How to Use iCloud Passwords on Windows PC
Most iPhone, iPad, and Mac users rely on the built-in iCloud Keychain feature to securely store and manage their passwords, but if you also have a Windows PC you may be interested to know that you can seamlessly use iCloud Keychain passwords from a Windows computer too.
Until very recently, Apple limited the Keychain functionality to its own devices. This meant that users who owned PCs had to use a third-party password management tool like LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane with multi-platform support. Thanks to the latest iCloud for Windows updates, compatibility issues are now a thing of the past. If you’re a Windows user who owns an iPhone, iCloud Keychain can now be reliably used to access your saved passwords and log in to websites, right from the PC.
Let’s run through the steps to set up and use iCloud Keychain passwords on your Windows PC.
How to Use iCloud Passwords on Windows PC
To take advantage of iCloud Passwords, you need to have the latest version of iCloud for Windows (version 12.0 or later). It can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store if your PC is running Windows 10 or later. Also, you need to have Google Chrome installed on your computer since the iCloud Passwords extension is currently only available for Chrome. Now, let’s see what you need to do:
- Launch the iCloud desktop app on your computer after installation and sign in with your Apple account. Once you’re in the main menu of the app, you’ll be able to see the Passwords feature. It’ll be grayed out if you don’t have Chrome installed.
- Once you install Chrome, you will be able to check the box and hit “Apply”. But, you will be prompted by the iCloud app to install the iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome. Click on “Download” to install the extension from the Chrome Web Store.
- Once the extension is installed, you’ll see a new “Approve” option next to Passwords within the iCloud app. Click on it to begin setting it up.
- You’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID login details. Type in your password and click on “Sign In”.
- You’ll get an approval request on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Once you choose “Approve”, you’ll be shown a verification code. You need to enter this 6-digit verification code in the iCloud app and click on “Continue” to proceed.
- Now, you will be able to finally check the box next to “Passwords” without any additional prompts. Click “Apply” to save your changes.
- Now, launch Chrome and click on the iCloud Passwords extension icon located next to the address bar along with your other extensions as shown below. You’ll be prompted to type in a verification code again. The iCloud for Windows app will now display the verification code that you need to enter at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
That’s it. Once you type the code in, the extension will be enabled and you will be able to access your saved passwords and use them in the login fields.
Whenever you visit a website’s login page that you’ve saved the password for, the extension will prompt you to “Choose a saved password to use” when signing in. If you don’t get this particular prompt, you can simply click on the iCloud icon as well. If you chose to never save your password for a specific website you visited using other Apple devices, the iCloud extension will indicate that as well.
An increasing number of PC users have recently been switching to Microsoft Edge and if you’re one of them, you probably wouldn’t want to use Chrome just for this feature. The good news is that you can actually enable Google extension support within the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge and then install the iCloud Passwords extension. It still requires to have Google Chrome installed, but you don’t even have to open the browser beyond that if you don’t want to.
This is just one of the two Chrome extensions that Apple offers. The other one is an iCloud Bookmarks extension which allows you to easily sync all your Safari bookmarks with Google Chrome. You can install this extension from the Chrome Web Store if you’re interested as well.
Hopefully, you were able to access all your saved iCloud Keychain passwords without any issues on your Windows PC. Will you rely on iCloud Keychain from now for cross-compatibility with password and login storage? Share your thoughts and insights in the comments.
