How to Share Your Passwords with Family and Friends in iOS 17

If you often let family members or colleagues use your accounts in various services, then with iOS 17 you can do this more securely. Forget about sending passwords by mail or in instant messengers - now you just need to create a group of the right people and choose which passwords will be available to them. Friends will never see them, but thanks to Keychain, they will be able to use the information to log into their accounts.

If desired, other members can also share their passwords by adding them to the group. The owner has the right to invite new users or exclude them. To gain access to passwords, a person must first accept the invitation. Participants can leave the group themselves and at any time. When you change your password, it is automatically updated on all members' devices.

To use the feature, participants must be in your phone book and have a device running iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS Sonoma

. Such people will be marked in blue in your contact list. Another important point: if you transfer the password to a common group, then access to it from your other devices on earlier firmware will not be possible.

How to Share Passwords in iOS 17

Go to Settings → Passwords → Password Options.

Tap the “+” button, then “New shared group” and “Continue”.

Give the group a name and click “Add Members.” Select people from the list or enter names and tap “Add”.

Click “Create” and mark the accounts whose passwords you want to share. Click on the “Move” checkbox (that is, make it shared). If not all your devices updated before the latest firmware, the system will warn you on which of them you will not be able to use common passwords.

Tapping "Notify via Messages" will send a link to participants, although this is not required. They can go to Settings → Passwords and accept the invitation. All shared accounts will be displayed in the group menu with a corresponding note.

How to Manage Shared Passwords in iOS 17

You can add new passwords and people at any time. To do this, go to “Settings” → “Passwords” and open the general group.

Next, tap “+” to add participants and click on the button of the same name.

Select the desired contacts and tap “Add”.

To open access to other keys, also click “+”, select “Move passwords to group”. Specify the ones you need and confirm the action.

How to Stop Sharing Passwords in iOS 17

If you no longer want to share your accounts, you have three options: you can remove a member from the group, remove the password from access, or delete the shared group altogether.

To delete a user, open “Settings” → “Passwords” and go to the created group.

Click Edit and select a participant.

Tap on the “Remove from group” checkbox and confirm the action.

If you need to deny access to a password, open it from the list and tap the “Group” line.

Select the My Passwords folder and click Move to My Passwords. This will change the cipher from general to private.

Well, if there is no longer a need to exchange accounts, the participants can be disbanded. To do this, tap “Edit” and “Delete group”.

Confirm the action by clicking “Delete” again. note that passwords will disappear from the Keychain of other participants, but active sessions on the sites will remain. If it is important to complete them, you will have to change the codes.