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jk73

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 19, 2012
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Not a major problem, but I was cleaning up my iCloud Keychain and noticed I had a couple saved passwords that consisted only of a username and password, with no web site listed. Both are from logging into WiFi portals at non-U.S. Starbucks. These two entries appear right at the top of my iCloud Keychain list, since there's no web site by which to alphabetize them.

Every time I delete these entries, either on my MBP or on an iOS device, they reappear the next time I check my password list. Worse, thinking I might be able to get rid of them by editing them to match an existing entry, the old password and the edited password both are kept, instead of the edit overriding the original. (It won't let me add a web site to the entry, either, so I can't attempt a full match.)

I even tried turning off iCloud Keychain on one device and had it delete the passwords that had been saved on my device, but the two entries above still survived the deletion purge. (That is, all passwords were deleted from my iOS device except these entries I want to delete, which seem to be stored both locally and in iCloud, since iCloud sees them and replicates them on my other devices.)

Anyone seen this before? I assume it's a bug and there's nothing I can do. Thanks.
 
Last edited:

jpn

Cancelled
Feb 9, 2003
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hi
its great to see someone else who looks at whats in Keychain.
by" iCloud Keychain", i presume you mean just "Keychain" that is being synced through iCloud, right?
do you possibly have a non-USA Starbucks country app(s) on your iPhone? like starbucks China or Japan?
maybe that is the reason why these entries still keep appearing in a synced Keychain on your mac?
 

jk73

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 19, 2012
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Right, I meant Keychain being synced via iCloud.

No other apps on my iPhone that would explain these entries' persistence. After testing so many different deletion attempts, I believe it's a bug related to entries that lack a web site.
 
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jpn

Cancelled
Feb 9, 2003
1,854
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Right, I meant Keychain being synced via iCloud.

No other apps on my iPhone that would explain these entries' persistence. After testing so many different deletion attempts, I believe it's a bug related to entries that lack a web site.

this is plausible.

they could also be something called "flash cookie".

in iOS there is a way to get rid of a similar sounding persistent cookie kind of file.
i can vouch that it does work as well.

the following method (albeit on iOS) can give you some hints.

its from poster Drocmirage:

quote
Hi there I am not sure how old this post is but I have the solution. It's very particular about the steps you take, so follow each step. I own an iPhone7 iOS 10

1. Set cookies to allow

2. Make a list of all the websites that won't erase from your website data.

3. Visit each site (on safari) doing the following steps.

4. Once you have safari open with the website that is storing data on your device, leaving the window open (press home screen button)

5. Open: settings>safari>advanced>website data

6. Swipe the current website that is open in safari

7. Delete

8. Click back twice

9. Double click home screen button and close safari first then close your settings window

10. Repeat steps for remaining website data stored on your device.

This is literally the only way it works. If you skip any steps then the web site will remain but with 0kb. I spent a week messing with my settings until I discovered the solution. I tried it several other ways (attempting to skip steps) but failed. Good luck guys.
endquote
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7910096?start=0&tstart=0
 
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jk73

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 19, 2012
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As an update, I was able to delete these entries by opening the Keychain Access app and deleting them there. Attempting to delete them within Safari's Passwords pane failed every time. Looks like a bug within Safari.
 

ronnielondon

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2017
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As an update, I was able to delete these entries by opening the Keychain Access app and deleting them there. Attempting to delete them within Safari's Passwords pane failed every time. Looks like a bug within Safari.
[doublepost=1508929634][/doublepost]I still experience the same issue and it is annoying. I cannot delete these entries from the keychain. sorry but what Keychain Access app do you mean? thanks
 

jk73

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 19, 2012
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[doublepost=1508929634][/doublepost]I still experience the same issue and it is annoying. I cannot delete these entries from the keychain. sorry but what Keychain Access app do you mean? thanks

In the Finder, use the Go menu to open the Utilities folder, then open the Keychain Access app.
 
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Garamond1981

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2020
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I can confirm that this is still an issue that happens and it’s been driving me mad. The advice to go the search function on a Mac and look for ”keychain access.app” and open it works. Once there, look for any entry (there are multiple sections on the left you can look at) that matches the date of the password that can’t be deleted and presto, it is gone! For good measure, I had a look at everything in the keychain access app that had the name of any website that I no longer used and deleted it along with anything that was “unknown”
 
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