How to import your passwords to Apple’s iCloud Keychain through Safari

If you are switching from LastPass (or another password manager you are dissatisfied with), you may be tempted to simply go with the password manager that comes with your browser or operating system. It is certainly an easy and reasonable solution, depending on your point of view. Until recently, third-party password managers were known to be more secure, but Apple and Google have been working to make their integrated password managers more secure, while Microsoft is adding one to its authenticator application. So it can be a viable choice.

One way, however, that these integrated password managers don’t face their independent competitors is how complicated it can be to insert pre-existing passwords into their systems.

If you often hang out at the Apple ecosystem, that means using Safari for your passwords and passing them on to your other devices using Apple’s iCloud Keychain. See how to move your password data to iCloud Keys.

Make sure you have the key ring

The iCloud keychain is how Apple syncs your information between devices – not just passwords, but also credit card information, Wi-Fi passwords, etc. If you have not already used it, check if it has been configured and activated on. (If you plan on using your passwords on your iOS mobile device as well, you can check there too.)

Using a macOS device:

• Go to the System Preferences application by clicking on the Apple icon in the upper left corner
• If you have macOS Mojave or earlier, click on iCloud. Otherwise, select Apple ID> iCloud.
• Go to the list of apps and make sure the Keys are checked

Using an iOS device:

• Go to Settings and tap your name
• Tap iCloud and scroll down to Keychain
• If the Keychain is off, touch the entry and activate it

Import your password data

To put your data on Keychain, you need to import it into Safari on your Mac. Simple, right? Well, not really.

Unfortunately, unlike most password managers, you cannot import passwords from a CSV file into Safari. You can, however, import passwords from Firefox or Chrome. Therefore, if you have a CSV file from another password manager and do not have any of these browsers on your machine, you will need to install one of them first and upload your passwords to it. (You can find instructions for importing passwords into Chrome here and Firefox here.)

Once your passwords are imported into one of the other browsers:

• Close the other browser
• Open Safari, go to File> Import from and choose Chrome or Firefox. You can import bookmarks, history, passwords or any combination of them by checking the appropriate boxes.

A note: I had a number of setbacks when trying to import from Firefox to Safari. Safari invariably crashes, even after making a series of adjustments in Firefox. I finally gave up and tried Chrome, and the import worked immediately. Your mileage may vary.

You can verify that the import worked by going to Safari’s top menu and selecting Safari> Preferences> Passwords. (You will need to enter your user password to access the password list.) You should see your passwords listed there.

After importing your passwords into Safari, they must be collected automatically by iCloud Keychain and usable on all your approved devices. You can verify by typing and clicking on “Key Access” using Spotlight Search. This should open your Keychain application; you can click on iCloud in the upper left column and “Passwords” in the lower left to see your imported passwords.