Do I need 2FA if I use a password manager?

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1 year ago

Do I need 2FA if I use a password manager?.

macOS 12 Monterey brings several updates to Safari’s built-in password manager. It has a streamlined user interface and provides new features such as exporting and importing passwords, creating secure notes, and automatically generating two-factor authentication codes.

It’s also available outside of Safari, making it ideal if you want to find the password without opening a browser. If you’ve upgraded to macOS Monterey or later, read on to find out everything you need to know about using the new password manager on your Mac.

Open the New Password Manager

On macOS Monterey, you can access the Safari password manager just like before through your browser settings. Simply select Safari > Preferences from the menu bar and go to the Passwords tab. and enter your Mac user account password or use Touch ID.

Alternatively, you can open it without running Safari. To do this, open the Apple menu and select System Preferences. Then select the “Passwords” category.

An even faster way to access the new password manager is to Control while clicking the System Preferences icon in the Mac Dock and select Passwords.

View and Copy Passwords

The new password manager looks the same whether you open it through Safari or through System Preferences. The left pane lists all saved login credentials in alphabetical order, with a search field at the top to help you find specific entries faster.

Select an entry to view related details such as username, password (hover over the Password field to display it), and notes. Control on an entry will also show contextual actions that you can use to copy the data to your Mac’s clipboard. However, when you use Safari, you can always set them up automatically.

If you have easy-to-guess, reused, or compromised passwords (Apple checks them regularly for known data breaches), you’ll see them at the top of the list. It is better to update them as soon as possible.

Add and Remove Passwords

While Safari lets you save passwords whenever you create or enter them for the first time, you can always use the password manager to add passwords directly to Apple Keychain. To do this, click the Plus button in the lower right corner of the window, fill in the Website, Username and Password fields and select Add password.

Similarly, you may also come across stale passwords or “Never Saved” entries in Safari that you can delete. To do this, simply highlight an entry in the left pane and click the Minus button. If you use iCloud Keychain, any passwords you remove will also disappear from your other Apple devices.

Edit Passwords and Add Notes

Editing passwords with the new password manager in macOS Monterey is quick and easy. With the entry selected, click the Edit button in the upper right corner of the window to open the Update Account Information panel. Then make your changes and click Save. Or visit the site and sign in with your new password and ask Safari to update it for you.

When editing passwords, you also have the option to add secure text notes in the Notes field. For example, you can enter answers to security questions, a list of backup codes, the purpose of creating an account on the website (in case you forget about it later), etc.

In addition, the Enter Setup Key button allows you to add a two-factor setup key for the site. You will learn more about this below.

Import and Export Passwords

If you want to back up your passwords or transfer them to another password manager, you have the option to export them to the CSV (Comma Separated Values) file format. To do this, select the “More” icon (three dots) in the lower left corner of the password manager window, select “Export all passwords” and specify the storage location.

Conversely, you can import passwords from CSV files into Apple Keychain. Select the More icon again, but select the Import passwords option instead.