Table of Contents
Introduction
When you visit websites on your Mac using browsers like Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, you often have the option to save your login credentials like usernames and passwords. This can be convenient as you don’t have to remember or type them in every time you visit those sites.
However, there may be situations when you need to view or find those saved passwords on your Mac. For example, if you want to log into a website on another device but have forgotten the password.
In this article, we will discuss the various methods and tools to view saved website passwords on your Mac running Mac OS.
Prerequisites
Before you can view saved passwords on your Mac, there are a couple of prerequisites:
- You must know the login password for your Mac user account. This is required to access the saved credentials.
- You need to have FileVault or any other full disk encryption disabled on your Mac. Encryption prevents applications like Keychain Access from accessing saved passwords.
- The websites you visited must have prompted you to save passwords, and you agreed to save them. Your Mac won’t save credentials automatically.
View Saved Passwords Using Keychain Access
Keychain Access is the default password management application on Mac OS, used to store and manage all your saved credentials securely. Here are the steps to view saved website passwords using Keychain Access:
Step 1: Launch Keychain Access
Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities and double click on the Keychain Access app icon to launch it.
Step 2: Search for the Website
In the search bar at the top right, type in the website name whose password you want to view.
Step 3: Unlock the Login Keychain
When you try to view a saved password, Mac OS will prompt you to enter the login keychain password. This is your current Mac user account password. Type it in and click OK.
Step 4: Show the Password
Double click on the website name from search results. In the popup, check the box for “Show Password” and enter your Mac login password again. This will reveal the saved password for that website.
View Passwords Using Safari Browser
Safari is the default web browser that comes pre-installed with Mac OS. Here is how you can view saved website passwords from Safari browser:
Step 1: Open Safari Password Preferences
Launch Safari and click on Safari > Preferences from the menu bar. Select the Passwords tab.
Step 2: Unlock Passwords
Safari will ask you to enter your current Mac login password to view the saved passwords. Enter the password and click OK.
Step 3: View Saved Passwords
You can now view the list of websites and services with saved passwords. Click on any entry to view the actual saved password.
View Passwords Using System Preferences
In latest versions of Mac OS like Monterey and Ventura, Apple has added a dedicated Passwords section in System Preferences to manage saved credentials conveniently.
Step 1: Open Passwords Section
Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences. Click on the Passwords icon.
Step 2: Unlock Passwords
Like other methods, enter your Mac login password to unlock viewing saved passwords.
Step 3: View Saved Passwords
You can click on the info icon for any website or service to view the saved username and password.
Tips for Managing Saved Passwords
Here are some useful tips to help you securely manage saved website credentials on your Mac:
- Use a password manager app like 1Password or LastPass to store passwords instead of relying on browsers. This gives you more security and control.
- Create a strong and unique master password for your Mac’s login keychain to restrict access to your saved passwords.
- Periodically audit saved passwords using Keychain Access and remove ones you don’t need anymore.
- Use two-factor authentication wherever available to add an extra security layer to your online accounts.
- Consider enabling iCloud Keychain to sync passwords securely across your approved Apple devices.
Conclusion
Having the ability to view saved passwords can help jog your memory if you can’t recall credentials for important websites. But it also poses a security risk if someone gets unauthorized access to your Mac. Use the built-in tools like Keychain Access judiciously to view or manage saved passwords, don’t compromise the login security of your Mac.
Additionally, rely on dedicated password managers as per your needs and ensure your master passwords are very strong and secured. Follow this article whenever you need to recover or lookup website credentials saved by your Mac.
