I am a Google Chrome user. But I still often have to dive into Safari, especially when Google’s browser starts behaving erratically on my iPhone or iPad. And that obviously means I also have to use Safari’s built-in password manager to save login information for sites I visit frequently.
However, I logged into a site the other day and found that Safari doesn’t want me to save my password and username. I tried logging out and back in but in vain.
Since I don’t like entering the same password over and over, I decided to take a look around. If you are experiencing the same issue, the following pointers will help you.
Enable AutoFill/Keychain
The first thing you should do is see if Safari is set to autofill your passwords. If not, you will not be prompted to save passwords on any site you log into.
Also, Safari won’t prompt you to save your passwords if you’ve disabled Keychain and enabled a third-party password manager to handle your passwords instead. You can check for both issues using the steps below.
Stage 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, then tap Passwords & Accounts. Then tap AutoFill Passwords.
Step 2: Make sure the switch next to Autofill passwords is turned on and Keychain is enabled.
Because multiple password managers can co-exist side by side, you do not need to turn off any third-party password managers to enable Keychain.
Save Password with On-Screen Keyboard
Password autofill aside, there’s another reason Safari doesn’t prompt you to save a password. And this happens if you have specifically told the browser not to do this some time in the past (tapping Never For This Website).
You can only remove this preference using Safari on Mac (I’ll discuss this further below). But a quicker way to save the password – or if you don’t have access to a Mac – is to do it manually.
There are several ways you can use to save your passwords yourself. First, let’s take a look at the easy way to manually ask the browser to save your login information.
Stage 1: After filling in your login information, tap Passwords at the top of the onscreen keyboard. Do this before logging into the site.
Step 2: Tap Save This Password at the prompt that appears. That’s it — Safari will automatically fill in your password and username the next time you log into the site.
Pretty simple, right?
Save Passwords with Settings App
The other method of manually saving passwords requires using the Passwords & Accounts portal on your iPhone or iPad. It lets you save all the login credentials you want in one go, and is ideal if there are multiple sites that don’t trigger an automatic password save prompt in Safari.
Stage 1: Go to your iOS device’s Settings app, then tap Passwords & Accounts. Next, tap Website & App Passwords.
Note:
Step 2: Tap the ‘+’ icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Enter login information for a site (website, username, and password), then tap Done.
Repeat for other sites where you want to save your passwords.
Remove Preferences with Mac
If there are a lot of sites you’ve skipped saving passwords for in Safari before and you can’t remember which ones, you can easily remove these preferences, provided you actually have access to a Mac. .
Note:
Stage 1: Open Safari on your Mac. Next, click Safari in the Apple menu, then click Preferences.
Step 2: Switch to the Passwords tab, and then enter your macOS user password to show your passwords.
Now, under the Password column, simply select and remove sites that are Never Saved. Safari will then prompt you to save passwords for these sites when logging into your iPhone or iPad in the future.
Some Websites Don’t Allow
Occasionally, you may encounter websites that specifically request that Safari (and other browsers) not save your passwords. This is a server-side security measure and you can’t do anything about it. You can still check if you can save passwords manually, but when it comes to autofill later on, there’s no guarantee they’ll work.
Rarely, you may encounter websites that will specifically request Safari not to save your passwords.
Once again, this is pretty rare. But there is one thing to keep in mind when you come across that strange site where Safari won’t display the prompt to save your passwords no matter what.
take control
I hope you have now manually saved your passwords. Or you can let Safari do this automatically once again. If the browser still bothers you, do not forget to install the latest updates for your iOS device. You can do this by tapping General > Software Update via the Settings app. Usually, newer updates contain lots of bug fixes and should fix all the anomalies in Safari permanently.
So, do you have any other suggestions you’d like us to add? Leave a comment and let me know.
Next: Using Safari’s Keychain isn’t the best way to keep your login information safe. Instead, you can find three dedicated password managers here to protect your passwords.