Daily TipsiPhone

How to share passwords on passkeys with others in iOS 17

Apple seeded has seeded the release candidates of iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 to developers.

Shared password groups in iOS 17 allow you to securely share passwords and passkeys with your family and other trusted folks.

Anyone in the group can add passwords and passkeys. When a shared password changes, it changes on everyone’s device.

To create a group:

Make sure you’re signed in with your Apple ID.

  1. Go to Settings  > Passwords.
  2. Tap  the “+” sign in the top-right corner, then tap New Shared Group.
  3. Enter a name for the group, then tap “+” and Add People (under Group Members).
  4. Type the name, email address, or phone number of the person or people you want to add, then tap Add.
    Note: To add someone to your group, they must be in your Contacts app and have a device using iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma, or later. If they can be added to the group, their contact information appears in blue. If it appears in gray, their iPhone, iPad, or Mac might not support shared password groups.
  5. Tap Create.
  6. Select the passwords you want to share with the group, then tap Move in the top-right corner.
    If you don’t want to share any passwords yet, tap Not Now in the top-left corner.
  7. You are given the choice to notify the people you have added to the group that they have been invited. If you choose not to, they can also access the invitation by going to Settings > Passwords > Group Invitations.

Your shared passwords are saved in iCloud Keychain, and you can use them like any other saved password.

You’ll receive a notification whenever anyone else is invited to the group.

Note: If you move a password into the shared group, you can only access the password on a device using iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma, or later.

To manage a group

If you create a group, you can add or remove other members, or delete the group. Other members of the group don’t have these options, but they can choose to leave at any time.

  1. On your iPhone, open Settings, then tap Passwords.
  2. Tap the name of your group, then tap Manage.
    You can add or remove other members, or delete the group.
  3. When you’re finished making changes, tap Done.

Respond to an invitation to a group

Note: To respond to any invitation, iOS 17 or later must be installed on your iPhone.

  1. Go to Settings  > Passwords > Group Invitations and tap the invitation.
  2. Tap Accept to join the group. You can also decline the invitation.

And, of course, don’t accept an invitation if you don’t recognize the sender.

(This how-to is based on my experiences and info on Apple’s support pages.)

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.