Does the keychain access app still exist in macOS Sequoia?

Question

Created Jun ’24

Replies 9

Boosts 1

Views 4.7k

Participants 8

I have a bunch of certificate related things, along with a bunch of secure notes stored in the keychain. These, like previously in System Preferences, don’t show up in the new Passwords app (as tested in iOS).

So before I risk losing all that information by installing Sequoia, I wonder if the KeychainAccess.app is still around, allowing me to access these items.

In case Apple is listening: do NOT remove that app, until all the critical functionality is also in Passwords, or some other app….

Answered by DTS Engineer in 790283022

The old app is still available as /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications.

In case Apple is listening

Apple is always listening! *mwaa haa haa*

Seriously though, I see two parts to this:

The potential for data loss
The long-term future of Keychain Access and the file-based keychain which it’s centred around

My answer to the first one is clear: If you have to run the legacy app to get at critical data, you should file a bug about that. Even if your bug gets marked as a dup, it’ll allow you to track the status of the original.

Please post your bug number, just for the record.

As to what’s going on at the API level, TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations talks about this. If you’re using keychain APIs, it’s an important read.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Boost

Answer 1

bens OP

Jun ’24

Yes, it's still there.

0

Answer 2

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Jun ’24

Accepted Answer

Recommended

The old app is still available as /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications.

In case Apple is listening

Apple is always listening! *mwaa haa haa*

Seriously though, I see two parts to this:

The potential for data loss
The long-term future of Keychain Access and the file-based keychain which it’s centred around

My answer to the first one is clear: If you have to run the legacy app to get at critical data, you should file a bug about that. Even if your bug gets marked as a dup, it’ll allow you to track the status of the original.

Please post your bug number, just for the record.

As to what’s going on at the API level, TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations talks about this. If you’re using keychain APIs, it’s an important read.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

2

Answer 3

rcfa OP

Jun ’24

It’s also about a third thing: capability!

KeychainAccess.app can do things Password.app can’t:

Certificate management with Certificate Assistant Storing, exporting, managing certificates secure notes for bank accounts, credit cards, software licenses, etc. (which I guess theoretically one could painstakingly move one-by-one to Notes.app as locked notes)

And then there’s the issue of cloud based things being convenient, but I still believe in the resilience of the master data being stored locally, and being available deep in the African bush, even without Starlink internet…

1

Answer 4

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Jun ’24

[Keychain Access] can do things [Passwords] can’t:

Yep. If Passwords is missing functionality that’s critical to you, I encourage you to file an enhancement request for each missing feature, making sure to explain why that feature is important to you work.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

0

Answer 5

commanderclif OP

Jul ’24

The Keychain app still existed in Sequoia PB 1 for me but with this weeks update to PB 2, the app is now missing from my machine completely. I've looked in this CoreServices/Applications folder and it's not there. I realized it was gone when the dock icon was broken after update.

0

Answer 6

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Jul ’24

It’s still there for me:

% sw_vers
ProductName:		macOS
ProductVersion:		15.0
BuildVersion:		24A5289g
% ls -ld "/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Keychain Access.app"
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  96  8 Jul 22:32 /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Keychain Access.app

Admittedly, thats 15.0b3, not b4, but it gels with my understanding that the app will be present, at this obscure location, for the macOS 15 release.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

0

Answer 7

TeamBates OP

Jul ’24

Its not working for me - I click on the app and it takes me to a folder location within the Weather app.

I had some secure notes so I hope its not gone for good!

0

Answer 8

TeamBates OP

Jul ’24

I looked in this location and the application is there!

0

Answer 9

myBadStudios OP

Aug ’24

Can someone please enlighten me... as an Apple developer the first thing we need to do is create a certificate using a CertificateSigningRequest ... now Apple is saying "Let's remove the app that generates the CSR files" ....

Does that mean Apple doesn't want anyone making any more apps for any Apple devices any more? ...or how are we supposed to get CSRs moving forward?

What am I not seeing ?

5