Want to ditch Apple’s password manager in favor of a more open alternative? Before folding the saplings, it is better to prepare the ground well, starting by exporting all the contents of your keychain access.
If you’re using a Mac or iPhone, chances are you’re using Apple’s password manager. Synced to iCloud, it holds and secures your most important usernames and passwords, and lets you easily log into any website or app without having to remember them.
Although very practical when used exclusively with Apple devices, the Cupertino company’s password manager suffers from too much closure which often forces you to juggle several password managers depending on the devices used. . Apple has nevertheless made some efforts, in particular by unveiling the iCloud browser extension a few months ago to find passwords synchronized on iCloud in order to use them elsewhere than in Safari or in the Apple environment. Unfortunately, this timid outstretched hand is still insufficient for anyone who wishes to be able to access their passwords in all circumstances.
The only remaining solution is therefore to export the passwords saved in the keychain of iOS or macOS to use them in another manager, such as the excellent Bitwarden. And until very recently, it was simply impossible to easily export passwords stored on an iPhone or Mac. Cupertino has however rectified the situation, at least partially, by integrating an option to export them.
Be careful though, you will have no choice but to go through a Mac, the option to export the passwords stored in the keychain being only available under macOS.
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1. Sync your iPhone
If your passwords are already on your Mac, skip ahead to the next step. On the other hand, if your passwords are only stored on your iPhone, you will have to perform a few additional steps. You cannot export them directly from the iPhone.
Apple only offers an export option for passwords on macOS. The combination will therefore be to synchronize the passwords of your iPhone on iCloud, then to connect your iCloud account on a Mac to synchronize your passwords there in order to then be able to export them.
To sync passwords saved on your iPhone to iCloud, open Settings, enter your Apple ID settings, and go to the iCloud menu.
Then enter the Keychain menu and make sure the iCloud Keychain option is properly enabled. All passwords will then be automatically synced to your iCloud account.
If someone close to you is ready to temporarily create another user session for you, connect your Apple account to the machine, open System Preferences and click on Apple ID.
Make sure that the Keychain option is then enabled so that your iCloud passwords are synced to the Mac.
2. Access Passwords on macOS
To export passwords stored in Keychain on macOS, open System Preferences and go to the section dedicated to Passwords.
Then identify yourself using your session password or using Touch ID.
3. Export passwords
To export passwords, click on the options button represented by three small dots, at the bottom left of the window and choose to Export passwords.
A warning window will appear to ensure that you want to export saved passwords. Click Export Passwords…
In the Finder Explorer window that opens, select your save directory, customize the name of your export file, and click Save.
A new security alert should then appear. Authenticate using Touch ID or click Use Password to enter your Mac session password. The password export process should then automatically start.
Your passwords are exported to a file in .CSV format (this is a simple spreadsheet), a file format supported by the majority of password managers. All you have to do is import this CSV file into your new password manager to find all the keychain passwords for your iPhone or Mac.
Don’t delay importing it into your new password manager, and be sure to delete the file once your passwords are properly stored there. The CSV file contains all your usernames and passwords displayed in plain text and can therefore be viewed by anyone who opens it, which makes it a particularly sensitive document for the security of your data.