why can't you open keychain with mabooks fingerprint reader?

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why can't you open keychain with mabooks fingerprint reader?

Because lastpass recently lost all their customers (encrypted) data, I'm trying to find a new password manager which is more secure.

apple keychain never seems to be mentioned, but seems to be able to store secure notes (such as bank details), as well as passwords.

I am guessing you should store these in the iCloud keychain (I dont really know why there are other keychains in the "keychain access" app).

the problem is to access your secure notes or passwords, you have to enter your password. I cant find a way to use the fingerprint reader instead.

Anyone found a solution? having to enter my password 50 times a day to get my secure passwords and notes would be extremely tedious as even lastpass supported this.

for web browser, i only use chrome (for many reasons), but there is no two way sync of passwords between keychain and chrome unfortunately.

As a 50wpm touch typist, I really hate the mac keyboards (i'm a long travel mechanical switch man), but spent £250 on two mac keybaords just to have the FPR. This is a crazy investment if I can't then use the FPR to access keychain items.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Feb 6, 2023 2:47 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PRP_53

Level 10

91,795 points

Feb 7, 2023 3:32 AM in response to sfromgi

A couple of Support Docs related to Keychain in iCloud and Touch ID on this machine

Have fond the Builtin Features of macOS work very well across an iPhone and 3 Machines configured with Touch ID

links below

Use iCloud Keychain to keep passwords, accounts, and more up to date with iCloud - Apple Support (CA)

Use Touch ID on Mac - Apple Support (CA)

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

91,795 points

Feb 7, 2023 4:42 AM in response to sfromgi

Maybe I am not totally understanding 😔 the computer setup.

Any passwords stored in Safari as per image below - does Not Require Opening the Keychain Application itself.

The " finger print reader " used is the Touch ID Equipped sensor built into the computer.

Though, If the User is using an External Non OEM Apple Touch ID Keyboard - you may consider looking into purchasing one

Link Below specific to OEM Apple Touch ID External Keyboard

Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for Mac models with Apple silicon - US English - Black Keys - Apple (CA)

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

Feb 7, 2023 4:05 PM in response to sfromgi

If you've setup the KeyChain correctly and it's syncing neither device should have to access the Keychain to find out what the password for a particular site is. When you go to the site to sign in you'll get this popup:

Then when you click on that popup you'll get this:

and all you'll need to do is click on the Login button. Done right it's all automatic.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,770 points

Feb 7, 2023 2:40 AM in response to sfromgi

You have 50 secure notes you need to access every day?

Passwords are automatically unlocked assuming you don’t set it to lock or use a different password than your login.

You can secure notes in Notes and unlock with TouchID.

iCloud Keychain syncs across devices. There is a local user keychain normally named login, and a System keychain used by the OS across all users (Wi-Fi, for example).

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Answer 5

sfromgi Author

Level 1

96 points

Feb 7, 2023 4:28 AM in response to PRP_53

Thanks, but 99% of the time I need to access the keychain app to lookup passwords on the macbook pro 14". This doesnt support using the finger print reader to open icloud keychain entries - you have to enter the local machines password every time, which is a show stopper to using it instead of lastpass (which does support FPR).

Maybe ill wait 6 months and see if apple decide to implement it.

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why can't you open keychain with mabooks fingerprint reader?

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