How to Share Passwords and Passkeys in iPhone?

Apple added lot of new features in iOS 17 to Safari, Messages, FaceTime and other apps. With Safari, you can now create profiles, lock private windows and automatically filling passcode from Mail app. One other most important feature Apple added in iOS is that now you can share passwords and passkeys with family and personal groups. Here is how you can setup a group and share passwords in iPhone.

Summary of Steps Involved

There are three basic steps to share your passwords in iPhone:

• Create a group.
• Invite people.
• Add passwords.

After creating a group, you can continue to do the remaining two steps or do them later. It is also possible to add passwords in the group and then invite contacts.

1. Creating a Group for Password Sharing

Passwords and passkeys can be shared only with the people in your contact list. So, first make sure you have created a contact card for the members whom you want to share the password.

• Open Settings app and go to “Passwords” section.

• Unlock the screen with your Face ID or passcode.
• Tap on the + icon and select “New Shared Group” option. Alternatively, you can also tap on “Get Started” link showing in “Family Passwords” section.

• If this is the first time you create a group, iPhone will show the details and tap on “Continue” button. Next time onwards, you will not see this screen.

• Provide a name for your group and tap on “Create” link on the top right corner.

• You will be prompted to select passwords for adding in the group. Tap “Not Now” link to go back to “Passwords” settings page.

• You can see the newly created group name shows below “My Passwords”.

2. Invite People to Group

Now that you have created a group and the next step is to invite the people to use the group.

• Tap on the group name from “Passwords” settings page and then tap “Manage” link.

•  Tap “+ Add People” link showing below your name in “Group Members” section.

• Search and add a member from your contact list.
• If the member has multiple numbers or emails, tap on the arrow next to the name and select the one you want to use for sending an invite.
• After selecting contacts, tap “Add” link showing on top right corner.

Added contacts will get an invitation message which they can accept and join the group. If your contact’s device does not support the function or they do not use iOS 17, then you will see a message that “Contact does not have a device that can join the group”.

3. Add Passwords to Group

Now the group is created with people, you can start sharing the passwords.

• Open your group from iPhone’s “Passwords” settings page.
• Tap the + icon and select “Move Passwords to Group” option.

• You will see all passwords and select the ones you want to share in the group.
• Tap on the “Move” link and you will see all selected passwords are moved to the group.

Managing Passwords in Groups

Remember, passwords will be moved from your account to the selected group. This means you will lose the original password if some group members edit or delete it. Any member can open the group name and manage the passwords in the group.

Deleting Shared Passwords Group

Follow the below steps if you want to delete the created group.

• Open the group name from “Settings > Passwords” section.
• Tap on “Manage” link and then tap “Delete Group” button.
• Confirm the action by tapping on “Delete” option.

All your shared passwords in the group will be moved to “My Passwords” section.

Delete Bulk Passwords in Group

• Go to “Settings > Passwords” section in iPhone and tap the group name that you want to manage the passwords.
• On the next page, tap on the “Edit” link showing on top right corner.
• Select the passwords you want to delete from the group and tap on “Delete” link.

• Confirm the pop-up by tapping on “Delete Shared Password” option.

iPhone will keep all the deleted passwords under “Settings > Passwords > Recently Deleted” section for 30 days. Within that time, you can go to that section and recover the deleted passwords one by one or bulk.

Edit or Delete Single Password

Follow the below steps for editing single password.

• Go to “Settings > Passwords” section and select the group name.
• Tap on the site name that you want to edit or delete.
• On the next page, you can change the password, move it to another group or to your account and set verification code.
• Scroll down to bottom and tap on “Delete Password” option and confirm the action to remove the item from the group.

Things to Remember When and Using iPhone Password Manager

iPhone’s in-built password manager stores all login passwords of websites and apps. However, most of the popular apps do not allow to save or even view the password from iPhone. For example, there are no options to view or edit your Facebook or Twitter app password in iPhone. With this situation, your password manager in iPhone will mostly have saved website login passwords from Safari browser. This is what you can share with family members or others using iOS 17 or later version on their iPhone.

Here are some of the other things to understand when sharing passwords in iPhone:

• You can only people in your Contacts app to the groups.
• You and the contacts should use iOS 17 or later.
• Passwords will be moved from your account (My Passwords) to the group.
• Any member can delete to edit the passwords and there are no options to setup permissions.