Did you know that Apple actually has its own password manager that you can use on macOS, Windows, or mobile? It comes in the form of iCloud Keychain which saves all your username and login information if you choose to use it, so the next time you need to log into an app or website, it can recall it for you.
It used to be a feature exclusive to iOS and macOS, but in recent times, Apple actually made it available for Windows where you could use it as a browser extension for browsers like Google Chrome.
But what if you’re already using a different password manager? If you’re using a different password manager but would like to give Apple’s iCloud Keychain a try, you’ll find that importing your passwords is actually not too difficult, but the only requirement is that you own a Mac computer.
The process is a bit convoluted as you will first need to import the passwords into a browser like Chrome or Firefox, and then import it over to Safari, but without further ado, here are the steps.
Step 1 – Exporting Your Passwords
If you stored your passwords inside of Chrome or Firefox, you can skip ahead to step 3. If you’re using a password manager, then proceed with the steps below based on the password manager that you’re using.
Dashlane
- Launch the Dashlane web app
- Go to My Account and select Export Data (you might be prompted for your master password)
- Click Export to CSV which will then download a CSV file to your computer
LastPass
- Click the LastPass browser extension
- Go to Account Options > Advanced > Export
- Select LastPass CSV File
1Password
- Launch the 1Password app on your computer
- Go to File > Export > All Items
- Enter your master password
- Choose the file name, location, and make sure the file format is CSV
- Click Save
Step 2 – Import The Passwords To Chrome Or Firefox
Now that the passwords have been exported from your password manager, the next step is to import them into Chrome or Firefox.
Chrome
- Open Chrome
- Type chrome://flags in the address bar and hit Enter
- Search for “password import” and click the drop-down menu and select “Enabled”
- Relaunch Chrome
- After Chrome is relaunched, click the three dot menu icon
- Select Settings
- Under Autofill, click Passwords
- Under the Saved Passwords section, click the three dot icon and select Import
- Choose the CSV file you previously saved
Firefox
- Launch Firefox
- Click the menu button
- Click on Passwords to launch the Firefox Lockwise page
- In the Firefox Lockwise page, click the three dot menu
- Select Import from a File
- Select the CSV file you previously saved
If you do not find the option to Import from a File, the feature might be disabled for you. If that is the case:
- Open Firefox
- Type about:config in the address bar and hit Enter
- Search for “signon.management.page.fileImport.enabled” and toggle it to “true”
- Repeat the steps above
Step 3 – Importing Passwords To Safari
Now that you’ve completed the other steps, the final process is importing those passwords saved in Firefox or Chrome into Safari, which thankfully is a lot more straightforward.
- Launch Safari on your Mac
- Go to File > Import From
- Choose either Chrome or Firefox, depending on which browser you saved the passwords to
- Select Passwords and click Import
- Once imported, the passwords should now be synced with iCloud Keychain
You can check to see if the passwords are successfully imported by pressing Command + Space and typing “Keychain Access”. Under “Keychains” in the top left corner, select iCloud and you should be able to see all the passwords and login information you just imported.
As they are now synced to iCloud, you should also be able to use iCloud Keychain on your iPhone or iPad to log into websites or apps, or if you have a Windows computer, you can use the Chrome extension to access your passwords as well.
Filed in . Read more about Chrome, Firefox, Google, Icloud, iOS, iPad, iPhone, macOS, Safari, Security and Windows.
