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iCloud Keychain - Improvments

MacOG728893

MacOG728893

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
1,716
114
Orange County CA
As with every generation of iOS release, we expect improvements, whether small or big, something is going to change.

What I was hoping for in my personal wish list was improvements to iCloud Keychain within iOS 8. While I use and love keychain everyday, I feel it's lacking in some areas.

Somethings I would like to see improved:
- Implement a GUI, something similar to 1 Password
- Possibly a standalone app
- Touch ID integration
- More options for password algorithms
- Better functionality across all devices
- iCloud.com access

Does anyone know if anything's change or is this simply wishful thinking?
 
While improvements are always a nice present to be given, the truth for me is that even if they never changed iCloud Keychain at all I would be perfectly content with it just the way it is.

Anything else that comes along the way is just gravy.
 
I use both, iCloud Keychain and 1Password. iCloud Keychain is great, but 1Password is worth the money. I don't see Apple adding much to Keychain tbh.
 
nestafaria said:
What is the benefit to using both?
Click to expand...

1Password allows you to store more detail, multiple login info. Also can store software license keys, social security numbers, basically any type of info you want to. That said, I'm to the point where I can almost exclusively use iCloud Keychain so I agree that I wish they would come out with a method to easily view your stored credentials (Keychain app or somethign like that)
 
bgro said:
1Password allows you to store more detail, multiple login info. Also can store software license keys, social security numbers, basically any type of info you want to. That said, I'm to the point where I can almost exclusively use iCloud Keychain so I agree that I wish they would come out with a method to easily view your stored credentials (Keychain app or somethign like that)
Click to expand...

I find myself in the same situation, if only more developers were to use the Keychain APIs for logins inside their apps then I'd go 100% iCloud Keychain. As of now though, I'm still on the fence.
 
pmontanarella said:
I find myself in the same situation, if only more developers were to use the Keychain APIs for logins inside their apps then I'd go 100% iCloud Keychain. As of now though, I'm still on the fence.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure apps will be taken care of through Touch ID going forward hopefully putting an end to having to remember your password for apps.
 
bgro said:
Pretty sure apps will be taken care of through Touch ID going forward hopefully putting an end to having to remember your password for apps.
Click to expand...

Yeah but hopefully we'll be able to first configure them entering passwords and logins through iCloud Keychain. While it is very important to use randomly generated passwords for better security, it's a hassle when setting up new apps to have to go into iOS settings to find the password in iCloud Keychain, copy it and paste into the app. If the apps were to use an API to autofill the login using the iCloud Keychain data it would be much easier!
 
nestafaria said:
What is the benefit to using both?
Click to expand...

bgro said:
1Password allows you to store more detail, multiple login info. Also can store software license keys, social security numbers, basically any type of info you want to. That said, I'm to the point where I can almost exclusively use iCloud Keychain so I agree that I wish they would come out with a method to easily view your stored credentials (Keychain app or somethign like that)
Click to expand...

I do the same thing too. I just use iCloud Keychain just so I don't have to type the password all the time.
I said this before. 1Password is a password manager, and let's you store a lot more info and organizing things a lot better too. In a password manager, the search is 100% better top in finding the info you want. Keychain is just a Keychain, almost like a real Keychain. You can add keys to it, but that's all.
 
pmontanarella said:
I find myself in the same situation, if only more developers were to use the Keychain APIs for logins inside their apps then I'd go 100% iCloud Keychain. As of now though, I'm still on the fence.
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I'm feeling as well. There is some great potential with iCloud keychain that hasn't even been tapped yet. Where can I make a suggestion for this?

bgro said:
Pretty sure apps will be taken care of through Touch ID going forward hopefully putting an end to having to remember your password for apps.
Click to expand...

True, but we'll still need something to manage the passwords and also generate them for touch ID use.
 
While I do have 1Password I also find the simplicity of iCloud Keychain great, but with limitations. For example it would be nice to be able to change the password recipe used - unless I've just missed it - so all the passwords aren't of the same alphanumeric/dash arrangement.

The biggest thing I wish they'd bring in for iCloud Keychain though is an extra security layer. If I hand my iPhone/iPad to a workmate for some reason, I don't like the idea that it's possible they could go to one of the sites I've got a keychain for and be logged in as me.

How hard would it be to have iOS throw up a popup so you've got to put your device unlock code in again to auto fill the login (it's usually only 4 digits so wouldn't be a huge hassle - less so than unlocking 1Password even), and if you don't it just leaves it blank?

As for apps and keychain I'm sure I've heard a podcast in this last week where it was stated that apps will have the ability to access the keychain of their associated site. For example, the eBay app would have some code added to identify itself as linked to the eBay site keychain login and the user would get an iOS "do you want to allow xxxx to access your keychain" prompt and that would be that. Wish I could remember which podcast, there's so many of them :rolleyes:

Just remembered: I'm sure it was The iOS Show (formerly We Have Communicators) ep 212. Dave Hamilton of TMO and Mac Geek Gab was on and I'm sure it him that was on about this
 
Last edited:
Keychain is great, it has made life so much more straightforward. It's also smart from Apple as it encourages you to stay within the eco-system. I'm sure they can make some improvements and obviously I'm keen they make sure it remains secure but I'm happy with how it is.
 
MacOG728893 said:
That's exactly how I'm feeling as well. There is some great potential with iCloud keychain that hasn't even been tapped yet. Where can I make a suggestion for this?



True, but we'll still need something to manage the passwords and also generate them for touch ID use.
Click to expand...

My understanding is an API already exists (Apple documents). So I guess that you should send suggestions directly to developers. I'm really surprised it hasn't been used yet.

----------
GrumpyTrucker said:
The biggest thing I wish they'd bring in for iCloud Keychain though is an extra security layer. If I hand my iPhone/iPad to a workmate for some reason, I don't like the idea that it's possible they could go to one of the sites I've got a keychain for and be logged in as me.
Click to expand...

I completely agree!
 
nnacrumors said:
While improvements are always a nice present to be given, the truth for me is that even if they never changed iCloud Keychain at all I would be perfectly content with it just the way it is.

Anything else that comes along the way is just gravy.
Click to expand...

My big issue is that it's only safari passwords. Most things are done via apps these days.

I don't need it to be it's own app. A settings panel is fine with me. But it would be nice if they would expand it to more than safari. And Touch ID options wouldn't be bad either but I don't see them as necessary for most apps.
 
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