Is Chrome Just As “Safe” as Safari with Regards to Passwords

google-chromekeychainpasswordsafari

I use two browsers: one for personal use (i.e. email, social networking, YouTube, etc.) and one for professional/school (i.e. developing, school links, school-related searches, etc.). I recently stopped using Firefox as I was tired of the lag and slowness and replaced Firefox with Chrome. I have a 2012 MacBook Pro and it has made a world of difference in my browsing experience. I've noticed that Chrome is heaps faster and more responsive.

I did some quick searching and discovered that Chrome for Mac uses the keychain on your Mac for storing/saving/remembering passwords. Does this mean having Chrome remember my passwords is just as "safe" as Safari (which presumably uses the keychain as well)?

Best Answer

Chrome uses a combination of an internal database (LoginDatabase) and Keychain to store passwords.

LoginDatabase stores some metadata, including usernames but not passwords, about each login that is stored. The site's URL, username and password are stored in Keychain. (The reason for the split is that extra metadata needs to be saved that isn't supported in Keychain.)

If you have your existing Keychain and a new Chrome profile, Chrome will not "remember" any logins. There has to be a matching entry in both LoginDatabase and Keychain for Chrome to display the login.

As far as password storage in Keychain being "safe", anything storing data in Keychain is only as safe as your Keychain password. Whether or not it is "safe" is a highly subjective.

(See this and this for more information.)