Why can’t I delete items from Passwords (Keychain)?

When I go to “Settings - Passwords” and delete password items from the list, they come back after reopening settings. I found out that the recommended user names come from keychain passwords. In order to have it suggest a user name/ email address that I actually use, I needed to delete all my usernames and passwords and add one default dummy entry with the most common user name I use. Note: I don’t use keychain I only use 1Password. These previously deleted user name / passwords may have come back after the installation of iOS 16.4. Since these are very old, they have user names I don’t use anymore and they have websites that don’t exist anymore. Also, if I try and change one of these un-deletable Entries, a duplicate entry is created. Leaving the original un-deletable Entry intact. Note: I turned off iCloud Syncing for “Passwords & Keychain”


There are only three entries that can’t be deleted. I believe they came back after the update. Since two of these use the same old user name I needed to create three dummy entries to get the default user name to be a current one. The most common username in Passwords(keychain) is the default. Even if you don’t use keychain, you still get default user names from this, the only way to not get a default user name at all this is to have no entries in Passwords at all. Now, for me, for some reason this is not possible.


Can someone suggest a way to delete the entire file, so these password entries don’t keep coming back?

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Mar 28, 2023 12:07 PM

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7 replies

Apr 4, 2023 11:25 AM in response to markfromlandolakes

After getting home where my "Mac mini" was, I went into "Passwords" in "System Settings.app" and I also went into "Keychain Access.app". Also, I turned on "Sync" in "iCloud Passwords & Keychain" on every device. I edited and deleted several times and eventually every entry deleted permanently. I'm really not sure what I did or why it worked. Since I could not delete entries with syncing turned off it seemed that I should leave it on while attempting to solve the problem. Note: I suggest creating a new Keychain and copying all the iCloud entries to that new Keychain. This preserves anything that you might need to access. I don't understand the relationship between "Passwords" in "System Settings.app" and passwords in settings and the "Keychain Access.app". I'm going to ask a new question about that. It would seem that some of my issues have to do with that. I think that part of the problem is this relationship. Ultimately, I think the solution was going into the "Keychain Access.app" and editing every field in the item(s) that can't be deleted, then deleting. Some of this I think is a work in process at Apple and I think these bugs are temporary. Most people will never notice these issues.

Mar 31, 2023 10:27 AM in response to markfromlandolakes

Hello markfromlandolakes,


It sounds like Keychain is trying to automatically fill passwords for you and you don't want it to. We have a few suggestions that may help.


If you open Settings on your iPhone and search for "Keychain" you should see two options "Passwords and Keychain" and "Passwords".


If you tap Passwords and Keychain it should take you to Settings > [you name] > iCloud > Passwords and Keychain. If you don't want your passwords to sync with iCloud, you can turn it off. You can learn more here: Set up iCloud Keychain - Apple Support


If you tap Passwords it should take you to Settings > Passwords. If you tap Password Options, you can choose where your passwords are auto-filled from. If you don't want your iPhone to autofill from Keychain, because you're using another service, you can tap Keychain to deselect it. You can learn more about passwords here: How to find saved passwords and passkeys on your iPhone - Apple Support


Thanks.



Apr 2, 2023 8:55 AM in response to ace1018

It’s never trying to fill passwords. It’s only used when creating new accounts it just suggests a user name. This feature of keychain cannot be turned off in anyway at all, in my situation; typically the only way to stop the behavior is to delete every single entry from keychain (passwords). Only 1password is setup for use. My problem doesn’t change whether or not Keychain is syncing with iCloud. Unfortunately, none of your advice applies to this situation. I only need to delete all the entries from passwords, which does not work. Three password entries refuse to be deleted. Also, when I turn off or turn on “Sync this iPhone” for “iCloud Passwords & Keychain”, nothing at all changes. The list still just has those three entries that cannot be deleted. And the old suggested user name still pops up. After adding three dummy entries with a different user name the default user name does change.


Originally when I was trying to figure out where that old user name came from, while screen sharing with Apple I had turned off iCloud syncing and then deleted every entry in passwords and the suggested user name stopped. For some reason with the latest update three entries came back and when I tried re-enabling syncing, I assumed all my old passwords and usernames would come back, they didn’t. This is not a problem, because I haven’t used keychain for many years. But what purpose does iCloud have if nothing previously synced is there. My only wish is to have no usernames or passwords in keychain at all. I will be back with my Mac later today and will see if I can do anything from that end.

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Why can’t I delete items from Passwords (Keychain)?

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