"Passwords are locked" dialog keeps popping up

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Level 1

4 points

"Passwords are locked" dialog keeps popping up

As discussed already in numerous threads OSx has a bug that causes the "Passwords are locked" dialog to popup randomly.

This is increadibly annoying and already caused me to deactivate the unlock with Apple Watch feature as my wrist would vibrate any time this happend. Restarting seems to stop this for some time (a user mentioned in one of the threads it would start again once the dialog was triggered normally - I can't confirm this though).

At this point I would be fine with deactivating the "Password are locked" dialog alltogether and just use a password manager that is less buggy than apples. Any idea?

I have Sequoia 15.5 (24F74) but experience this issue since Sonoma.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Sep 3, 2025 04:26 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

214,284 points

Sep 3, 2025 11:47 AM in response to neogucky

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Please download and run Etrecheck. The free version is sufficient.

Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and after clicking on the Reply button use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Check Etrecheck's Privacy settings and make sure the checkbox for full disk access before running:

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the cause of the problem.

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Answer 2

Sep 3, 2025 10:27 AM in response to neogucky

More likely it is something specific to your system (and some others) based on 3rd party extensions you have installed. It's not bug in macOS, if it was everyone would experience it and I don't see it on my two Macs, nor on 4 other Macs in the house.

Boot in Safe Mode (which disables 3rd party extensions), and see if it occurs.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

100,165 points

Sep 4, 2025 03:01 AM in response to neogucky

OP has Sequoia 15.5 (24F74) and has been experiencing this issue since Sonoma.

"Passwords is locked" prompt randomly pop… - Apple Community

The “Passwords are locked” issue is not related to the newly introduced “Password” application in Sequoia ?

During the upGrade from macOS 14 Sonoma to macOS 15 Sequoia, most of my self-created passwords in Keychain were automatically migrated to the new Password application.

Opening the Password application requires the computer password to unlock it.

Use the Passwords app to create, manage, and share passwords and passkeys across Apple devices

Find saved passwords and passkeys on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 4

neogucky Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 4, 2025 05:40 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks a lot, I ran the tool and solved some of the suggestions + disabled all unneeded items in Login Items & Extensions. I also updated to the newest Sequoia (though I'm unsure that this was the solution) and due to this also restarted. Since the restart the dialog did not pop up, but I will keep an eye on it. Of the things I removed based on Etrecheck where these things that could be responsible (naming it so others with the same problem could recheck): Microsoft Edge, Microsoft OneDrive, some related Microsoft services, MulvardVPN and NordVPN

For the case the error returns, one of the major issues reported by Etrecheck I left unchange is Apple security disabled, I need this in order to run my companies software (on demand, the software was not running when the password dialog popped up). I mention it here as well for correlation reasons for others with the same error.

Since I don't detect the issue for now it is probably not relevant, but still, here is my report:

EtreCheckReport

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Answer 5

Sep 3, 2025 07:35 AM in response to neogucky

The current stable release of Sequoia including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 15.6.1 - I would start there

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

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