If iCloud Keychain won't turn on or sync

If you need help with iCloud Keychain, learn what to do.

Check the System Status page for outages

If there isn't a System Status issue, try these steps:

If you don't see your iCloud Keychain items

There are several reasons why you might not be able to find your iCloud Keychain information.

Did you restore from an iCloud backup and then notice missing iCloud Keychain items?

iCloud Keychain items aren't part of iCloud backup because they already live in the cloud. To see if iCloud Keychain is turned on:

  • On iPhone or iPad: Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Passwords and Keychain.

  • On Mac: Choose the Apple menu  > System Settings (or System Preferences), click your name (or Apple ID), then click iCloud. Make sure Password and Keychain (or Keychain) is turned on.

Did you turn off iCloud Keychain on all your devices?

If so, your iCloud Keychain is removed from the cloud. If you chose to delete the keychain items from your devices when you turned off iCloud Keychain, your iCloud Keychain is also removed from those devices. You need to set up iCloud Keychain and add items again.

If you turn off iCloud Keychain on all your devices, and choose to delete your iCloud Keychain locally on all your devices, this also deletes your Keychain data from iCloud servers.

On your Mac, did you use Keychain Access to reset your iCloud Keychain?

If so, macOS deleted your iCloud Keychain items. Try to set up iCloud Keychain again. If you need to reset your Mac Keychain again, temporarily disable iCloud Keychain in iCloud Preferences before you reset your macOS Keychain.

If iCloud Keychain is on, but Safari won't save or autofill account or credit card information

If Safari doesn't autofill your account names, passwords, passkeys, or credit cards, or doesn't ask to save them, make sure that you have the latest version of iOS, iPad OS, or macOS on your devices.

If the issue remains, follow these steps to check the AutoFill and Private Browsing settings on your device.

On your iPhone or iPad

  • For account names and passwords: Go to Settings > Passwords > Password Options. Then check that AutoFill Passwords is turned on.

  • For credit card information: Go to Settings > Safari > Autofill. Check that Credit Cards is turned on.

  • Turn off Private Browsing: Open Safari. If the navigation bar in Safari is black or dark instead of white or light gray, turn off Private Browsing. Safari doesn't save account names and passwords when Private Browsing is on.

Still need help to autofill credit card information? In Safari, tap the credit card field, then tap AutoFill Credit Card above the keyboard.

On your Mac with OS X Mavericks or later

  1. Choose Safari > Settings (or Preferences), then click AutoFill.

  2. Make sure "User names and passwords" is selected. For credit card information, make sure Credit cards is selected.

  3. See if you turned on Private Browsing. Safari doesn't save account names and passwords when Private Browsing is on.

Still need help to autofill credit card information? In Safari, click a credit card field to see the message that asks you to choose which credit card to use from your iCloud Keychain.

If Safari won't save the password for one of the websites that you're using

Some websites request that passwords not be saved. Safari won't save or autofill account names, passwords, and passkeys on those sites.

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