How to Pin the Passwords App to Your Macs Menu Bar

Apple has moved passwords from the Settings app to a native one. Here’s how to add it to your Mac’s menu bar to make your saved passwords more accessible.

Unlike other apps, which allow you to add them to the menu bar through the Control Center’s settings, the Passwords app requires you to take another route to achieve the same result.

Open the Passwords app (hit Command+Spacebar then start typing "Passwords" and hit Return) then navigate to the top left of the screen. Once there, click on the “Passwords” button in the menu bar and it’ll launch a drop-down menu.

Next, click “Settings” from the drop-down menu, which will open Passwords Settings. From there, click on the box next to “Show Passwords in Menu Bar” to add it to your Mac’s menu bar.

After you turn that on, a passkey icon will appear on your Mac’s menu bar. This icon will continue appearing until you disable the feature using the same steps by unchecking the same box.

While it’s quicker to open a native password app than to dig through Settings to get there, putting the application in the menu bar is most efficient. It helps you achieve the same tasks you’d done before in a shorter timeframe.

When clicking on the passkey icon in the menu bar, you’ll be greeted by a prompt asking you to verify yourself using your password or Touch ID. Once you do, you’ll have access to all your saved passwords, but you must authenticate every time you open the application.

Here, you can search through a list of your passwords and grab the specific information you want. Clicking on an account will showcase your saved username and password hidden behind several dots which will disappear when you hover over them.

If you want to add a new password, clicking on the plus-icon will take you directly into the native app and automatically open the menu to add one. On the other hand, if you want to edit an existing password, click on the window icon to open the native app to edit it.

The Passwords app on your Mac’s menu bar eliminates the need to jump to and from the native app to get the information you need to log into an account.

Nathaniel Pangaro / How-To Geek | Apple

With iCloud Passwords, your login information will automatically show up when clicking on the respective fields. However, if you have multiple accounts, it may not give the proper credentials, so accessing all your password information from your menu bar helps you get the correct information quickly.

New to the app? Learn how to migrate to Apple Passwords from other password managers.