it in Safari’s settings menu.
You can see all your logins and other information there in a much more user-friendly way. You can also change, delete or otherwise manage your passwords here. You won’t see things like Wi-Fi passwords or anything like that. Use Keychain Access only when you have to.
Use Keychain Access to retrieve a forgotten password
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Don’t worry, this is from an old router that we no longer have.
With websites, this shouldn’t happen often because of the aforementioned passwords. However, let’s say you forgot your home wifi password or something similar. You can find this information in Keychain Access.
Open Keychain Access, tap the system option on the left and scroll down until you find the Wi-Fi router name in the list. Double-click to open details, then tap Show password Button. You’ll need to enter your iCloud username and password (or PIN if you’re using one), but you’ll be presented with the password again.
How to reset default keychains
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Resetting default keychains erases the entire keychain and starts over. It will destroy all your saved passwords for everything. We only recommend this as a troubleshooting option as it can fix many issues.
- Open Keychain Access.
- Tap at the top of the screen keychain access and then settings.
- Tap the Reset default keychains Button.
- Enter your password as shown and tap OK.
After a moment, your keychain will delete itself and you’ll start over.
Next: How to view and create hidden files on any Mac
frequently asked Questions
Usually this is an issue on the app side and that is why it is so frustrating to find a solution. For example, a botched app update can cause this problem. Try uninstalling and reinstalling the app, or search Google specifically for that app.
Download and install iCloud for Windows. Sign in with your Apple ID and you should be able to access your passwords there.
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