
Third Party Password Managers vs Apple's iCloud Keychain Just like password management services, iCloud Keychain stores your data locally on your device and updates across approved devices, but it needs to be set up to work that way.

Just like other, high-quality password managers, iCloud Keychain mainly focuses on keeping your data in sync, while keeping a backup in the cloud so authorized users can recover it in case anything goes wrong (such as losing a device).

All device-specific keychains are created and managed from within the iCloud account you need only activate it. The feature lets you share keychains with your other devices in an instant.

All passwords stored locally in your keychain were protected by the user login password: if you didn't have one, that meant the data was unprotected.Īs Keychain Access stores your data locally, the only way to keep your data in sync on all devices using this approach is to enter them manually or transfer them via USB stick or the like, a problem that iCloud Keychain solves. To avid Mac users, Keychain Access was usually the app that was storing all their online, email or network server passwords, as well as other password-protected items. Before iCloud Keychain there was (and still is) Keychain Access, macOS's built-in password manager.
