iOS 17 is about to bring a lot of enhancements to your iPhone. Now, Apple has been doubling down on its efforts to improve and enhance various security and privacy features for the past few years. To that end, the recent update addresses one of the most vulnerable aspects of our digital lives – password (and, lately, passkey) sharing – and is fortifying it.

Let's be honest; sharing passwords has always been a bit of a hassle, right? Yet, we all do it. And despite other third-party password managers that let you securely share passwords already exist, not all of us use them. But what if I told you that the team at Apple, in their infinite wisdom, has finally added the feature to iCloud Keychain? I know you could AirDrop someone a copy with iOS 16, but people you want to share the passwords with aren't always nearby.

And they haven't added the ability to just share passwords; you can share passwords with a group of people in one go with Family Passwords in iOS 17. Let's dive in, shall we?

What are Family Passwords in iOS 17?

Family Passwords is a new feature that allows you to share your passwords and passkeys with your trusted contacts within iCloud Keychain. Although the name has "Family" in it, don't let that confuse you; password sharing won't be limited to your Family group.

As the passwords will be encrypted end-to-end, thanks to the iCloud Keychain, your precious secrets are safer than a squirrel's acorn stash in winter.

With password sharing, you can add your trusted contacts to a group and share passwords and passkeys with them. Moreover, anyone in the group can add or edit passwords. Although group members can add or edit passwords, only the group owner can remove passwords added by others.

Passwords automatically stay up to date for everyone in the group. You can even have multiple groups to share different passwords with different people.

However, everyone in the group needs to be on iOS 17 for the feature to work.

Set Up a Password Sharing Group

Now that you know the ins and outs of the feature, let's get to the business of setting it up without further delays.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone, running iOS 17.

Then, scroll down and go to the 'Passwords' option.

You must authenticate using Face ID/ Touch ID or your device passcode.

Then, tap 'Get Started' on the Family Passwords banner.

If you don't see the banner because you previously dismissed it, tap the '+' icon in the top-right corner of the screen. Then, select 'New Shared Group' from the options.

Apple's onboarding screen for the feature will appear. Tap 'Continue' to proceed.

Next, enter a name for the group. By default, the name 'Family passwords' might appear pre-entered. You can edit it or keep it as it is. Now, tap the 'Add People' option to add participants to your little group.

Enter the contact's name in the 'To' field. If they can be added to the group, their contact will appear in blue.

Only people in your Contacts and on iOS 17 can be added. For users who are not on iOS 17, you'll get an error message.

Add as many contacts as you want in the 'To' field and tap the 'Add' button in the top-right corner.

Review the group information and make any changes if you want. Otherwise, tap the 'Create' button in the upper-right corner.

Next, choose the passwords or passkeys you want to share in the group and tap the 'Move' option. You can also tap 'Not Now' and add passwords or passkeys later.

Finally, choose whether you want to notify the people you've invited to the group by sending them a message. Even if you don't message them, they can find and accept your invitation from Passwords. They will have to accept the invitation for them to become a part of the group, though.

Manage your Shared Passwords Group

Once you've set up the password group, you'll be able to see it on your Passwords screen. Tap it to access it and make any changes to it.

You'll be able to see the group members and shared passwords on the next screen.

Manage Group Members

To manage the group members, tap the 'Manage' button below the group info.

Here, you can edit the group name, add or remove people, or delete the entire group.

To remove someone, tap their name.

Then, tap 'Remove from Group'.

Tap 'Remove from Group' from the confirmation prompt.

To add someone, tap the 'Add People' option.

Then, enter the contact names and tap 'Add' to add them.

You can also delete the group entirely. Any passwords you shared with the group will be moved back to your passwords, but you'll lose access to passwords and passkeys shared by others. Tap 'Delete Group' at the bottom.

Then, tap 'Delete' from the confirmation prompt.

Manage Group Passwords

To add more passwords to the group, tap the '+' icon in the top-right corner.

To share a previously saved password from your iCloud Keychain, select 'Move Passwords to Group' from the options.

Then, select the password(s) you want to share and tap 'Move'.

To add a new password to the group, select 'New Password' from the options.

Then, enter the details, i.e., website, username, and password, and tap 'Done' to add the password.

To manage the Shared passwords, tap the password from the list.

Here, you can edit the password like your normal iCloud Keychain passwords.

To move the password back to your passwords from the group, tap the drop-down menu next to 'Group'.

Then, select 'My Passwords' from the option. You can also move it to another group or create a new group to move the password to.

If you want to delete the password, tap 'Delete Password' from the bottom of the screen.

Tap 'Delete Password' on the confirmation prompt.

Deleting the password will delete it and move it to the 'Recently Deleted' folder, where it will stay for 30 days before being deleted permanently. Note that deleting it will also delete it from your passwords.

However, if you accidentally deleted the password while your motive was to move it back to your passwords, you can restore it.

Go back to Passwords and tap the 'Recently Deleted' folder.

Then, select the password you want to restore.

You can either choose to restore it to the group or tap 'Restore to My Passwords' to move it to your personal iCloud keychain.

Then, tap 'Recover to My Passwords' on the confirmation prompt.

That's it, folks. With Apple's Family Passwords set up, you can securely share your Netflix or other more important passwords with any of your contacts.