A window keeps popping up again and again after every few minutes telling me ‘identityservicesd wants to use the login keychain.’ Can anyone tell me how to stop these messages as it is very annoying and doesn’t go away no matter how many times I enter the login keychain password.
Before we go to the problem, let’s clear what is identityservicesd mac and why it asks for login keychain. Identityservicesd is a daemon or a background process in Mac that handles user account credentials on the device like iCloud, iMessage, App Store, FaceTime, etc. This allows you to automatically sign in to various accounts without needing to enter the account credentials. But, this process requires keychain password to access the passwords stored in Keychain. If it doesn’t get the keychain password, it will ask you for it with the identityservicesd wants to use the login keychain prompt. But, if it keeps asking for the password again and again, then there must be something wrong with keychain. So, in this article, we will tell you how to fix identityservicesd wants to use login keychain error.
Solution 1: Use Keychain First Aid to Repair Keychain Problems
It is possible that you might be encountering identityservicesd Mac prompt problem due to corruption in stored passwords in the keychain access. It is one of the reasons why identityservicesd asks you to enter the login keychain password again and again. So, to solve the problem, you need to first repair the corruption in the Keychain Access using the First Aid utility in Keychain access. Follow the below steps to know how to fix keychain access error using Keychain Access First Aid -
- Step 1: Initially, launch Keychain Access from the Applications Folder > Utilities.
Step 2: Then, select Keychain First Aid option from the menu bar at the top in the Keychain Access window.
- Step 3: Enter your username and password and then select Verify and click Start to scan for corruption.
Step 4: If corruption found, select the Repair option and then again click Start to begin repairing the corrupt entries in Keychain access.
Solution 2: Update the Login Keychain Password
Keychain access uses the login keychain password to authenticate access requests by different services and apps like Identityservicesd. Login keychain password is the same as the user account login password by default and is created when you set up your Mac for the first time. But, if you later change the user account login password, then you also need to update the login keychain password otherwise, keychain access will keep using the old password and you will keep receiving the identityservicesd wants to use login keychain prompt. So, to solve the problem, you need to update the login keychain password and make it same as the login password for the user account. If you don’t know how to update login Keychain password, follow the below steps -
- Step 1: First, launch Keychain Access app from Application Folder > utilities or using the spotlight search.
- Step 2: on the Keychain Access window, select “login” options from the given list of Keychains in the left pane.
- Step 3: Now, click Edit from the menu at the top of the window.
Step 4: Then, from the options displayed, click on Change password for Keychain login option.
- Step 5: Enter the previous user account password which would be the same as the login keychain password in the “Current password”.
- Step 6: Then, enter the new login password in the New password field and verify field and then click OK. The login keychain password will be changed to match the user login password.
Solution 3: Delete the Login Keychain Manually
If you are still encountering the identityservicesd error even after replacing keychain access or updating the login keychain password, or if you aren’t able to change login keychain password, then the only option left is to delete the login keychain manually and then create a new login keychain. To know how to fix identityservicesd wants to use the login keychain error by deleting login keychain, follow the below steps -
- Step 1: Click on the GO menu in the Apple Finder and hold down the ALT key to display the hidden “Library” option.
- Step 2: While holding the ALT key, click on the Library option and it will display the corresponding options.
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Step 3: Now, go to the “Keychains” option and it will display the login keychain.
- Step 4: Delete the login keychain or move it to a different location like an external drive and reboot the system.
- Step 5: Now, it will display a keychain not found prompt. Click on create a new login keychain option.
Step 6: Enter your login password, and then click OK to finish the process.
- Step 1: First, download the PassFab iOS Password Manager on your computer and then install it.
- Step 2: Launch the program upon installation and then connect your iOS device to the computer using a USB cable.
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Step 3: When PassFab iOS Password Manager detects your device, click on the Start Scan button.
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Step 4: After the scan is complete, go to the WiFi account tab in the new window to view all the WiFi passwords saved on the iOS device.
Bonus Tips: Best Keychain Alternative - PassFab iOS Password Manager
Do you want to add a new device to your Wi-Fi network but you forgot its password? Have you previously connected your iPhone or iPad to the WiFi network? If you had enabled iCloud Keychain, then your WiFi password will be synced to or from the Mac to the iPhone. But, you won’t be able to recover the password from the keychain as they are in encrypted form in the keychain file and you can’t read the content of the file.
If you want to know the WiFi password, then you could use PassFab iOS Password Manager to retrieve the password from your iOS device. PassFab iOS Password Manager is a wonderful program that allows you to retrieve all kinds of user account and passwords saved on your iPhone or iPad like mail accounts, WhatsApp, Apple ID, and WiFi password. Want to know how to view saved WiFi password on iPhone or iPad? Follow the below steps -
Summary
It is very frustrating when identityservicesd prompts you to enter the login keychain password again and again after a few minutes. Not only does it waste time, but it disrupts your attention what you were doing. If you are also suffering from the same problem, then we hope that the solutions given in the article to fix identityservicesd wants to use login keychain helps you in stopping the annoying prompts. Additionally, we recommend using PassFab iOS Password Manager to retrieve WiFi password from your iPhone or iPad if you forgot your WiFi password.