{"slug": "apple-keychain", "name": "Apple Keychain", "category": "security", "category_name": "Security and passwords", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 8, "warners": 2, "score": 1.812, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-01-23", "latest": "2026-10-14", "why": "when you are prompted to create a passphrase it will ask you to put it in your iCloud Keychain. Boom, now it is available across all of those", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "when you are prompted to create a passphrase it will ask you to put it in your iCloud Keychain. Boom, now it is available across all of those", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["iCloud Keychain", "Apple Keychain"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 784139008, "item_id": 49008688, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008688", "by": "skybrian", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend saving additional passkeys to Keychain, etc, as backup", "excerpt": "Copying / syncing passkeys between password managers is still work in progress, but you can usually work around it by making multiple keys. For important websites, I recommend saving additional passkeys to Keychain, etc, as backup, assuming the website allows that. (It should, but some websites might not have a good implementation.) Also, nothing says you have to delete passwords (or alternate means of logging in) if", "context": "", "use_case": "backup passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784129040, "item_id": 49008065, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008065", "by": "mingus88", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "when you are prompted to create a passphrase it will ask you to put it in your iCloud Keychain. Boom, now it is available across all of those", "excerpt": "It\u2019s really not that hard. Most of your devices are in the Apple ecosystem and when you are prompted to create a passphrase it will ask you to put it in your iCloud Keychain. Boom, now it is available across all of those This is how it will work for most people who don\u2019t care about security and just casually use their devices. My boomer mom does this. It\u2019s better than the notebook full of handwritten passwords she wa", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey sync in Apple ecosystem", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 747774433, "item_id": 46735902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46735902", "by": "piccirello", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "iCloud Keychain is end-to-end encrypted, and so Apple doesn't have access to the key.", "excerpt": "In Apple's case, starting with macOS Tahoe, Filevault saves your recovery key to your iCloud Keychain [0]. iCloud Keychain is end-to-end encrypted, and so Apple doesn't have access to the key. As a US company, it's certainly true that given a court order Apple would have to provide these keys to law enforcement. That's why getting the architecture right is so important. Also check out iCloud Advanced Data Protection ", "context": "", "use_case": "recovery key storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 778971824, "item_id": 48685739, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48685739", "by": "fsfasfd", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It doesn't help that Apple keychain is a confusing mess however.", "excerpt": "I use a password manager as well. But, I think we are in the minority. It doesn't help that Apple keychain is a confusing mess however. If these things were designed better from the main providers it would be more widely adopted. One issue I see all the time (for consumer level password managers) is that, for example, their browser has a password manager, but keychain interjects often. Then they don't know where thei", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloudflare launched self-managed OAuth for all"}, {"id": 755181282, "item_id": 47198830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47198830", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-02-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I still refuse to rely on iCloud\u2019s functionality for this since it is a one-way door", "excerpt": "I switched to a product called StrongBox which is an Apple-specific app (iOS and Mac clients) that uses standard KeePass vaults. Various free clients exist which I use for my Android and Windows devices, and you can sync using either direct integration with Dropbox, OneDrive, etc, or use the device\u2019s filesystem and sync it to whatever you like that way. It supports passkeys as well and you can have your iOS devices s", "context": "", "use_case": "password storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "1Password pricing increasing 20% in March"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Johnny555", "context": "stores important passkeys on phone, others in password manager", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49755408", "date": "2026-09-18"}, {"by": "ChrisMarshallNY", "context": "developer of an app using passkeys for backend admin", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564439", "date": "2026-09-04"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["passkeys", "syncing passkeys", "storing passkeys", "backup passkeys", "passkey sync in apple ecosystem", "password management"], "compared": [{"slug": "1password", "name": "1Password", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49007374", "title": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50088935", "title": "Passkeys are not a trap", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49753211", "title": "I don't like passkeys", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49561320", "title": "Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48668033", "title": "Cloudflare launched self-managed OAuth for all", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47139951", "title": "1Password pricing increasing 20% in March", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801542401, "item_id": 50096400, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50096400", "by": "jmbwell", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Face ID handles it for both iCloud Keychain and Bitwarden", "excerpt": "So in my own experience, the same tool I use for TOTP is the one I use for passkeys, suggesting it\u2019s at least possible for passkeys to be as frictionless as TOTP. On the rare occasion I\u2019m logging into a device that isn\u2019t mine, that doesn\u2019t have my password manager on it, scanning a QR code from a device that does have my password manager on it has been enough to get me in. Without sharing any secrets with the foreign", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 796086528, "item_id": 49755408, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49755408", "by": "Johnny555", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "You can let Apple sync your passkeys between devices using iCloud Keychain.", "excerpt": ">How do I use it on my desktop or laptop then >What if I switch browsers on my phone >What if I get a new phone You can let Apple sync your passkeys between devices using iCloud Keychain. Then you can create a passkey on one device and have it available on all of your devices. Google also syncs passkeys to the cloud and lets you use them on Windows (with Chrome) >What if I change from android to iOS or visa versa I r", "context": "stores important passkeys on phone, others in password manager", "use_case": "syncing passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 793031025, "item_id": 49564439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49564439", "by": "ChrisMarshallNY", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apple keeps them in the Keychain, so they seem locked into the OS", "excerpt": "I use passkeys only, for the backend admin app for my app. They work fairly well. I use a login ID/PW to set up the passkey, then the passkey, for everything else. Passkeys work well, but I feel as if they are still a bit too \u201cfiddly\u201d for your average mensch. I\u2019m pretty sure the private key is transferable, but Apple keeps them in the Keychain, so they seem locked into the OS. On my machine, I can also keep passkeys ", "context": "developer of an app using passkeys for backend admin", "use_case": "storing passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year"}, {"id": 784139008, "item_id": 49008688, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008688", "by": "skybrian", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend saving additional passkeys to Keychain, etc, as backup", "excerpt": "Copying / syncing passkeys between password managers is still work in progress, but you can usually work around it by making multiple keys. For important websites, I recommend saving additional passkeys to Keychain, etc, as backup, assuming the website allows that. (It should, but some websites might not have a good implementation.) Also, nothing says you have to delete passwords (or alternate means of logging in) if", "context": "", "use_case": "backup passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784129040, "item_id": 49008065, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008065", "by": "mingus88", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "when you are prompted to create a passphrase it will ask you to put it in your iCloud Keychain. Boom, now it is available across all of those", "excerpt": "It\u2019s really not that hard. Most of your devices are in the Apple ecosystem and when you are prompted to create a passphrase it will ask you to put it in your iCloud Keychain. Boom, now it is available across all of those This is how it will work for most people who don\u2019t care about security and just casually use their devices. My boomer mom does this. It\u2019s better than the notebook full of handwritten passwords she wa", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey sync in Apple ecosystem", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 778971824, "item_id": 48685739, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48685739", "by": "fsfasfd", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It doesn't help that Apple keychain is a confusing mess however.", "excerpt": "I use a password manager as well. But, I think we are in the minority. It doesn't help that Apple keychain is a confusing mess however. If these things were designed better from the main providers it would be more widely adopted. One issue I see all the time (for consumer level password managers) is that, for example, their browser has a password manager, but keychain interjects often. Then they don't know where thei", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloudflare launched self-managed OAuth for all"}, {"id": 755181282, "item_id": 47198830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47198830", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-02-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I still refuse to rely on iCloud\u2019s functionality for this since it is a one-way door", "excerpt": "I switched to a product called StrongBox which is an Apple-specific app (iOS and Mac clients) that uses standard KeePass vaults. Various free clients exist which I use for my Android and Windows devices, and you can sync using either direct integration with Dropbox, OneDrive, etc, or use the device\u2019s filesystem and sync it to whatever you like that way. It supports passkeys as well and you can have your iOS devices s", "context": "", "use_case": "password storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "1Password pricing increasing 20% in March"}, {"id": 747774433, "item_id": 46735902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46735902", "by": "piccirello", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "iCloud Keychain is end-to-end encrypted, and so Apple doesn't have access to the key.", "excerpt": "In Apple's case, starting with macOS Tahoe, Filevault saves your recovery key to your iCloud Keychain [0]. iCloud Keychain is end-to-end encrypted, and so Apple doesn't have access to the key. As a US company, it's certainly true that given a court order Apple would have to provide these keys to law enforcement. That's why getting the architecture right is so important. Also check out iCloud Advanced Data Protection ", "context": "", "use_case": "recovery key storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops"}]}