Setting up Apple’s iCloud Keychain sync cannot be done with your subconscious memory. So here’s how you could sync your iCloud Keychain between your Mac running OS X Mavericks and iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 7.
Apple unveiled iCloud Keychain sync killing off third party iOS only apps like 1Password. The new feature is Mac OS X Mavericks only and will work only on devices running iOS 7 or later.
The new feature seems to be taking advantage of the latest security features that Apple has given to its users. One such thing is the use of two-step verification, which requires one of the authorized devices before you add or enable the iCloud Keychain sync on any other device. Especially on Mac.
So in this tutorial, we’ll see how we can sync the iCloud Keychain between your Mac and iPhone:
On your Mac:
- Go to System Preferences > iCloud
- Just tick the checkbox for Keychain
- Once done, you’ll get the following screen, which says: “Approval required to use iCloud Keychain: To use iCloud Keychain on this Mac, approve it from another device using iCloud Keychain. If you don’t have access to any of your devices, you can recover your password.”
- Now click, let’s do the rest on the iPhone or iPod or iPad
On your iOS device (iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch):
- If you have authenticated iCloud Keychain on your iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch already, you’ll get a prompt asking if you would like to approve or reject the use of iCloud Keychain on your Mac. The prompt would read: “Allow “<your name> MacBook Pro” to use iCloud Keychain: Enter the Apple ID password for “<your apple ID>” to allow <Your Mac’s Name> to use your iCloud Keychain.”
- Just enter the password, and boom. You’re good to go. Your Mac will automatically enable the iCloud Keychain for you once it gets approval from your iPhone.
I’m still exploring this feature, and will update this post with some fixes for some issues. Until then, let me know if you need some help, I’ll be happy to help you out.