How to Store All Your Passwords in Your Mac’s Menu Bar
With the launch of the Passwords app in macOS Sequoia and iOS 18 (currently in developer beta ), Apple has made it easier to find and access all your passwords, passwords, and even two-factor authentication codes. What once allowed you to navigate through various menus in the Settings app is now just a click away.
But as good as the Passwords app is, it’s little more than a wrapper app for iCloud Keychain. While this in itself is a huge improvement, we can make the Passwords app for your Mac even better by enabling a menu bar list that is hidden by default.
How to Enable Hidden List of Passwords Menu Bars in macOS Sequoia
Before we get started, you’ll need to install the beta version of macOS Sequoia. I recommend doing this on a backup device if possible, as it may cause instability on your primary device. First, back up your Mac. Then open System Preferences , select General > Software Update , and click Beta Updates . Select the latest macOS Sequoia developer beta.
Now open the Passwords app and authenticate using your Mac password or Touch ID. From the menu bar, select Passwords > Settings . Here, enable the “Show passwords in menu bar” option.
You will see a key icon in the menu bar. This is your Passwords app. Click on the icon to see a drop-down menu. Authenticate with Touch ID or your Mac password and you’ll see a list of all your passwords.
The great thing about this menu bar app is that it is context sensitive. This way, it will automatically find the login corresponding to the application you opened. This works for desktop apps as well as websites in third-party browsers like Chrome, Arc, and others.
For example, if you’re trying to log into Discord , your Discord login will be at the top of the list, where you can easily copy your password to your clipboard.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of menu bar utilities . And it’s very nice to see a small useful utility from Apple itself. The Passwords utility will definitely be useful for people who use third-party browsers but don’t want to save passwords in Chrome or give access to third-party browser extensions.
However, the biggest drawback is that the menu bar list does not yet support autocomplete. If you’re used to simply authenticating passwords with Touch ID in Safari, this will seem like a strange change.