Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 27 explains how to export your passwords for websites and accounts to a CSV file, which you can then import into another password manager. The option sits in the Settings app under Apps, then Safari, and Apple warns that the exported file is not encrypted.
That makes the export useful if you are moving to a different password manager, but it also means the file needs careful handling from the moment it lands on your iPhone.
What the export does
According to Apple, the feature writes your saved passwords for websites and accounts into a CSV file. Apple describes the file as something you then import into another password manager.
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The export starts from Safari’s settings rather than from the Passwords app. Apple places it below History and Website Data, alongside other items you can export from Safari.
Apple’s warning about the file
Apple puts the risk plainly in its guide: “Your exported passwords are not encrypted and are visible to anyone who can access the file.”
Apple also gives a clear instruction for what to do afterward: “After you import the passwords into another password manager, delete the file you exported.”
In practice, that means you should only export when you are ready to import straight away, and you should avoid sending the file through email, messaging apps or shared cloud folders where someone else could open it.
How to export passwords on iPhone
These are Apple’s steps, as written in the iOS 27 iPhone User Guide:
1. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Apps, then tap Safari.
3. Below History and Website Data, tap Export.
4. Select Passwords.
5. Deselect the other choices.
6. Tap Save to Downloads.
7. Tap Done.
Step 5 matters. The Export screen offers more than passwords, and Apple tells you to deselect the other choices so the file you save contains only your passwords.
Once you tap Save to Downloads, the file is saved to Downloads, ready for the import into your new password manager.
Passwords you cannot export
Apple lists three kinds of passwords that do not come along in the CSV file. In Apple’s words, “You can’t export Wi-Fi passwords, passwords that you shared with a group (unless you created the group), or Sign in with Apple account passwords.”
| Password type | Included in export |
|---|---|
| Website and account passwords | Yes |
| Wi-Fi passwords | No |
| Passwords shared with a group you did not create | No |
| Passwords shared with a group you created | Yes |
| Sign in with Apple account passwords | No |
If you rely on shared group passwords that someone else set up, the person who created the group is the one whose export includes them.
Before and after you export
A few practical points follow directly from Apple’s guidance:
- Have the destination password manager ready, so the file sits on your iPhone for as short a time as possible.
- Import the CSV file into the other password manager.
- Delete the exported file as soon as the import finishes, as Apple instructs.
- Keep a note of Wi-Fi networks and any Sign in with Apple services, since those are not in the file.
Moving passwords the other way
The export has a counterpart. Apple’s guide also covers importing passwords from another password manager into the Passwords app on iPhone, so you can bring credentials in as well as take them out.
If you are tidying up your passwords before a move, iOS 27 can also help with weak ones. We covered that in our guide on how to auto-fix weak passwords in iOS 27.
You can read the full steps in Apple’s iPhone User Guide page on exporting passwords to another password manager.
The bottom line
Exporting passwords on iPhone takes seven taps from the Settings app, and Apple’s guide spells out each one. The trade-off is that the CSV file is unencrypted, so treat it as sensitive, import it right away and delete it once you are done. Wi-Fi passwords, group passwords you did not create and Sign in with Apple passwords stay behind, so plan for those separately.
