Mac Keychain Password Not Working

What is Keychain on Mac?

Keychain Access is an app built into macOS that allows you to save login details and account information, secure notes and documents, website certificates, and more. It’s essentially a place to keep important, sensitive data where it can’t be easily accessed.

In macOS 15 Sequoia, released in September 2024, Keychain was replaced by the new Passwords app, like on iOS devices. But if you have a MacBook that’s still running an earlier version of Apple’s desktop operating system, Keychain is still one of the best places to store login items and other critical data.

Common causes of Keychain password issues

When you discover your Mac login Keychain password not working, the common causes we’ve noticed include a mismatch between your login password and your Keychain password, recent password changes, and iCloud syncing issues.

We’ve found that some Keychain issues, such as those caused by connectivity issues or iCloud outages, usually rectify themselves after a short period of time. However, others won’t, so you’ll need to take action to get Keychain Access working properly again.

How to resolve Mac Keychain password problems

There are a number of steps you can take to resolve most Mac Keychain password problems. Here’s a list of common issues with the fixes we recommend:

1. Mac keeps asking for a login Keychain password.
2. Forgot your Keychain password.
3. “Unable to verify password.”
4. Issues with iCloud Keychain password.

A note from our experts: 

 

Not all Keychain password issues have a super simple fix. One of the quickest and easiest ways to fix Keychain password issues is to contact our experts through MacKeeper’s Premium Services. We’ll help you figure out exactly what’s wrong and then eliminate the problem in no time at all.

 

Try this:

1. Download and install MacKeeper.
2. When the app opens, select Premium Services in the sidebar.
3. Describe your problem to our trained professionals to get help right away.

1. Mac keeps asking for a login Keychain password

A common Keychain error many users run into is that Keychain keeps asking for a login password and displays the “Keychain login cannot be found” or accountsd wants to use the login Keychain messages. This typically happens after a password change, and there’s an easy fix:

1. In Finder, go to Applications > Utilities and open Keychain Access. Or open Keychain Access from Spotlight search.
2. Select Edit > Change Password for Keychain "login" in the menu bar.
3. Enter your previous login password and your new password, then click OK.

2. Forgot your Keychain password

If you forgot your Keychain password, you’ll need to reset the default Keychain and start again. You’ll lose all of your previously saved usernames and passwords, unfortunately, but there is no way to recover them without the password. Here’s how to perform a Keychain reset:

1. Open Keychain Access.
2. Select Keychain Access > Settings in the menu bar.
3. Click Reset Default Keychains.

Important: 

 

Because you’re starting a new Keychain database, you’ll have to get used to entering your passwords manually whenever you visit a new website or login to a service. Once you’ve started a new database, if you want to know how to find passwords on Mac Keychain, simply open the Keychain Access app.

3. “Unable to verify password”

One particularly annoying Keychain issue we’ve run into is when the macOS Mail app keeps displaying an “Unable to verify password” error. This happens when email account credentials saved in Keychain become invalid or out of date. Here’s the fix:

1. Open Keychain Access.
2. Go through the list of items and check all your saved email accounts to ensure the usernames and passwords are correct. Update any accounts as necessary.
3. Quit and reopen the Mail app and everything should be working as normal.

If you continue to see this error after performing the steps above, we advise you to delete all your mail accounts from Keychain and then add them back again.

4. Issues with iCloud Keychain password

Perhaps the most common Keychain problem we see today is when syncing with iCloud Keychain fails, which means passwords and credit cards added or updated on another Apple device, like your iPhone or iPad, fail to sync to your Mac. Apple recommends turning iCloud Keychain off and then back on, like so:

1. Open System Settings, then select Apple Account > iCloud.
2. Click Passwords.
3. Toggle Sync this Mac to turn iCloud Keychain off and click Done.
4. Click the toggle again to turn Sync this Mac on, then click Done once more.

A hint from our team: 

 

This process will force iCloud Keychain to start syncing again, which in turn should reinstate the connection with Keychain Access on your MacBook. If you can’t sign into iCloud on Mac, you may need to reset your iCloud password on another device.

How to prevent Keychain password issues

You might be wondering how to prevent password issues from occurring again in the future. Here are some tips we recommend to all Mac users:

• Keep usernames and passwords up to date in Keychain.
• Backup Keychain regularly to avoid data loss.
• Ensure iCloud sync stays enabled on all your Apple devices.

Conclusion

It should be a relatively rare event to find your Mac Keychain password not working, so if you run into Keychain issues regularly, you might want to try a fresh install of macOS, which will fix any software glitches that your Mac has encountered.

If you want our Mac experts to fix your Keychain issues for you, or you’d like there help reinstalling macOS, get in touch through MacKeeper’s Premium Services and your Mac will be back to its best in no time.