Learn how to view a history of password changes in the Apple Passwords app to avoid reusing previous account passwords and strengthen your online security.
Apple’s Passwords app saves full version history for all your logins, with a “View History” button available to keep track of the changes. You can view old account passwords and see when you changed them.
This works whether you changed the password directly on the website or via the “Change Password” link in the Passwords app.
View history of changes in the Apple Passwords app
- Open the Passwords app and select the “All” tab.
- Pick a saved login, then tap View History. You won’t see it if there is no history for this account.
- If multiple versions of a password are saved, you’ll see them listed, with the current password at the top. Select an entry to view the full password.
Your history of password changes is visible to other people, provided you use password sharing in the Passwords app. In that case, they’ll also see a View History button and can tap it to view a detailed changelog. However, any password changes dated before you began sharing your passwords won’t be visible to others.
Apple Passwords automatically tracks password changes
The Passwords app automatically adds a new entry to your history whenever you edit a saved login in the app or respond positively to an “Update Password” prompt when changing your login credentials in Safari.
To test whether your password history works, tap the plus button (+) in the bottom-right corner of the app, then fill in some random login info and save the changes. Next, tap the Edit button and replace the saved password with a new one, then tap the checkmark icon in the top-right corner. You should now see a View History button for this login; tap it to view both your new and old passwords.
Clearing old passwords
You cannot stop Apple Passwords from saving a history of password changes, but you can manually delete a password history for any saved login. Tap View History, then tap the three-dot icon, followed by Clear History to delete all records of prior password changes for that account. This won’t delete your current password. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to delete all old passwords for all saved accounts at once.
On older versions of iOS, tap View History > Clear.
How is a history of password changes useful
Keeping a history of old passwords can be helpful in several situations. For example, it can help you avoid reusing a previous password, although the Passwords app already warns you about duplicate passwords. More importantly, a few online services may require your old password to verify your identity. In such cases, having access to your old passwords can make a difference in regaining access to your account.
Banks and payment institutions may require you to update your password, especially if it has been a while since you last changed it. In that case, you can launch the Passwords app and see when you last updated the password for more context.
Do more with Apple Passwords: