It can be irritating to live the macOS dual platform life and Windows – or even just “Apple and all that is not Apple”. But If you save your passwords for Keychain, then upload it to iCloud to sync with your Apple devices, you can now extend this functionality to Windows systems. (Kind of.)
Apple has released a new browser extension that allows you to place your Key passwords in Chrome (and with a small tweak, Edge Chromium). You’ll also be able to sync any new passwords you create on these browsers with iCloud Keychain, and then you can use them on your connected Apple devices.
Yes, that means that Firefox users are left in trouble by this, aThis also means that you are still only able to access your passwords through the browser; Keychain hasn’t yet been integrated with good old icloud-dot-com, nor is there an Apple app you can use on Windows, how can you 1Password or LastPass.
To get started with Chrome, start your browser and navigate to the Chrome Online Store to grab the ICloud passwords extension. Install and then install iCloud for Windows if you haven’t already. You will need version 12 of the application for the extension to be able to do anything. Apple appears to have removed the update from the Microsoft Store at the moment, but it is possible that you have already updated last week (or you may update soon).
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I don’t have it, but I know you will need to check that Password box for your browser extension to sync passwords with iCloud. So, if you already have Windows iCloud version 12.0 – or when it appears – make sure to check this option or your extension won’t be able to do anything. Other than that, working with iCloud password extension is as easy as any other password manager; you shouldn’t have any problems there.
However, you may encounter a problem if you try to synchronize the extension with iCloud for Windows when using Edge Chromium. The extension is installed perfectly, but you will need to indicate that you are syncing with Internet Explorer, not Chrome, which may require you to adjust the setting in the “Favorites” options. I will test this as soon as I get the updated version of the application, but this is the quick fix I read that seems to have worked for others. Pretend Edge Chromium is Internet Explorer, not Chrome, although it has much more in common with the latter.