It's unexpected to anyone with intuition about how a computer traditionally is supposed to work. As a general principle, as a user, I expect a file on one computer to be usable on another computer. Or, at the very least, if I need to obtain some other thing from the original computer to "unlock" that file, I should be able to do it. The idea of a file that is only usable on a particular computer feels weird.
But that’s not backup restore? I’m thinking Time Machine restore on a new Mac when old one is no longer working. Or when the old one had to be wiped and restored.
It's also unexpected when you send your laptop in for a screen replacement, the tech does an unnecessary logic board swap while he's at it, and your local keychain doesn't work anymore. And then Apple Support will say, hey, we told you you needed to backup your data! Which you did, but that's not the issue.
I've learned to not trust Apple support on anything. My daughter's Watch screen cracked and we sent it in for a replacement. To setup the replacement though, they requried that she unpair then repair the watch then-and-there. They said she wouldn't lose any data, that it just disconnected it from the phone.
Nope, unpairing is a complete reset apparently. And Apple Support was apparently not trained to know that not everything syncs in the backup. She lost all her voice memos, which she uses for class notes, and probably other app data as well.
IIRC there are options for exportable and un-exportable private keys when you make one in the secure enclave. Going to guess Tahoe made them un-exportable by default.
As far as I know, you have never been able to import or export keys from the Secure Enclave. It’s more likely that previously keys were stored in the keychain and now they are generated in the SE by default.
There is no way to export data out of secure enclave. You cannot write arbitrary data to secure enclave, as well as read it out.
What happen though is the ability to encrypt the data with secure enclave, store it on our own. When migrating, we decrypt with secure enclave, get back original data and re-encryp on the new device.
Maybe but this is unexpected if you need to restore from a backup..
It's unexpected to anyone with intuition about how a computer traditionally is supposed to work. As a general principle, as a user, I expect a file on one computer to be usable on another computer. Or, at the very least, if I need to obtain some other thing from the original computer to "unlock" that file, I should be able to do it. The idea of a file that is only usable on a particular computer feels weird.
> As a general principle, as a user, I expect a file on one computer to be usable on another computer.
As a general rule, I expect a file on an encrypted disk to be unreadable for anyone who lacks the encryption key(s).
> if I need to obtain some other thing from the original computer to "unlock" that file, I should be able to do it.
You can export your passwords to a plain text CSV from the original computer.
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I've done Tahoe-to-Tahoe migration assistant moves between machines in recent months. No issues with login keychain migration.
But that’s not backup restore? I’m thinking Time Machine restore on a new Mac when old one is no longer working. Or when the old one had to be wiped and restored.
Migration Assistant uses the old Mac, which can unlock its login keychain and allow the keychain items to be copied.
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It's also unexpected when you send your laptop in for a screen replacement, the tech does an unnecessary logic board swap while he's at it, and your local keychain doesn't work anymore. And then Apple Support will say, hey, we told you you needed to backup your data! Which you did, but that's not the issue.
Use iCloud Keychain or don't use Keychain at all.
I've learned to not trust Apple support on anything. My daughter's Watch screen cracked and we sent it in for a replacement. To setup the replacement though, they requried that she unpair then repair the watch then-and-there. They said she wouldn't lose any data, that it just disconnected it from the phone.
Nope, unpairing is a complete reset apparently. And Apple Support was apparently not trained to know that not everything syncs in the backup. She lost all her voice memos, which she uses for class notes, and probably other app data as well.
Or create a separate keychain db and use that. The encryption is only done for the login keychain.
Don't backup keys, rotate them.
I can't rotate my keys if I lose access to accounts because my computer died and my backup is useless.
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I'm more interested by the fact that it apparently didn't work this way before Tahoe.
IIRC there are options for exportable and un-exportable private keys when you make one in the secure enclave. Going to guess Tahoe made them un-exportable by default.
As far as I know, you have never been able to import or export keys from the Secure Enclave. It’s more likely that previously keys were stored in the keychain and now they are generated in the SE by default.
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There is no way to export data out of secure enclave. You cannot write arbitrary data to secure enclave, as well as read it out.
What happen though is the ability to encrypt the data with secure enclave, store it on our own. When migrating, we decrypt with secure enclave, get back original data and re-encryp on the new device.
> This is pretty much how it's suppose to work...
No, it's not, and that's not how it ever worked in macOS 26.3 and earlier.
This change was introduced in 26.4 for some reason.