Step-by-step tutorial where you see how to set a different password for the user than the one of iCloud on OS X. (Yosemite, El Capitan or earlier).
When installing OS X (Yosemite, El Capitan), Apple suggests that for the system user we use the password of iCloud. User account password. This is a good thing on the one hand, because the password of iCloud must contain at least 8 characters, an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, numbers and a symbol / special character like "@#!?". However, if you want to stop using your account password iCloud for login on Mac, you can set a password for the user other than the one of iCloud.
It's a strong, hard-to-guess password for anyone who wants to gain unauthorized access to our Mac data. The less nice part is that every time we turn on the Mac, every time it goes into the sleep or the screen is locked (screensaver mode), we will have to enter the password. We waste little time entering a strong password of at least 8 characters, no matter how accustomed we are to typing it.
If when installing the system we chose to use the password of iCloud for our account on OS X, we can very easily change this and choose a separate password from iCloud.
How can you set a different password for the user than the one of iCloud on OS X
1. You open System Preferences (click on the logo Apple) then go to settings “Users & Groups".
2. In the "Users & Groups" settings, choose the "Change Password..." option next to your user.
3. At this step, you are offered two options to choose the password for the system. You can choose to change your account password iCloud or you can set a different password for the user than the one of iCloud on OS X.
You choose to set another password for authentication on the system (Use Separate Password...), then in the box that opens you first enter your account password iCloud, then the new password twice to log in to your MacBook or Mac. You can also enter a phrase that gives you clues about the password you choose.
Related: How to view saved passwords in Safari on macOS
Thus, you can set a different password for the user on OS X than the one of iCloud. You can choose simpler passwords, composed of a single character, but the recommendation is to use strong passwords, difficult for other people to guess.