If you’re not using iCloud Keychain on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you should definitely turn it on. It’s basically a full-fledged password manager built right into iOS and macOS that stores all of your sensitive logins with end-to-end encryption and biometric authentication that syncs across all of your Apple devices. And it’s 100 percent free.
But even if you’re already using it to store logins to apps, Apple Pay info, and Wi-Fi, internet, and other online passwords, you might not be getting all you can out of it. Here’s how to get the most out of Apple’s password manager—and why you don’t want to rely on it for all of your data storage needs.
How to set up iCloud Keychain
If you have an iPhone or a Mac, you have an iCloud account, and if you have an iCloud account, you have iCloud Keychain. If you want to check to see if it’s turned on, you’ll need to you open Settings on an iPhone or iPad (System Preferences on a Mac), then tap your name (Apple ID on a Mac), then iCloud. Scroll down to Keychain and make sure the toggle is green (check the box on a Mac).
That’s basically it. You may need to type in your password or passcode, and you’ll want to check your other Apple devices to make sure it’s turned on for each of them, too, but otherwise, there’s nothing else to set up. Note: If you don’t see the iCloud Keychain option, your device might be too old. iCloud Keychain is supported on devices that use iOS 7.0.3 or later, or OS X Mavericks 10.9 and later.
