Perhaps you use one password for many accounts, because remembering a different password for each one is hard. When one company's list of passwords is stolen, scammers try those passwords at other companies. Every account where you used the same password then opens for the scammers. Here, the same password also means a password made by changing a little of another password. Perhaps you start from one base password and change a little of it for each account, such as Rover2019 for the bank, Rover2019! for email and Rover2020 for shopping. A scammer who has one of the three passwords has the base, Rover, and will try Rover with a different number, a symbol on the end or another year at your other accounts. A password manager is an app that keeps a different password for every account and types each password in for you when you sign in. You remember only the one password that opens the password manager.
Write the one password on one sheet of paper and keep the sheet with your will and estate documents. Estate documents are the papers that say what happens to what you own. Your family can find the password on the sheet when they need it.
Before you start
- About twenty minutes.
- The phone or computer you use most.
- The email address and password for your Apple Account or your Google Account. Your Apple Account is the account your iPhone, iPad or Mac is signed in to. Your Google Account is your account with Google.
- A pen and one sheet of paper.
- The place where you keep your will and estate documents.
Choose a password manager
Any one of these four password managers is better than using one password everywhere. Two of the four come from Apple and Google and cost nothing. The other two are independent, which means a company other than Apple or Google makes them. An independent manager works the same way on Apple devices and on Google devices, which matters if your family uses both.
- Passwords is Apple's app. The Passwords app is already on an iPhone, iPad or Mac that runs iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or macOS Sequoia or later. iOS, iPadOS and macOS are Apple's names for the software that runs an iPhone, an iPad and a Mac.
- Google Password Manager is made by Google. Google Password Manager is part of Chrome, and you can also open it on the web at passwords.google.com. On an Android phone, Google Password Manager is an app you install from the Google Play Store. Android is the phone software made by Google; most phones that are not iPhones run Android. Chrome is Google's program for visiting websites.
- 1Password is an independent manager. 1Password costs money, and the people in a family can share passwords with each other through 1Password.
- Bitwarden is an independent manager. Bitwarden has a free tier, which means a level of the service that costs nothing.
Turn on your password manager
Do only the part under the heading for the manager you chose. Then go on to the steps under For everyone.
If you chose Passwords on an iPhone, iPad or Mac
With Passwords there is no separate password to remember. The passcode that unlocks your device and the password for your Apple Account open your saved passwords. So use your passcode and your Apple Account password nowhere else, and never type either one into a link that arrived by email or text message.
- Turn on iCloud Keychain. iCloud Keychain is Apple's name for the part of your Apple Account that holds your saved passwords. Open the Settings app. Find your name and tap it. Find iCloud and tap it. Find Passwords and Keychain and tap it. Find iCloud Keychain and turn iCloud Keychain on. On a Mac, the settings app is called System Settings; open System Settings and click the same names in the same order.
- Turn on AutoFill. AutoFill means the device types a saved password into the sign-in box for you. Open the Settings app again. Find General and tap it. Find AutoFill & Passwords and tap it. Find AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys and turn AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys on. A passkey is a newer kind of sign-in that takes the place of a password. On a Mac, the same names are in System Settings. Now go on to the steps under For everyone.
If you chose Google Password Manager
With Google Password Manager there is no separate password to remember. The passcode that unlocks your phone and the password for your Google Account open your saved passwords. So use your passcode and your Google Account password nowhere else, and never type either one into a link that arrived by email or text message.
If your phone is an Android phone, do the step below. If your phone is not an Android phone and you use Chrome, the passwords you have already saved in Chrome are already in Google Password Manager, so go on to the steps under For everyone. If your phone is not an Android phone and you do not use Chrome, Google's page, as we read it, gives no way to turn Google Password Manager on, so choose one of the other three managers.
- Install the app on your Android phone. Open the Google Play Store. The Google Play Store is the app on an Android phone where you get other apps. Find the Google Password Manager app and install it. Then set Google as your autofill provider. Autofill means the phone types a saved password into the sign-in box for you, and the autofill provider is the app you choose to do that typing. Google's page, as we read it, does not say where the autofill provider setting is, so we cannot say what to tap. Now go on to the steps under For everyone.
If you chose 1Password
- Choose your account password. The account password is 1Password's name for the one password that opens 1Password itself. Make the account password out of several unrelated words with a number among them, something like
harbor-lantern-27-cactus-violin. Use the account password nowhere else. Never type the account password into a link that arrived by email or text message. 1Password cannot see your account password, cannot get it back for you, and cannot reset it. - Create your 1Password account. During sign-up, 1Password asks you to choose the account password. Type the account password you chose. We have not seen the sign-up screens, so we cannot say what they show. Now go on to the steps under For everyone.
If you chose Bitwarden
- Choose your master password. The master password is the one password that opens Bitwarden itself. Make the master password out of several unrelated words with a number among them, something like
harbor-lantern-27-cactus-violin. Bitwarden requires at least twelve characters; a character is one letter, number or symbol. Use the master password nowhere else. Never type the master password into a link that arrived by email or text message. Bitwarden cannot see your master password, cannot get it back for you, and cannot reset it. - Create your Bitwarden account. During sign-up, Bitwarden asks you to choose the master password. Type the master password you chose. We have not seen the sign-up screens, so we cannot say what they show. Now go on to the steps under For everyone.
For everyone
- Write the one password on one sheet of paper. On one sheet of paper, write the one password that opens your password manager. If you chose 1Password or Bitwarden, that password is the account password or master password you chose. If you chose Passwords or Google Password Manager, that password is your Apple Account or Google Account password. Below the password, write the passcode that unlocks your phone. Then write the email address or name the password manager knows you by. If you chose 1Password, also print the page 1Password calls the Emergency Kit and keep the printed page with the sheet. If you ever forget the one password, read the password on the sheet. Keep the sheet with your will and estate documents.
- Let the password manager save your passwords. The next time you sign in to a website or an app, the password manager will offer to save that password; say yes. When a website asks you to change a password, let the password manager suggest a new one. Start with the accounts that matter most: your email, your phone company, your Apple Account or Google Account, and then your bank and other money accounts. You can save the passwords for your other accounts one at a time over the coming months.
- Check that it worked. Sign out of one website. Then sign back in. The password manager should offer to fill in the password without you typing it.
Write the one password you must remember on one sheet of paper and keep the sheet where your family will find it.
What this does not do
- Turning on a password manager does not change the passwords you already reuse. You change the reused passwords one account at a time. For each account, sign in and let the password manager suggest a new password.
- A password manager does not add two-step sign-in to any account. Two-step sign-in is a second check at sign-in, such as a code sent to your phone.
- A password manager does not protect an account whose recovery phone number is no longer yours, even when the password is strong. The recovery phone number is the phone number an account uses to reach you when you cannot sign in.
- Anyone who can get to the sheet of paper can read the password and the passcode.
- If you forget your account password or master password and also lose the paper, 1Password and Bitwarden cannot help you get back in.
If your screen looks different
On an iPhone running iOS 17 or earlier there is no Passwords app, and the same list of passwords is under Settings, then Passwords. On an Android phone, in Chrome, Google Password Manager is under More, then Settings, then Autofill and passwords, then Google Password Manager. If a menu has moved, search your Settings for the word Passwords.
Sources
- Apple: Use the Passwords app to create, manage, and share passwords and passkeys across Apple devices, read on 18 October 2026.
- Google: Get started with Google Password Manager, read on 18 October 2026.
- 1Password: If you forgot your 1Password account password or you can't unlock the app, read on 18 October 2026.
- Bitwarden: My Master Password, read on 18 October 2026.