Safari lost all of my saved passwords

[grandIOSe]

Hello to all

I thought it would be a good idea to migrate all of my passwords to Safari from Firefox, since I want to start integrating as much as I can to Apple software. Everything was going well, until I changed my Icloud ID Password, which I use to log into my Mac user account. Yes, it gave me the option to log into my user account using my iCloud ID, and I decided to try it.

I decided to change my iCloud ID password through my iPhone, which is something I do frequently. Once the password change took effect on my Macbook Air (Early 2015) I received an keychain error on the screen that gave me the option to either cancel, or revert to default. I chose 'cancel.' Next thing I know my safari passwords are all gone. I had just migrated them from Firefox ( in which I never had a problem with ) one by one, and they disappeared!

The bad part is, that, as I was adding them to safari, I was deleting them from Firefox. Luckly, I was able to recover most of them from Firefox on my phone. What was supposed to be a simple task, became very complex. Upon doing some research, it seems like the issue is ubiquitous. User's report Safari losing all of their passwords for many different reasons.

Currently I have most of them copied in notes and will have to get them back into Safari, but I am afraid if I do, that the same thing will occur again and it's a real PITA.

What do you suggest I do to rectify the situation? Should I give Safari another chance, or should I use a different solution like 1password? I liked the idea of using Apple's solution, but I cannot afford for this to happen again. Firefox's saved logins worked seemlessly without a problem, but again, I wanted to try to go everything Apple.

Is it a good idea to use my iCloud ID to log into my user account, or should I go back to using a standard password to log in?


Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fishrrman]

I realize some will advise against doing so, but I still think it's a good idea to keep a handwritten notebook full of one's usernames and passwords, for emergencies.

Keep it hidden or locked up if you have to.

Or, create a word processor file (or database) with your passwords in it, and store that in a "hidden place" on the drive. Make it invisible, or keep it in a small password-protected disk image.

I really wouldn't trust Safari (or any browser or any other app) as "the only place" for my passwords.

But... that's just me.

 

[grandIOSe]

I realize some will advise against doing so, but I still think it's a good idea to keep a handwritten notebook full of one's usernames and passwords, for emergencies.

Keep it hidden or locked up if you have to.

Or, create a word processor file (or database) with your passwords in it, and store that in a "hidden place" on the drive. Make it invisible, or keep it in a small password-protected disk image.

I really wouldn't trust Safari (or any browser or any other app) as "the only place" for my passwords.

But... that's just me.

I have never had an issue with password managers where passwords mysteriously vanished until Safari lost them yesterday.

 

[Zxxv]

Always keep passwords for a few days to make sure everything is working as it should. Heck a week, a month is better. Then delete when you are sure. I guess you know that now.

 

[grandIOSe]

Always keep passwords for a few days to make sure everything is working as it should. Heck a week, a month is better. Then delete when you are sure. I guess you know that now.

I understand that perfectly, however, it does not explain why the passwords disappeared. I can tell you that I tried the same experiment again, this time with only one password in safari, and it has vanished again, after i changed my iCloud password. What could be going on here?

 

[Zxxv]

I understand that perfectly, however, it does not explain why the passwords disappeared. I can tell you that I tried the same experiment again, this time with only one password in safari, and it has vanished again, after i changed my iCloud password. What could be going on here?

No iDea

See what I did there

 

[Mr. Heckles]

This is why I went to 1Password. This happened to me twice and I was done. I researched password managers and went with 1Password. No issues since and very happy I did this.

 

[grandIOSe]

Since I already had an active subscription, and I wanted to use safari instead of Firefox, I downloaded the keepersecurity extension for mac and it works perfectly. Keepersecurity is similar to 1password, however, i think it's more intuitive. That's just my opinion.

Now I can use safari for all of my browsing, and have a safe and reliable password manager that won't loose my passwords, LOL. I know there are other good ones out there, including 1password, lastpass, etc....

 

[chscag]

Now I can use safari for all of my browsing, and have a safe and reliable password manager that won't loose my passwords, LOL. I know there are other good ones out there, including 1password, lastpass, etc....

Safari stores your passwords in the Keychain app. You might be able to restore the passwords from there.

 

[NoBoMac]

Not quite same situation, but has happened to me.

Had an account issue with my Mac on El Cap. Setup a new account and turned on iCloud with existing for years old Apple ID. The keychain did not come over. Guessing since down level OS vs iP* devices on 11.x, issues and or incompatible. MAYBE if I had turned off iCloud on other devices, turned on on Mac, then others, MAYBE brought over.

But that said, I have a password app where I mirrror the password. Should I bail on Apple environment, I have them and copy/paste to Safari when needed (password app is cross platfrom, iOS, Mac, Android, Windows; can recover if all devices get horked up and or lost). App also allows for export as a csv file, so, have a habit to backup the file every couple of weeks (encrypted spreadsheet on my cloud accounts).

Imo, another item one needs to backup and be redundant (securely) with.

 

[Fishrrman]

The OP wrote in #5:
"I understand that perfectly, however, it does not explain why the passwords disappeared. I can tell you that I tried the same experiment again, this time with only one password in safari, and it has vanished again, after i changed my iCloud password. What could be going on here?"

Well, perhaps you may never discover "what was going on" at the moment the saved passwords were lost.

It's a computer, sometimes things "just happen", glitches that we can't reproduce, etc.
Stuff happens.

That's why I suggested:
Write 'em down...

 

[wirefire]

Safari doesn't store you passwords. The Apple Keychain does. and that keychain can be (and usually is) synced with your iCloud account. I you change your iCloud account then the keychain contents could be cleared if they are encrypted with information related to your iCloud account.

I am sure as heck not going to try it but it is possible

 

[flowrider]

^^^^It Does, it stores them under "Preferences":

BTW, I don't use iCloud.

Safari stores your passwords in the Keychain app. You might be able to restore the passwords from there.

Not True as stated above.

Lou

 

[chscag]

Actually it is true. Safari Preferences, passwords, are directly taken from the Keychain. Open your Keychain Access app and look for yourself. Why do you think you need to enter your Admin password before Safari will show you the passwords?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Maybe what you say is true, I really don't know. But they way both you guys stated it was not.

Lou

 

[grandIOSe]

I am not sure how the keychain works, however, If the keychain encryption is tied to my iCloud Password since I chose to authenticate my user account with my iCloud ID, then Apple should warn users, that changing iCloud Passwords will cause the keychain to lose those passwords. I have tried it twice now, and both times, (when I changed my iCloud PW) Safari lost the passwords. Under Preferences -> Passwords, the list was empty. I am shocked that there is no warning of this.

 

[Cave Man]

This just happened to me. All gone. From all 3 Macs that I use. WTF? I have logged out of iCloud and logged back on, but they are completely missing. I just used them yesterday and now today, nothing. I hope they are still "out there" on an Apple server. Anyone know how to retrieve them?

Update: Now I see all my credit cards are gone, too.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

This just happened to me. All gone. From all 3 Macs that I use. WTF? I have logged out of iCloud and logged back on, but they are completely missing. I just used them yesterday and now today, nothing. I hope they are still "out there" on an Apple server. Anyone know how to retrieve them?

Update: Now I see all my credit cards are gone, too.

I said before in this tread, this is why I went to a 3rd party app for passwords. It happened to me twice.

 

[grandIOSe]

This just happened to me. All gone. From all 3 Macs that I use. WTF? I have logged out of iCloud and logged back on, but they are completely missing. I just used them yesterday and now today, nothing. I hope they are still "out there" on an Apple server. Anyone know how to retrieve them?

Update: Now I see all my credit cards are gone, too.

The reason I started this thread was because of cases just like yours. There are many. You should use a third party app.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^If this happened to me, I would NOT be a happy man

Lou