Migration Assistant: Keychain passwords not in Passwords app

If Migration Assistant completed successfully but your saved passwords are missing from the Passwords app, the issue is usually related to how the keychain was migrated rather than the Passwords app itself. The Passwords app displays credentials stored in your login keychain, but there isn't a built-in feature to manually import passwords from another local keychain.

Step 1: Confirm the passwords still exist in Keychain Access

Open Keychain Access and select the login keychain.

• Search for a few website or application passwords you know should be present.
• If they appear here, the passwords still exist on your Mac.
• If they do not appear, they may not have been migrated.

Step 2: Verify iCloud Passwords is enabled

The Passwords app primarily displays passwords stored in iCloud Keychain.

Go to:

• System Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Passwords & Keychain

Make sure Sync this Mac (or Passwords & Keychain) is turned On.

If you recently enabled it, allow several minutes for the passwords to sync.

Step 3: Restart your Mac

After enabling Passwords & Keychain, restart your Mac and reopen the Passwords app. In many cases, the database refreshes after a restart.

Step 4: Check which keychain is the default

In Keychain Access:

• Select the login keychain.
• Verify it is set as the default keychain.

If another keychain became the default after migration, the Passwords app may not display the expected credentials.

Step 5: If passwords exist only in an old keychain

Unfortunately, Keychain Access does not provide a supported way to export passwords from a local keychain directly into the Passwords app. The Passwords app cannot import a local keychain file.

Your options are:

• Re-run Migration Assistant, ensuring the User Account and Settings are selected during migration.
• Enable iCloud Keychain on the old Mac (if available), allow it to sync, then sign in with the same Apple Account on the new Mac so the passwords download automatically.

Step 6: If the passwords are missing from both apps

If neither Keychain Access nor the Passwords app contains the credentials, the migration may not have transferred the login keychain correctly. In that case, your best option is to:

• Restore from a Time Machine backup (if available), or
• Run Migration Assistant again from the original Mac or its backup.

If the issue persists

If your passwords are visible in Keychain Access but never appear in the Passwords app despite iCloud Passwords being enabled, contact Apple Support. They can help determine whether the login keychain is damaged or if the migration encountered an issue specific to your user account.

One question to help narrow this down: Are your passwords still visible in Keychain Access on the new Mac, or are they missing there as well? This will determine whether the issue is with migration or with the Passwords app recognizing the keychain.

This article mentions that the iCloud passwords stay local when you turn off the synchronization. I just tried it on my Mac and the Passwords app did keep my passwords.

Now I've always had my passwords synched with iCloud. So, to go back to your original question, I'm not sure why your passwords were not migrated. I would have expected the iCloud keychain to move from the Keychain Access app to the Passwords app. When I look at my own Keychain Access, I still see the iCloud Keychain in the sidebar but it is empty.

You are right to be concerned about the Keychain Access app. Apple removed the secure notes functionality from the Keychain Access app when they introduced the Passwords app. (I know it's odd since passwords and secure notes are not related.)

Now this is what I would try to get the passwords on your M4 Mac: on your 2015 MacBook Air, turn on the passwords synchronization, do the same on your M4 Mac. Wait for the Passwords app on your M4 to show your passwords and then turn off the iCloud password synchronization on both devices.

The iCloud passwords synch is very quick. It takes a couple minutes at most. There are no other settings to check/turned on besides the Passwords settingsim System Settings > [your name] > iCloud.

Exporting iCloud passwords in Keychain Access in the CSV format doesn't work either on my end (Import and export keychain items using Keychain Access on Mac - Apple Support). The article states "If the Export Items menu is dimmed, at least one of the selected items can’t be exported". I can't export anything, not even a single password. It seems that the issue is not recent: What if EXPORT ITEMS if grayed out in key… - Apple Community

Were you able to export your passwords to a CSV file, it would be possible to import them in Passwords: Import passwords from another app into Passwords on Mac - Apple Support. By any chance, would your passwords be stored somewhere else, a place where you could export them in CSV format?

I'm running out of ideas to help you. A long shot: open Safari, click Safari > Settings, click the Passwords tab and see what it says. On my end, it only offers me to view the passwords in the Passwords app but, your situation being different, you may see something else.

Otherwise, please contact Apple Support directly.

Hi Steve, go to System Settings > [your name] > iCloud and make sure Passwords is turned on.

Passwords only stores (automatically) passwords for websites and apps. For some reason known only to Apple it doesn't store passwords for servers, drives and email, which are still stored in Keychain. I find it a buggy app at best even with websites and apps.

Steve Walther wrote:

A large fraction of my passwords are not stored in Safari, so while I might be able to export what Safari has, it doesn't address most of the problem.

I'll have to go back to Apple Support I guess. Thanks for the help, it is just bad software design with Apple's Keychain app.

SWAG

From your old Mac, Keychain Access.app>File select all your passwords and "Export Items(?)

Move this file to your new mac...

Then in your new Passwords.app >File> "Import Items" (?)

Report back your success or failure.

Yes, this is the only way. The iCloud keychain (that has your website passwords, and which was also embedded in the Safari app) that was in the Keychain Access application was moved to the Passwords app. This is probably why your passwords weren't migrated.

I find the iCloud Passwords synchronization quite helpful because I own several other devices besides my Mac.