Which keychain is which on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad

The keychain is Apple's catch-all term for different kinds of things on each platform.

- GLENN FLEISHMAN

Apple stores passwords and other secrets in a keychain on your device-but is it the Keychain? The difference confuses some readers. Generally, it works like this:

macOS: The operating system maintains multiple keychains, which you can view via Applications →Utilities → Keychain Access. This tool can manage some low-level encryption details, like certificates, and will show at least a System and login (lowercase) keychain. Your login keychain contains the items used for your account, which include Wi-Fi network passwords, network volume passwords, website passwords, and many other things.