How to export passwords from Chrome and import them on a Mac

The short answer

You're moving off Chrome, or you just want your passwords somewhere other than your Google account, and there's no button that sends them straight across. Chrome can save every password to one CSV file. Apple's Passwords app and Crest both read that file. Export the file and import it, then delete it, because it holds every password in plain text.

Step 1: export your passwords from Chrome

1. In Chrome, open the menu (the three dots at the top right) and choose Passwords and autofill, then Google Password Manager.
2. Click Settings in the sidebar.
3. Next to Export passwords, click Download file.
4. Type your Mac's login password when macOS asks, then save the file. Put it somewhere you'll find it, like the Desktop.

The file is a CSV with a header row: name, url, username, password and note. Passkeys are not in it, so any site where you use a passkey still needs one made on the new side.

Step 2, the built-in way: import into Apple Passwords

• macOS 15 and later: open the Passwords app and choose File > Import Passwords, then pick the CSV.
• macOS 14: passwords live in Safari. In Safari, choose File > Import From > Passwords CSV File, then pick the CSV.

Apple Passwords then fills in Safari, and on your iPhone too when iCloud Keychain is on.

Step 2 with Crest: import into Crest Passwords

We built Passwords into Crest, our notch app for the Mac, so signing in happens from the notch: the login, then its two-factor code, with Touch ID. Crest has no Chrome button, because it reads any CSV with a website, a username and a password, and Chrome's file is one of those.

1. Open Passwords in the notch and press Import passwords. You can also use Settings > Passwords > Import. The first time, Crest walks you through a short setup (sign in, Touch ID and a recovery key), then takes you back to the import.
2. Crest asks Where are your passwords now? Pick Another app. Its steps name Chrome's path for you: Google Password Manager > Settings > Export passwords.
3. Drop the CSV on the pane, or press Choose file. Crest reads it on your Mac, checks for repeats, encrypts every login on the Mac, syncs them end to end encrypted to your account, and checks for weak and reused passwords. Each stage shows its real count as it goes.
4. Crest names any row it sets aside, and why: a row with no website or no password, for example.
5. Last, Crest says Now delete the file, it holds every password in plain text, and offers Move to Trash. Empty the Trash after.

The file never leaves your Mac. Only the encrypted logins sync, to your other Macs and to Crest for iPhone (in public beta), and Crest can't see inside them.

Why people bring them to Crest

On a sign-in page in Safari, the notch offers the login. You approve with Touch ID and Crest fills it in, and when the next page wants a two-factor code, the notch offers that too, so you never open a second app for it. Your codes live in the same place as your passwords.

Crest also keeps an eye on what you brought over. Watch lists the logins worth changing, most urgent first: ones found in a known breach, then reused, weak, or unchanged for 3 years since Crest saved them. The breach check sends only the first 5 characters of a hash of each password, never the password. There's more on Crest Passwords, and every setting is in the Passwords guide.

After the move

Chrome keeps its own copy until you remove it. If you want Chrome to stop offering to save new passwords, turn off Offer to save passwords in Google Password Manager > Settings. Then check that the CSV is gone from the Desktop, the Downloads folder and the Trash.

Keep reading: Send large files from a Mac · A WeTransfer alternative for Mac · Send files from a Mac to Windows or Android · Encrypted cloud storage for Mac · A Dropbox alternative for Mac · A password manager for Mac · Authenticator app for Mac · Best authenticator apps for Mac · Everything Crest does