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All Devices How do I get all my passwords out of ios in an easy way?

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Silver78

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Original poster
Aug 24, 2013
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Within the past weeks my iphone, applewatch and airpods all failed on me and I got tired of bending over. Today I purchased a Realme 6 pro and I am very impressed. There is ofcourse some things getting used to with android after many years on ios.
- How do I copy my passwords in an easy way from ios?
- Is there no icloud app for android? or would I have to copy all my icloud content and cancel my icloud storage?
 
It seems like moving from a password manager app to the build in keychain was a very very stupid decision?
I am actually to buy an apple device to get my passwords back.
I would call that holding my passwords for ransom!!!
It would seem fairly easy if i do get hold of an apple device but how? I was thinking taking a screenshot of the list but no.... There is no list you have to press every single name to show the password... I have almost 300 passwords inthere that would mean 300 screenshots!!!
Remember a time apple was forced to make changes because they made it too difficult to change to another os like android... Is this the same thing?
If there is no solution to this I intend to write the EU commision but ofcourse need to make sure there is no way to get my passwords...so if anyone know a way?
 
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When I moved to an actual password manager from iCloud Keychain I found the simplest way was to use keychain on an actual Mac rather than iOS. Meant it was easier to copy/paste. It still took some time, but got there in the end.
 
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Mayanja said:
That‘s kind of ridiculous. There should be an export mechanism. It’s my data after all. How does this align with GDPR’s data portability requirement?
Click to expand...

There’s nothing stopping you exporting your keychain usernames and passwords (I believe you can copy and paste them). The point I was making is that you physically need access to an Apple device because the usernames/passwords stored do not have an online accessible element to them.
 
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I know on a mac you can copy/paste them but you need to copy/paste the site name and the password... with 300 passwords that is 600x copy/pastes... on top as far as I remember you need to click “show password” and enter pin for each and every password (I am sure there are ways around that)
I just do not understand why I need to get hold of an apple device to sit and do that. It is not everyone that has a friend circle of mac users and willing to let you create a user and sit all day copy/paste.
All I can say it makes it a great pain going from apple to android for some people.

I am stuck in lockdown half a world away from my homecountry so only way to get in contact with apple is through Twitter... (unless I am willing to be on hold at 11$ a minute)

I wrote apple and they send back the “ransom note” ... buy an apple device or kiss your passwords goodbye.

Anyways I wrote M. Vestager at the EU commision (since i am stuck in lock down why the hell not)

That keychain might end up being ransomware
 
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Silver78 said:
I know on a mac you can copy/paste them but you need to copy/paste the site name and the password... with 300 passwords that is 600x copy/pastes.
I just do not understand why I need to get hold of an apple device to sit and do that. It is not everyone that has a friend circle of mac users and willing to let you sign in and sit all day copy/paste.
All I can say it makes it a great pain going from apple to android for some people.
Click to expand...

You need an Apple device because there’s no way of accessing the information outside of an apple device. It’s as simple as that!
 
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mrochester said:
You need an Apple device because there’s no way of accessing the information outside of an apple device. It’s as simple as that!
Click to expand...
I am sorry but to me that is not acceptable. There is no way because apple made no way.

There are many articles about people making the jump to android and the hurdles that comes with it.
I took those articles into consideration when decided to move away from apple and did not see anyone mention this in any of the articles I read.

Apart from that comming from a 7 plus going to one of the cheapest android flagships on the market I am very very impressed. I feel an improvement in every way in that 300$ realme 6 pro.
Android does have more problems if you hate ads like me but there is ways around that.... I am really looking for ways to not like it but most my problems with changing to android seems to lead back to apple
 
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Silver78 said:
I am sorry but to me that is not acceptable. There is no way because apple made no way.

There are many articles about people making the jump to android and the hurdles that comes with it.
I took those articles into consideration when decided to move away from apple and did not see anyone mention this in any of the articles I read.

Apart from that comming from a 7 plus going to one of the cheapest android flagships on the market I am very very impressed. I feel an improvement in every way in that 300$ realme 6 pro.
Android does have more problems if you hate ads like me but there is ways around that.... I am really looking for ways to not like it but most my problems with changing to android seems to lead back to apple
Click to expand...

You might think it is unacceptable but having an export function inherently puts those usernames and passwords at risk in an unencrypted format and Apple have decided to not allow that risk.
 
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Mayanja said:
That‘s kind of ridiculous. There should be an export mechanism. It’s my data after all. How does this align with GDPR’s data portability requirement?
Click to expand...
Any mechanism that allows YOU to export passwords will potentially allow a hacker to export your passwords.

GDPR is fine with this, because passwords are not data.
 
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I would happily copy paste all day if I had choice of on which device to do it.
If I can provide my username and password I should be able to have access to my data (in this case passwords are data)
If any hacker had that they could get the passwords themself ... it would be nice if apple could send you your keychain data if you can provide username and password.

Answers to this very much relying on where you ask.
In apple forum your questions might be deleted.
In an apple forum like this people might be less protective towards apple ...but still this an apple forum.
Had I asked in an android forum answers might have been different.
 
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Silver78 said:
I would happily copy paste all day if I had choice of on which device to do it.
Click to expand...

Well you can’t because there are no keychain clients for any devices other than Apple devices. If you want a cross-platform password manager you need something like 1Password or Enpass.
 
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Silver78 said:
I would happily copy paste all day if I had choice of on which device to do it.
If I can provide my username and password I should be able to have access to my data (in this case passwords are data)
If any hacker had that they could get the passwords themself ... it would be nice if apple could send you your keychain data if you can provide username and password.

Answers to this very much relying on where you ask.
In apple forum your questions might be deleted.
In an apple forum like this people might be less protective towards apple ...but still this an apple forum.
Had I asked in an android forum answers might have been different.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. Defending Apple at all cost.

The truth is — these passwords are YOURS. Not Apple’s. Not your phone’s. Yours. You should have a way to take them out easily.

Apple stores my keychain data — my data, not theirs — in iCloud. They should provide a way to take it out.

One password may not be data, but a collection of usernames and passwords does make it data.
 
Mayanja said:
I agree with you. Defending Apple at all cost.

The truth is — these passwords are YOURS. Not Apple’s. Not your phone’s. Yours. You should have a way to take them out easily.

Apple stores my keychain data — my data, not theirs — in iCloud. They should provide a way to take it out.

One password may not be data, but a collection of usernames and passwords does make it data.
Click to expand...
I don’t think it’s about defending Apple it’s about understanding that they are a vertically integrated company and their primary aim is to get you to buy as many of their devices as possible. They will use software lock-in as a means to do this, and that is to be expected because they are a vertically integrated company.

You cannot be a vertically integrated company and allow everything that makes your device more competitive (iOS, iMessage etc) to be freely used on other devices. That would ruin you.

Even if Apple charged a fee to allow iOS and Imessage to be used on other devices this would significantly reduce their profitability and is therefore not something they are likely to do, and it gives them a competitive edge over the competition who all use the same OS and ecosystem.

If you do not agree with that approach or are morally objected to it I strongly recommend you do NOT buy any Apple products.
 
mrochester said:
Well you can’t because there are no keychain clients for any devices other than Apple devices. If you want a cross-platform password manager you need something like 1Password or Enpass.
Click to expand...
Yes i found out the hard way... but also there are no clients for other devices because apple did not make them.
They could have made it part of the icloud service in some way.
When it comes to a big company like apple I am sure they thought of things like this already... and also maybe even came to the conclusion that making it apple devices only would keep customers in the apple ecosystem.
Hell I dont know ...
 
Silver78 said:
Yes i found out the hard way... but also there are no clients for other devices because apple did not make them.
They could have made it part of the icloud service in some way.
When it comes to a big company like apple I am sure they thought of things like this already... and also maybe even came to the conclusion that making it apple devices only would keep customers in the apple ecosystem.
Click to expand...

Thats precisely the reasoning. It makes their platform more sticky. Just like you can’t get iOS or iMessage anywhere else. They are exclusive features keeping you buying Apple hardware.
 
mrochester said:
Thats precisely the reasoning. It makes their platform more sticky. Just like you can’t get iOS or iMessage anywhere else. They are exclusive features keeping you buying Apple hardware.
Click to expand...
IOS and imessage is apples .... the passwords are mine.
I still cant help to think ransomware in my gut.
Would it be an idea to contact a lawyer?
 
I am pretty sure the point of Keychain is to NOT export them easily. If you could, you could easily be hacked. No thank you.
 
Silver78 said:
IOS and imessage is apples .... the passwords are mine.
I still cant help to think ransomware in my gut.
Would it be an idea to contact a lawyer?
Click to expand...

the keychain service is apples.

what you‘re saying is like saying the contents of your iMessages is yours and it should be portable.

I doubt a lawyer would be interested as you‘ve suffered no harm other than inconvenience and I doubt you’d get very far with that.
 
mrochester said:
the keychain service is apples.

what you‘re saying is like saying the contents of your iMessages is yours and it should be portable.

I doubt a lawyer would be interested as you‘ve suffered no harm other than inconvenience and I doubt you’d get very far with that.
Click to expand...
And I am not interested in any lawyer I just want my passwords. Lets see if Vestager at EU Commission will ignore my letter or do something about it
I got confirmation that her office recived my letter I guess that is all I can do for now.
Do not remember getting any warning about this when I started using the keychain
 
Silver78 said:
And I am not interested in any lawyer I just want my passwords. Lets see if Vestager at EU Commission will ignore my letter or do something about it
I got confirmation that her office recived my letter I guess that is all I can do for now.
Do not remember getting any warning about this when I started using the keychain
Click to expand...

I doubt you’d get a warning as the onus would be on you to find a product suitable for your needs. Unless a product is specifically marketed as cross-platform it’s probably safe to assume it is not cross-platform.
 
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I purposely went with a third-party password manager for this very reason. I wanted to be cross platform. It's the same reason I wouldn't use Google's chrome password management. I wanted the flexibility of using my passwords on any device/browser/OS. Not have to be concerned with porting my passwords as I have almost 400.

Apple allowed 3rd party password managers to integrate in iOS so I wasn't losing any functionality going that route.

I also realized when I considered iCloud Keychain for passwords that they might have a security model that would make it harder to simply export them all at once. Me personally, I'm all for more security of passwords which might give less flexibility which I believe is why Apple requires an Apple device to obtain them.

My passwords are one of the most important thing of my digital life, it just stood to reason that using iCloud Keychain or Google to do that was counter-intuitive to having the most flexibility on where to use them.
 
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