I use 1Password to manage and generate safe passwords (long, complex with special characters).
But here is the problem. After installing a MacOS update on my MacBook Pro, I’m presented with a screen asking for my Apple ID password, but I don’t have access to 1Password on the machine, so there is no way for me to copy-paste it in.
Fortunately, I have an iMac, so I open 1Password there and I can see the password. I try to copy the password manually on the MacBook, but since I’m not seeing what I’m typing (just dots), and I can’t find the special characters on the keyboard, I always get it wrong. Last time it happened, after many attempts, I had to resort to changing my Apple ID to something simple that I could enter manually to log in to my MacBook Pro. I find it kind of defeats the purpose. I like having complex passwords for security, but how do I enter those passwords when I don’t have access to the password manager?
Do you have any tips to deal with this type of situation?
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Jean-Claude
I know what you mean. For the most part, the passwords we store in password managers can be long, complex, and hard-to-type. Website passwords make up the bulk of my list, and I only ever have to type those in while in a browser where I have 1Password available on both Mac and iOS. But there are some passwords that need to be typed in where 1Password isn't yet available — like logging into my Mac user account, or occasionally iCloud in situations like yours.
The way I deal with it is to keep those passwords less complex. I still make them random, and generated by 1Password, but I restrict them to only letters, numbers, and symbols that are easy to type if any at all. And I keep it to somewhere between 8-13 characters too.
You sacrifice little in terms of security when you limit the characters like this. This is especially true since with iCloud you are using two-factor anyway (right?) and on your Mac you are in a situation that requires physical access to the hardware, not just knowing the password.
Thanks Gary. I was doing more or less the same thing. I keep my Mac user account password simple, but I thought my Apple ID should be something more secure. It works fine except after MacOS update restarts. The whole problem comes from having to log in to iCloud before having logged in to the computer. It might not be possible, but the opposite would be more logical to me. After an update restart, the user should be allowed to log in to the user account, then be prompted to sign in to iCloud.