How to Lock the Passwords App on a Mac
Apple’s Passwords app asks you to unlock it, but your Mac’s login password is one of the ways in. Anyone who knows that password can open your vault.
Why people want to lock the Passwords app
The Passwords app holds logins, verification codes and passkeys. It is the most sensitive app on many Macs, so the question is who can open it, not just whether it asks.
What doesn’t fully work
As far as we know, the Passwords app asks for Touch ID or your Mac’s login password to unlock. That is a sensible default, but on a shared or family Mac the login password is often known by more than one person, and then it opens the vault too.
Closing the window or letting the app lock itself is not the same as the app being closed. A second macOS user account only works if you log out first, which is rarely realistic when you hand someone your laptop for a minute.
What actually works
Shoo! ends Passwords’s process when you lock it and starts it again only after Touch ID, Apple Watch or your private backup password succeeds. It does not draw a screen over an open window, so nothing is visible while it is locked, and your Mac’s login password is never what unlocks it.
Shoo! only controls whether the Passwords process runs. It never reads your logins, and your Mac’s login password does not unlock it. Autofill in your browser is a separate feature, so check how your browser handles saved logins too.
Try it free for 7 days — full functionality, no credit card, $17.99 once if you keep it.
Frequently asked
Can I lock the Passwords app with Touch ID on a Mac?
Yes. With Shoo! the Passwords app only opens after Touch ID succeeds, or after Apple Watch or a private backup password if your Mac has no Touch ID.
Doesn’t the Passwords app already lock itself?
As far as we know it asks for Touch ID or your Mac password. Shoo! adds a lock that your Mac’s login password cannot open, because it uses a separate backup password.
Does Shoo! see my passwords?
No. Shoo! only controls whether the Passwords process is running. It never reads your logins, codes or passkeys.
Does this protect passwords already filled in by my browser?
No. Shoo! locks the Passwords app itself. Browser autofill is separate, so lock or sign out of the browser as well if that matters.