How to Find Saved Passwords on Mac

Passwords are a necessary evil. We can’t go through life without them, even though it means having to remember a string of random characters that aren’t easy to recall. Thankfully, there are ways to make the whole ordeal easier.

[1] The most basic way is to write down your passwords and keep them somewhere safe (like, say, your password manager).

[2] Another way is to use your Mac’s Keychain feature. This requires you to set up keychain access at first, but once it’s set up, entering your passwords will be a breeze.

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Saved passwords on Mac, like Chrome and other browsers, can save time when logging into online accounts. If you forget one password, you can look up the password in your browser’s saved password list.  

The built-in keychain program on the Mac keeps track of all your saved passwords and stores them in an encrypted format. The keychain is also an ideal way to automatically fill out forms with your protected information when you log in to a website.

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If you have a Mac, you might’ve noticed that when you open Safari, it automatically fills in your passwords for the sites that you’ve saved them on. This can be great in a pinch if you want to avoid typing them all out again every time, but it’s also possible to get into trouble if you aren’t careful.

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Using the default settings for Safari, your passwords will be stored in your keychain and synced across all your devices. This means that any device logged into iCloud with the same Apple ID will have access to all of the information stored in this keychain, including your credit card numbers, account numbers, and other personal information.

1. View, edit and delete saved passwords on Safari

The first step to using saved passwords on a Mac is to make sure you’re using Safari and not other browsers. You can use them across multiple devices, but they’re only accessible when using a computer that is running the Mac operating system.

If you’ve never used saved passwords before, you’ll need to turn them on before you can start using them. The steps are different depending on whether you want to use your saved passwords on an iPhone or iPad as well as your Mac.

1. In macOS Monterey, To access saved passwords, click the “Safari” button at the top left of your screen, then choose “Preferences.” In macOS Ventura, Choose Apple menu  > System Settings. 
   
   
   
2. Click Passwords.
3. Enter the Mac password to unlock the keychain access.
   
   
   
4. Search any account or website and Select a website, then click Edit.
5. To Update a password, Click edit and then Save it.
6. To delete a password, click – on left side pane.

2. View, edit and delete saved passwords on iCloud Keychain

Saved passwords are stored in the Password and Keychain Access app. All your passwords will be there, but any saved credit cards will not show up even if you have the correct password.

1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Password\Keychain Access.
2. Double click on it and it will open up a new window for you.
3. You can then search for specific items by name or search for all items that are shown as Saved Passwords.
4. Select any Website and click with two fingers on your trackpad.
5. Now Under Attributes, Click on “Show Password” box.
6. You can copy or even update your password and save it.

3. View, edit and delete saved passwords In Third-Party Browsers

Chrome and Firefox, two of the most popular browsers on Mac, both have a feature to store your login information for convenience.

If you use Google Chrome, Firefox, or any other third-party browser on your Mac, you can easily view and edit the passwords already saved in these browsers.

To view passwords in Google Chrome (version 51 or higher):

1. Click the three dots icon at the top right corner of the browser window and click Settings.
2. In the settings menu, click Auto fill settings.
3. In the “Auto fill” section, click Password Manager.
4. You can then search for specific items by name or search for all items that are shown as Saved Passwords.
5. Click on the eye icon to see and copy the password.
6. To edit, Click the three dots icon.
7. To delete, Click the three dots icon and select remove.

Here you’ll see all your saved usernames and passwords for various websites.

To view passwords in Firefox (version 100 or higher)

1. Click the three line icon at the top right corner of the browser window and click Settings.
   
   
   
2. In the settings menu, click Privacy and security settings.
   
   
   
3. Scroll down to Logins and Passwords section.
4. Click on Saved logins.

To edit a password in Firefox, Click edit – a prompt will appear where you can change it to something else if you wish. To delete a password from Firefox, move your cursor remove and hit Delete.

4. Using third-party Password manager apps

There are a lot of third-party password manager apps for Mac that you can use to store passwords and other sensitive information. The best thing about these apps is that they will automatically sync with all your devices and computers, so any change you make in one place will be reflected everywhere else.

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Keychain is a built-in password management system available on your Mac and iOS. It lets you save passwords for all your online accounts and automatically enters your username and password whenever you visit an account’s website. If you need help with the username or password for one of your accounts, you can always double-click on the Keychain Access icon in the utilities.

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This will open up Keychain’s main window, showing you a list of every account you’ve added to Keychain and when it was last used. If necessary, you can click on any item to view its password details or even reset the password for that specific account.

Keychain also allows you to export your stored passwords as a CSV file, which includes everything from usernames and passwords to credit card information. You can keep this file on iCloud Drive or Dropbox so that it’s accessible from all your devices.