Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore network settings?

[Ledsteplin]

View attachment 94657

You asked a question and I answered it. What's sarcastic about it? When you log on to your wifi in Settings, it's not added to Keychain. My wifi name and password did not go to Keychain when I set it up. Is yours there? Look in your Keychain and see! My Comcast log in credentials are there because I logged in on Safari to pay my bill. I showed you how it can be added in Safari. What's sarcastic about that?

 

[Tartarus]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

WiFi passwords are saved to network settings.
Passwords to websites via Safari are saved to Keychain if you approve that.
Resetting network settings removes all your network settings including passwords. That's independent of Keychain.

That's been my experience.


Sent from my GORGEOUS, SEXY, AWESOME Rose Gold 128G iPhone 6s Plus ️️️

Yep, that's what I thought. Thanks everybody for your input in the thread.

 

[robertk328]

Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

You asked a question and I answered it. What's sarcastic about it? When you log on to your wifi in Settings, it's not added to Keychain. My wifi name and password did not go to Keychain when I set it up. Is yours there? Look in your Keychain and see! My Comcast log in credentials are there because I logged in on Safari to pay my bill. I showed you how it can be added in Safari. What's sarcastic about that?

It was (mostly) tongue in cheek ... but I may have been feeling feisty at the time. The faq I quoted seems to indicate wifi / network I do NOT form fill data. So having a wifi network in one device should theoretically share that data/login with other devices on the same iCloud ID. That's what I was getting to, not whether safari would save form fill info because to me that isn't the same as network information.

I also seem to recall when keychain was announced that it was for not only website passwords but other data, such as wifi networks. I've had a bit of time to search for that but not much beyond the somewhat vague faq quote I already provided above.

Edit: here are two links pointing to what I was referring to:

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/icloud-keychain-and-wifi-networks.1673907/

http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/11...networks-passwords.html?nocache=1444778696782

 

[robertk328]

I seem to recall the same.... logging out of keychain and back in is supposed to restore them but not sure I want to go through the hassle of checking Maybe it works when restoring - may try that with my iPad as I don't rely on it as much as my iPhone and it would be easier to test and set up again if I had to.

 

[robertk328]

When you log on to your wifi in Settings, it's not added to Keychain. My wifi name and password did not go to Keychain when I set it up. Is yours there? Look in your Keychain and see!

Restored my phone as new this morning, no backup. Put my home wifi in so I could load a few apps before heading out. Also logged in to iCloud, including keychain.

When I got to work, it connected to wifi without having to enter any passwords or pick the network.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Restored my phone as new this morning, no backup. Put my home wifi in so I could load a few apps before heading out. Also logged in to iCloud, including keychain.

When I got to work, it connected to wifi without having to enter any passwords or pick the network.

Yes, it will do that. But if you go look in your Keychain passwords list, your wifi password won't be there.

I don't have to enter my password at home either. Once it's been entered, it remembers it. If you do Reset Network Settings, you will need to reenter the password. Same with a restore. That's got nothing to do with Keychain.

 

[Tartarus]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Yes, it will do that. But if you go look in your Keychain passwords list, your wifi password won't be there.

I don't have to enter my password at home either. Once it's been entered, it remembers it. If you do Reset Network Settings, you will need to reenter the password. Same with a restore. That's got nothing to do with Keychain.

You misread his post. He put in his wifi password for his home and when at work, it connected to wifi from work without asking for the password.

 

[robertk328]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Yes, it will do that. But if you go look in your Keychain passwords list, your wifi password won't be there.

I don't have to enter my password at home either. Once it's been entered, it remembers it. If you do Reset Network Settings, you will need to reenter the password. Same with a restore. That's got nothing to do with Keychain.

Read it again.

I restored as new, put in my iCloud password and when I got to work it joined my work's wifi network without asking. None of that data was stored on my phone.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Read it again.

I restored as new, put in my iCloud password and when I got to work it joined my work's wifi network without asking. None of that data was stored on my phone.

But it's not in Keychain. If you forget the password, you can't go retrieve it in Keychain. It won't be there. I understood what you said. Go look in Keychain and see if any of your wifi passwords are there.

Keychain is probably where they are. But they don't show on the iPhone in the Keychain passwords. You might could access them on a computer. IDK. But for on the phone, they need to be in 1Password or somewhere safe.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Read it again.

I restored as new, put in my iCloud password and when I got to work it joined my work's wifi network without asking. None of that data was stored on my phone.

Maybe this clears it up a bit.
http://www.iphonetopics.com/view-saved-wifi-passwords-on-iphone/

 

[robertk328]

Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

If you do Reset Network Settings, you will need to reenter the password. Same with a restore. That's got nothing to do with Keychain.

But it's not in Keychain. If you forget the password, you can't go retrieve it in Keychain. It won't be there. I understood what you said. Go look in Keychain and see if any of your wifi passwords are there.

Keychain is probably where they are. But they don't show on the iPhone in the Keychain passwords. You might could access them on a computer. IDK. But for on the phone, they need to be in 1Password or somewhere safe.

See, this is why I posted the "can't tell if you're sarcastic or serious" photo. See the two bolded statements. It almost feels like you're purposely messing with me I think you're hung up on the fact that you can't access them directly for why "they're not in keychain", but where else would they be if a phone that has been restored as new, without a backup, can join a network that was associated with the iCloud account previously held? SHOULD they be in there? Who knows? It doesn't ask you if you want to save them there (though why would it need to ask you unless you want to enter a wifi password each time you join it?) but it looks like it does. You just can't get to them directly. You can always "Forget this network" if you wanted to.

Maybe this clears it up a bit.
How to View Saved WiFi Passwords on iPhone

It does! Look at Way 1:

Way 1: If you have a Mac connected to the same WiFi network, you can find the stored passwords in Keychain access app.

And Way 3:

Way 3: If you are using iPhone, iPad with iOS 7, use iCloud keychain syncing to sync your iPhone or iPad saved WiFi password to other device like Mac and you can read the password in Mac keychain as per #way 1.

Both mention they're stored in keychain. And if I go on my Mac, in the Utilities folder is a "Keychain Access" app as mentioned in the article. Opening that and going to iCloud, I have 3 networks in there that my Mac Mini has never seen (one has, which is my home network), in Keychain.



edit: I was able to view the passwords in there after entering my admin password -- but now i'm wondering why you can't view on the phone? Need to check my iPad but I'd bet it's the same since it's also iOS.

But back to the OP, I think the only way you'd be able to get them back if you restored network settings is to disable keychain, reboot, and re-enable it, but that's a test for another day.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

See, this is why I posted the "can't tell if you're sarcastic or serious" photo. See the two bolded statements. It almost feels like you're purposely messing with me I think you're hung up on the fact that you can't access them directly for why "they're not in keychain", but where else would they be if a phone that has been restored as new, without a backup, can join a network that was associated with the iCloud account previously held? SHOULD they be in there? Who knows? It doesn't ask you if you want to save them there (though why would it need to ask you unless you want to enter a wifi password each time you join it?) but it looks like it does. You just can't get to them directly. You can always "Forget this network" if you wanted to.



It does! Look at Way 1:



And Way 3:



Both mention they're stored in keychain. And if I go on my Mac, in the Utilities folder is a "Keychain Access" app as mentioned in the article. Opening that and going to iCloud, I have 3 networks in there that my Mac Mini has never seen (one has, which is my home network), in Keychain.

View attachment 96877

edit: I was able to view the passwords in there after entering my admin password -- but now i'm wondering why you can't view on the phone? Need to check my iPad but I'd bet it's the same since it's also iOS.

But back to the OP, I think the only way you'd be able to get them back if you restored network settings is to disable keychain, reboot, and re-enable it, but that's a test for another day.

Yes. But my point from the beginning is that wifi passwords are not shown on the phone in the Keychain passwords lists. So if you don't enter them in 1Password or other safe place, you're out of luck if you forget it. A computer is not always handy. The only passwords that show in the list in Settings on the phone are those generated in Safari.

 

[robertk328]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Yes. But my point from the beginning is that wifi passwords are not shown on the phone in the Keychain passwords lists. So if you don't enter them in 1Password or other safe place, you're out of luck if you forget it. A computer is not always handy. The only passwords that show in the list in Settings on the phone are those generated in Safari.

I didn't get that from any of your earlier posts as I would have agreed that they're not shown! Nevertheless, we've been able to determine that this info is stored in iCloud keychain (and accessible via OSX at least if you need to retrieve them, thanks to the link you shared). Now who's going to test if resetting network settings (not just a restore)? :rotfl:

Have a good weekend (and don't eat too much candy)!

 

[ikkizenho]

Ok, registered just to say this.

If you do "reset network settings", the wifi passwords that were in the iCloud Keychain will be deleted, from the phone, from iCloud, and from all other devices that might be linked to this iCloud account.

Just did this, called applecare to see if they had any solution, they told me to restore from a previous backup (either itunes or icloud device backup) should work. As I'm too lazy to do this, I just accepted the loss of all wifi passwords

 

[Ledsteplin]

Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore ...

Ok, registered just to say this.

If you do "reset network settings", the wifi passwords that were in the iCloud Keychain will be deleted, from the phone, from iCloud, and from all other devices that might be linked to this iCloud account.

Just did this, called applecare to see if they had any solution, they told me to restore from a previous backup (either itunes or icloud device backup) should work. As I'm too lazy to do this, I just accepted the loss of all wifi passwords

Yes, it will do that. It's another reason why I have tried to say to keep the wifi passwords in a safe place like 1Password. So the wifi passwords could not be found using a computer?

 

[Ledsteplin]

I just noticed that a new feature of iOS 9 was the option to "add password" manually to keychain, without having to do the Safari thing. Wifi passwords still don't automatically show in Keychain, but can be added in easily. This was my first time to view my Keychain list since updating to iOS 9. It looks a lot better and more user friendly.
@robertk328

 

[anon(10286004)]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore network settings?lo

Over the years I have collected more than a few dozen wifi passwords all over Europe. And since there is no way to backup those passwords or see them in an overview, I'm reluctant to perform a network settings restore.

Has anyone here an idea whether iCloud Keychain will have those passwords saved as well so I don't have to insert them one by one again when connecting to previous wifi spots?

I just did it. I turned off my iCloud Keychain, then I did a Network Settings Reset, then I turned on iCloud Keychain. The phone didn’t connect to WiFi automatically, so I went to wifi settings and turned WiFi off and then on again. And boom: it connected. So all wifi passwords are safely stored in iCloud Keychain and are imported back after a network restore.

 

[Tartarus]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore network settings?lo

I just did it. I turned off my iCloud Keychain, then I did a Network Settings Reset, then I turned on iCloud Keychain. The phone didn’t connect to WiFi automatically, so I went to wifi settings and turned WiFi off and then on again. And boom: it connected. So all wifi passwords are safely stored in iCloud Keychain and are imported back after a network restore.

That’s good to know. Thanks.

 

[robertk328]

Re: Will I lose all wifi passwords if I have iCloud Keychain enabled and restore network settings?lo

I just did it. I turned off my iCloud Keychain, then I did a Network Settings Reset, then I turned on iCloud Keychain. The phone didn’t connect to WiFi automatically, so I went to wifi settings and turned WiFi off and then on again. And boom: it connected. So all wifi passwords are safely stored in iCloud Keychain and are imported back after a network restore.

Nice work thanks!

 

[Ledsteplin]

I just did it. I turned off my iCloud Keychain, then I did a Network Settings Reset, then I turned on iCloud Keychain. The phone didn’t connect to WiFi automatically, so I went to wifi settings and turned WiFi off and then on again. And boom: it connected. So all wifi passwords are safely stored in iCloud Keychain and are imported back after a network restore.

Good deal! I've never turned Keychain off before any kind of reset. It works like text replacements. They're there as long as you're logged in to iCloud.