Strong passwords and the Passwords app

You are about to create several accounts. Each needs a password. Weak or repeated passwords are how people lose accounts. The good news: the Mac can make and remember strong passwords for you.

What makes a password strong

• Long: at least 14 characters. Length matters more than odd symbols.
• Different for every account. If one site leaks, the others stay safe.
• Not guessable: no names, birthdays, or "password123".

A good way to make one by hand: four random words with numbers between them, like maple7cloud-river42. The best way: let the Mac make one.

Let Safari make and remember passwords

When you sign up somewhere in Safari, click in the password box. Safari offers a long random password in a yellow box. Click Use Strong Password. Safari saves it and fills it in next time you visit. You never need to remember it. The same saved passwords also appear on your iPhone, if both are signed into the same Apple Account.

The Passwords app

On macOS 15 (Sequoia) or newer, your saved passwords live in the Passwords app: a gray square with a key on it. Open it from Spotlight by typing passwords. It asks for your Mac password or Touch ID, then shows every account under All. Click one to see its password. The app can also hold two-step codes, which the next step explains.

On older Macs: click the Apple menu, then System Settings, then Passwords in the list on the left. On Macs older still: System Preferences, then Passwords. The same list is there.

Two passwords that must be on paper

The Passwords app cannot help with the two passwords that unlock everything else:

• Your Mac login password.
• Your Apple Account password.

Write both on one sheet of paper, with your email address and its password. Keep it somewhere safe at home, not on your desk and not in a note on the Mac. If you ever forget one, the paper saves you days.

Practice

1. Open the Passwords app (or the Passwords section in System Settings on older Macs) and unlock it.
2. Look at the list. It may be empty, which is fine.
3. Close it with Command + W.
4. Write your paper list and put it away.