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Syncing Between Your iPhones

On its very first launch, Private Authenticator asks whether your accounts should sync via iCloud Keychain or be kept on this device only. This page explains what each means in practice, and how to change your mind.

What syncing does

iCloud Keychain is Apple's own system for keeping passwords and keys in step across your devices. Apple encrypts it end to end, which means only devices signed into your Apple ID can read it. Pebble IT has no part in it and can't see anything in it.

With syncing on, every account you add is stored in your iCloud Keychain as well as on your iPhone. The results:

  • The same accounts appear in Private Authenticator on any other iPhone that is signed into your Apple ID, has iCloud Keychain turned on (Settings → your name → iCloud → Passwords & Keychain), and has the app installed.
  • If you replace your iPhone, your accounts come back on the new one as soon as you sign in and install the app.
  • Deleting an account on one iPhone removes it from all of them. The app warns you about this wherever it applies, for example before Delete All Data.

What syncs is each account: its setup key and code settings, its name and description, its tags, whether it's archived, and when you last used it. What doesn't sync is anything about this iPhone in particular: the settings on the Settings page, and the Apple Watch's Device Sync.

What "this device only" does

Your accounts are stored only in this iPhone's secure storage and never copied anywhere by themselves. Nothing you do on another device can change them. The trade-off is that if this iPhone is lost, broken or wiped, the accounts are gone with it, unless you have a backup.

Setting up a new iPhone from the old one doesn't move them

Accounts kept on this device only are deliberately excluded from iPhone-to-iPhone transfers and from iCloud and computer backups of the phone. The only way to move them is a Private Authenticator backup and restore. See Moving to a New iPhone.

Where to see your choice

Settings → Sync shows the switch, greyed out, with a note explaining which way it's set.

Changing your mind

Each account is stored the way you chose at the time it was added, so the app can only ask the question while your list is empty. To switch:

  1. Make a backup and check you have its recovery key safe.
  2. On the Info page, tap Delete All Data and choose Delete All Accounts (keep your tags). If your accounts were syncing, this removes them from your other iPhones too.
  3. The sync question appears again. Give your new answer.
  4. Restore the backup. Restored accounts follow the new choice.

Things syncing does not do

  • It does not put your codes into Safari, the Passwords app or any other app. Only Private Authenticator can read them.
  • It does not send anything to your Apple Watch. The Watch has its own connection to the iPhone, called Device Sync. See Apple Watch.
  • It does not sync to an iPad or a Mac, because Private Authenticator runs on iPhone (and Apple Watch) only.

Continue to Apple Watch.