How to Fix Keychain Access Denied for System Apps in macOS Sequoia 15.x
Symptom: System apps like Mail or FaceTime repeatedly prompt for the login keychain password, but returning the correct password results in an "Access Denied" error.
TL;DR fix
Start with Fix 1: Repair Keychain Permissions via Terminal. If the issue persists after that, try Fix 2: Reset the Local Items Keychain. Full Terminal commands and step-by-step instructions are in each section below.
Why this happens
A permission mismatch in the ~/Library/Keychains folder prevents Sequoia from verifying the security token of the calling system process.
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Fix 1: Repair Keychain Permissions via Terminal
- Open Terminal.
- Ensure your user account owns the keychain directory:
sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/Library/Keychains
- Restart your Mac.
Fix 2: Reset the Local Items Keychain
- In Finder, go to
~/Library/Keychains/. - Find the folder with a long name (UUID).
- Move it to the Trash and restart immediately.