iOS 18 Password App compatibility with keychain on Ventura and Monterey.

Old Toad wrote:

spanman wrote:

We have a 2013 MacBook Air that won't take an update beyond Big Sur, so this could be a problem for us.

The 2013 MacBook Air is only capable of running Big Sur and earlier. The hardware is not compatible with later systems. That model is now considered Obsolete by Apple. If you need to run later systems for software compatibility you'll need to get newer Macs. The only places for used/reconditioned Macs would be Apple or OWC (MacSales.com). Apple warrants them as new machines and OWC gives a 3 month warranty.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/2c71009b-9a4f-4af7-b893-f8c4839bcb28

I understand that the 2013 MacBook is not compatible with operating systems later than Big Sur. The only question I'm asking is whether it will be able to share passwords via iCloud Keychain with an iPhone using iOS 18. As reported earlier in this thread, iOS 18 did share iCloud Keychain passwords with a Mac using Ventura but not with a Mac using Mojave. Will it work with a Mac using Big Sur: that is my only question.

PRP_53 wrote:

It should, as long as Keychain on the Older Computers are all using Keychain in iCloud....

I agree that it *should* work, but does it?  I’m hoping to hear from Mac users operating with Ventura or older macOS who’ve updated their iPhones to iOS 18, and who are successfully syncing passwords across devices via iCloud Keychain.

6x6 wrote:

I did a test and things look fine.

I created a new password on an iPhone using iOS 18. The website thus created showed in both Safari (Settings > Passwords) and Keychain Access, on both a Mac using macOS Monterey and a Mac using macOS Ventura. The username and password were correct on all devices.

Thanks very much for running the test! The results suggest that the iOS 18 Password App will sync with any version of macOS or iPadOS that can access iCloud Keychain. This is as it should be, but it's great to know it's actually the case prior to upgrading to iOS 18.

BobHarris wrote:

I did my own test, creating a new entry on my iPhone running iOS 18.

✅ Showed up on my Sonoma Mac

✅ Showed up on my Ventura Mac (changes made on Ventura were passed back to the iOS 18 iPhone and Sonoma Mac).

❌ Did not show up on my Mojave Mac. I did a lot of searching in Keychain Access, and it was not there. I have iCloud Keychain syncing enabled on the Mojave Mac, and I gave it sufficient time to sync.

I do not have a Monterey Mac to test.

For unknown reasons my initial reply was pulled. It is paraphrased below:

Thanks for this info, which is a concern. We have a 2013 MacBook Air that won't take an update beyond Big Sur, so this could be a problem for us.

cid73g wrote:

I did a test, also.

Passwords created on my iPhone 15Pro, iPad Pro (both running iOS 18), and MacBookAir (running Sequoia) showed up on each other, but not my older iMac running Monterey.

Password created on the iMac showed up on the iPhone, iPad Pro, and MacBookAir.

iCloud reflects Passwords/Keychain checked on all devices.

The new Passwords app does not show on the iMac.

Can someone help with how I can get the iMac to sync with the other devices?

Thank you.

I’m interested in others’ Monterey Mac user experiences as well. I haven’t been able to test password syncing between iOS/iPadOS 18 devices and a Mac running Monterey, but have synced successfully to a MacBook Air running Big Sur — even older than Monterey.

cid73g wrote:

Update on my issue. Sometime today the passwords on my iMac (Monterey) now reflect the passwords from my iPhone, iPad, and MacBookAir. I noticed that all passwords had disappeared, then about ten minutes later, the synched passwords appeared. I would add that passwords within new shared groups from Passwords do not show on the iMac, as Monterey does not allow shared groups. This will caused me to delete my shared groups, then the passwords appeared on my iMac. Hope this helps those who are involved. Apparently iCloud synching does work for me, but it took time to synch.

OP here. Thanks very much for the report. Interesting outcome and, essentially, good news. It appears that if Keychain on your older Mac (tested on Big Sur and later systems) is syncing to iCloud, you will see passwords generated on your iOS/iPadOS 18 device. This resolves my original concern.