How to Airdrop Safari passwords between Apple devices
Everything online is secured with a password. Good security dictates that you do not use the same password for multiple accounts and generally avoid cycling through a set of passwords. All this adds up to a lot of passwords that need to be remembered.
To help remember passwords, password managers have been developed. There are some great apps like LastPass, 1Password, Dashlane, and more that people can use. Unfortunately, these are all third-party services and users may feel better writing a password down on physical paper than using one of them.
Apple has its own stock password manager called Keychain and Safari has a separate password manager as well.
Airdrop Safari passwords between Apple devices
Saved passwords from can sync over an iCloud account but you can also share them securely with any other Mac or iPhone via Airdrop.
Airdrop password – Mac to iPhone/iPadOS/Mac
Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on both the Mac and the iPhone.
- On your Mac, open Safari.
- Go to Safari’s Preferences.
- Select the Password tab.
- Select a password.
- Click Details.
- Click the Share icon.
- Select a nearby device to send the password to.
Airdrop password – iPhone/iPadOS to Mac/iPhone/iPad
Makes sure Bluetooth is enabled on the iPhone and the devices that you want to Airdrop the password to.
- On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
- Tap Passwords.
- Select a password to share.
- Tap on the share button.
- Select a device to send the password to.
Receiving passwords
On the receiving device, you will see an alert telling you that a password has been received. To import/accept/save it, you will have to enter the password (for a Mac) or the passcode (for an iPhone or iPad) before you can accept the incoming password.
Keychain vs Safari passwords
The passwords stored in Keychain can’t be shared over Airdrop. They can only be synced between iCloud account although, you can view the password that’s been stored in Keychain and share it using another method.
The reason users prefer Airdrop as opposed to a messaging service or even verbally communicating a password is that it is secure and encrypted. There’s less chance the password will leak or be misunderstood when it’s communicated.
Conclusion
Sharing passwords is tricky and maybe the only safe way to do it is to do so in person. Of course, with everything moving online, that isn’t an option anymore. Even Airdrop falls out of the equation due to its very limited range. How are you sharing passwords when you need to?
