can I see saved password in iphone

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rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

can I see saved password in iphone

When I look at the password on the iphone in settings, I see a Hex value - is there a way to see the actual password?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Apr 17, 2023 12:41 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Lawrence Finch

Level 10

214,338 points

Apr 25, 2023 7:50 AM in response to rvembu

If your touch ID fails in an app it will prompt for your userID and password, so you can use this if you have multiple user IDs for an app - if the app supports multiple user IDs. But, as iPhones are personal devices, many apps only allow one login from the device. That’s up to the app provider. Apps that accept TouchID/FaceID use an API (application programming interface) to verify identity; they don’t use the password at all. Essentially, the app says to iOS “is this the right person”.

Apps that don’t support TouchID/FaceID can still use it indirectly; if the app has defined labels for the userID and password so iOS “knows” what those fields are for then you can use biometric login; when you verify your identity iOS will insert the saved userID and password.

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Answer 2

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 24, 2023 11:57 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Did some playing around with the app and password this weekend - created a new id and a pw and noticed that the password is again a Hex.

Now, what throws me off is when I logon to my a/c on the app, the iphone uses my touch/faceid and logs me on directly (i.e. does NOT populate the password field and waits for me to click on Continue!; i.e. it does NOT allow me to manually enter a password at all!!; and more importantly, it did not allow me to enter an user id!!!)

Adding this to what you said in your last reply, I infer the following:

When I bring up the app, it allows me to provide the touch id (does not allow me to provide userid etc),
Once I provide that touch, and iOS validates that, it provides the app with the stored hex pw.
The App then uses the stored pw and retrieves the actual pw from a local store, and sends that to the server for validation, without ever relinquishing control to me to ask me if I wanted to use that pw.
All this infra may have been built into the device, when I turned on 'touch id' capability on the app.

Why do this? What if I had multiple ids (as I'd not be able to circumvent the logon process - one device, one id!)? The app may do this because they are uncomfortable trusting apple with pws, and do not want to get into issues of assigning responsibility in case of a breach.

Again, appreciate your insight!

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Answer 3

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 17, 2023 1:20 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thx for the quick response 🙏

i know the password’s not hex, and i copied the hex value to a ‘hex to text’ converter and the result was gibberish - my guess is that the password’s been encoded. Is there a way to look at the unencrypted value?

thx

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Answer 4

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 17, 2023 3:42 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I checked a couple of other entries and you are right, the passwords are visible!

But this site, the one with a hex password, I tried manually logging on with that hex password and the logon was rejected! But I’m able to login when i use the touch id!

Then, are the touch id passwords different from the passwords i see in the settings-password?

thx

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Answer 5

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 19, 2023 11:49 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I use google authenticator, but not for this app or webpage!

Are passwords for apps different from passwords for Safari website/pages?, and stores and maintained differently? Reason I ask, I have some apps on my phone that I can seamlessly sign onto, but I do not have that site or app in my list of passwords!

In my password options (under settings), I have checked icloud passwords and keychain. Does this mean that the passwords are stored on a keychain or a cloud? And if so, any idea how I can access them?

I think I am missing something basic or simple. Just dont know what that it is :-(

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Answer 6

Apr 19, 2023 12:41 PM in response to rvembu

rvembu wrote:

I use google authenticator, but not for this app or webpage!

Then that’s not relevant here.

Are passwords for apps different from passwords for Safari website/pages?, and stores and maintained differently? Reason I ask, I have some apps on my phone that I can seamlessly sign onto, but I do not have that site or app in my list of passwords!

That’s up to the app developer. Many apps save passwords in the app local storage; for those apps the login information will not be in Settings/Passwords. Others will use the same password for both.

In my password options (under settings), I have checked icloud passwords and keychain. Does this mean that the passwords are stored on a keychain or a cloud? And if so, any idea how I can access them?

If you have enabled iCloud Passwords & Keychain that syncs passwords from your phone into iCloud, and also to any other devices logged in to the same Apple ID that have iCloud keychain enabled. The passwords on your iPhone will exactly match the passwords saved in iCloud, but you can’t access them in iCloud because that could compromise your passwords if your iCloud was hacked.

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Answer 7

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 19, 2023 1:16 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

It looks like I am not going to be able do what I set out to: find the password saved somewhere on my phone for that app!

It appears like that the app developer may store the pw on my device either in local storage, OR on the passwords on the phone. OR maybe on the icloud key chain. I can see the password on my iphone in the latter two, but not in the first.

In addition, I think I may have discovered another approach, where the password is stored in an encrypted fashion - like the hex I brought up - this is probably encrypted either by the app, or maybe an iphone store pw option? (I know that the password is not hex!)

Anyways, thanks for your time - I will now reset the password on the app and go forward - appreciate your time !

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Answer 8

Apr 19, 2023 1:27 PM in response to rvembu

How long is the hex code? A hashed password will typically be very long, typically over 100 characters. If it is a short hex code it is probably the address in the app’s local storage where the password is kept.

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Answer 9

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 22, 2023 10:41 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Around 20+ characters!

Now, if this is an address in the app's local storage, then would that be in their cookies / cache? If so, then they would disappear when I clear cookies and cache - right? So, I cleared cookies and cache and the app still remembers the password!

I went ahead and changed the password on the website to something that I know remember to put an end to the mystery of the iphone password saga!

Appreciate your handholding through this journey! Have a good weekend sir

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Answer 10

Apr 22, 2023 3:50 PM in response to rvembu

rvembu wrote:

Around 20+ characters!

Now, if this is an address in the app's local storage, then would that be in their cookies / cache? If so, then they would disappear when I clear cookies and cache - right? So, I cleared cookies and cache and the app still remembers the password!

Not necessarily. They can save the password in the app’s database.

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Answer 11

rvembu Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 25, 2023 1:10 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Got it!

Although quirky for me, your latest response made everything hang together in my mind.

The app is so "joint at the hips" with my user-id, that incorrect touch ids just stops the app from going forward. No option to provide id etc at a later point. And, likely, as you say, there is no password at all, and whatever that Hex code in the password is will stay a mystery, except for the app designer! ;-)

Once again, much obliged for your patience and willingness to share your knowledge!

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Answer 12

Apr 17, 2023 12:49 PM in response to rvembu

If you go to Settings/Password and tap on an entry, then the password field, what you will see is the actual password. If it shows a hex number then that is the password.

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Answer 13

Apr 17, 2023 1:23 PM in response to rvembu

Passwords are not encoded in Settings/Passwords. So what you see is the password.

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Answer 14

Apr 17, 2023 4:04 PM in response to rvembu

I don’t know what it is; it could be a code for a hardware authenticator. Do you use Google Authenticator, or a similar app such as id.me or Microsoft authenticator? Or perhaps a security key?

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can I see saved password in iphone

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