How Can I Use the Same Password on My MacBook, IPad and IPhone?
Sometimes the best technical problems are not super-specific questions that help to cope with the questions of “why is this-and-so-so-so-so-so-so-and-now-smokes.” A reader sent in a fairly general question this week that applies to everyone because it touches on our favorite topic: passwords.
No, it doesn’t need help creating a password, an action that can be a bit controversial depending on whether you belong to the “random letters and numbers” or “extra long passphrases” group. Instead, he just wants to … well, I’ll let him say this:
“Hi. I have a MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone. How can I only enter one password for all my devices and features? Thanks in advance. -Mike.”
While I would never suggest a person to use only one password for everything, I think I have a few ideas about what you are trying to achieve, Mike.
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The easiest way to accomplish what I think of is to make sure you link the same Apple account with each of your devices. So, for example, to purchase an app on a MacBook, you need to sign in to the App Store using your Apple ID, and you must use that same ID when purchasing an app for iPad or iPhone. Likewise, when you activate iCloud on all of your devices – which should be a hint when setting them up for the first time – use the same Apple ID and password on each one.
Do not skip the setup process or create a separate Apple ID for each device, unless, of course, the other person is the primary user of the specified device. (By the way, Apple makes it easy to create family accounts that all share content with each other and charge you for all purchases from one account.)
Anyway, without going too far, just use the same Apple ID for all your Apple devices. When you do this, you will use “only one password” whenever Apple asks you to re-authenticate.
Now, if by “only one password,” you mean that you want to use one password to log into each device, you can do that, too. I use Touch ID, which allows me to enter everything I have with one finger. It’s like “one password”, isn’t it? If you don’t have Touch ID or don’t want to use it, you can always use the same passcode for every device, although you’ll sacrifice convenience for security.
Assuming you have a PIN that you really like for your iPhone and iPad, and want the same for your MacBook, sign in to your MacBook and click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner. From there click on System Preferences and then Users and Groups. Click on your user account, click on Change Password, and make your MacBook password the same as the PIN you use for your iOS devices.
If you want to take it to the next level, you can also use your iOS device password as your Mac’s firmware password , but this is probably a little overkill. Stick to your normal old macOS password and you should be fine.
Conversely, if you have a password that you really like for your MacBook and you want it to be on your iOS devices too – and it’s not a six-digit number – you can also enter an alphanumeric password on your iPhone or iPad. It will be really annoying to enter this every time you want to unlock your device, but I am far from criticizing super-strong security.
On your iOS device, tap Settings, then tap Touch ID & Password. Enter your current password, then scroll down a bit and click Change Password. Enter your password again (oof). When asked to enter a new password, click Password Options and select the Custom Alphanumeric Code option (if you want to use letters and numbers) or Custom Numeric Code (if you just want to use numbers).
Enter the password you use on your MacBook and click Next. Re-enter it to test it, hit Next and enjoy, uh, the ease of entering a much more complex password than a six-digit number from now on until you get bored.
While you’re here, I’d also like to briefly point out that password management apps like 1Password or LastPass can be a great way to combine the convenience of remembering one strong password (the password that the app opens) with the security of multiple complex passwords across multiple sites and services. Authenticate to any application using one familiar password, and then you can simply copy and paste some insanely complex password whenever you need to use it for a website or service. You can even ask the app to insert your credentials for you.