Apple Introduces Standalone 'Passwords' App

[Mr. Heckles]

Why do people talk like this?

1Password is a phenomenal piece of software and a good company

I agree. Why would anyone want all their passwords tied to their Apple ID? I said this in another post how my daughter was locked out of apple ID:

Here is my issue with Apple Keychain and now their password app. Someone tried to get into my oldest daughter’s iCloud account. They didn’t get in, but Apple locked her account for security reasons and it took 4 days for her to prove it’s her, and to get in.

Her Apple stuff was useless at this time. When she unlocked her iPhone, she get getting pop ups and couldn’t use it. She had to use an old iPhone and just made a new Apple ID to use temporary. She downloaded her 3rd party password manager, logged in, and she was back in business under a different Apple ID.

If she didn’t use a 3rd party password manager, she would have been screwed. 4 days without accessing your password and your accounts can be very bad, especially if you needed to pay stuff.

 

[jtdx99]

Finally don't have to go into settings or open my iPhone to view my passwords, I've been waiting for this.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

I’ll check it out but I have been happy with 1Password. I don’t like having everything tied to one company. It’s why I stopped using my iCloud email and made my own domain.

Same here. I can get locked out of my Apple ID and have access to my passwords and email.

Looking forward to this. BUT what happens if you move from ios to Android? Do you lose all your passwords?

Another reason why I will stick with a 3rd party password manager.

 

[MakaniKai]

All y’all thinking you’re going to Apple PW and avoiding a subscription….

Careful with the long term assumptions there

Apple is a wagon firmly hitched to services revenue growth.

All I could really guess they'd charge for is the cloud storage, and passwords are tiny text files that take up practically no space. They already sync all kinds of data across devices for free, so it'd be pointless to charge for the sync capability. I really don't see any way they'll actually monetize this except additional new features locked behind some kind of premium thing.

 

[Mr Staunton]

I've been using BitWarden, I must admit that I'm a little excited to try out the Apple Passwords App. Hopefully they haven't over thought it.

 

[dave070]

Finally I can get rid of the AWFUL 1Password app.

Seriously, what have they done to earn the forced monthly subscription + cloud service on me?

They rewrote the app like 3 times (because of their failures from the CTO) and added passkey support. That deserves $250 from me? And it's STILL BUGGY AS HELL?

I'm not one to celebrate sherlocking an app, but 1Password deserves to rot into the ground.

Really? 1Password has been one of the most useful apps over the last decade plus I've used on the Mac. I recommend it to everyone.

Sure, Apple will make it free now with their app but 1Password is still a very useful app.

 

[tcatsninfan]

I see a lot of people talking about 1Password, for better or worse, but what about Bitwarden? I was a 1Password customer for years until they switched to the subscription model. Now I've been using BW for maybe 2 years and like it a lot. It isn't as polished as 1Password, but it has all the basics, the free version has all the features you'd want, and it's open source.

As others have pointed out, it's dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket so to speak. Convenient for sure, but if you ever get locked out of your account--even when it isn't your fault--you're going to have a big problem on your hands.

 

[raythompsontn]

Hopefully they haven't over thought it.

Based on my limited trial, I will be keeping Bitwarden.

 

[WannaGoMac]

I wonder if you can export your passwords as icloud keychain wouldnt let you...

 

[thebroz]

Will this let me store software licenses? If not, what would be a solution (not 1Password) for managing software licenses / keys that lets me keep a local library and back it up myself?

You can password protect notes and folders in notes. I've tried to ditch 1Password once, putting software licenses in Notes, but gave up as it was a kinda tedious process. I'll probably try it again, and ditch 1PW.

 

[Lioness~]

Ah well, I’m not gonna rush this......security is important.
I store a lot more then just passwords in 1P.
But if Apple’s is as good as 1P, skipping a subscription doesn’t hurt at all.

 

[bassjunky]

This will be nice if it works well. I have a Family account for 1Password, and for the love of all I cannot get my wife and two daughters to use it, even as I insist on a password management app. Hopefully this will work for them, and hopefully I can share all my passwords with them in case I die all of a sudden. Any idea if this will be possibe?

 

[krebphone]

I wonder if you can export your passwords as icloud keychain wouldnt let you...

You can just go into settings and export them all as a CSV file right now, maybe you missed it.

 

[SpotOnT]

Important question. Does this new password app forcibly sync to the cloud or do you have an option to keep ALL passwords on a device ONLY?

You probably will be able to keep them on device only. You can do that now anyway and Insee no reason for Apple to change that.

 

[macduke]

I am so excited for this! I’m tired of having to pay an arm and a leg for 1Password family. So glad they’re Sherlocking this. Really adds value to iCloud as well.

Now I want them to Sherlock the Paste app. I bought that app outright and then they changed to subscription and bricked my existing functionality! Then I have to pay $10/yr for “updates” which they haven’t really added anything. It’s a simple pasteboard, but it looks nice and has straightforward UX. Apple could do better, just like they did with the new window snap functionality. One less app I need to background on my Mac!

 

[oldtime]

Bitwarden is beyond amazing. Almost nothing Apple can do to make me migrate away from it.

 

[withoutwax]

be curious how it works for other browsers. if there's not a chrome extension, on a system level?

Curious about this too - using Arc browser, would be best if they provide some kind of extension (though I doubt it will happen)

 

[kc9hzn]

The one thing that's been missing for me so far is the ability to store 'non-account' things, like passport numbers or software licenses, which you can do on things like 1Password. Does this allow that?

I’ve never seen it on iOS and haven’t used it on macOS in a while, so it may not be there, but macOS Keychain used to have secure notes as an option (no idea if it still does or how they show up on iOS). I used to use it for things like WiFi router passwords, for instance.

 

[kc9hzn]

Curious about this too - using Arc browser, would be best if they provide some kind of extension (though I doubt it will happen)

On macOS and iOS, there are system APIs the browsers should be using. On Windows, there’s a Chrome extension that SHOULD work with just about any Chromium based browser, to the best of my knowledge. I’d assume there’s also a Firefox extension, but I’m not sure.

 

[tothemoonsands]

1Password allows you to export to CSV, will Passwords.app do the same? Does this replace Keychain.app entirely or are both synced together? (Since you can export from Keychain.app)

 

[Apple_Robert]

1Password allows you to export to CSV, will Passwords.app do the same? Does this replace Keychain.app entirely or are both synced together? (Since you can export from Keychain.app)

You can already export your passwords with CSV. Since the app will use Keychain, there is no reason that the export option would not be offered.

 

[txscott]

I keep hearing people asking if they can put things like notes and software licenses, even pictures in the password manager. This is not windows where OneNote is not secure. Apple Notes, with Advanced Data Protection enabled is just as secure as the password manager. You don't need to put your stuff in the password manager because that's the only place with end to end encryption, zero knowledge encryption. Notes and even plain old files on One Drive have that same level of encryption.

 

[kc9hzn]

I keep hearing people asking if they can put things like notes and software licenses, even pictures in the password manager. This is not windows where OneNote is not secure. Apple Notes, with Advanced Data Protection enabled is just as secure as the password manager. You don't need to put your stuff in the password manager because that's the only place with end to end encryption, zero knowledge encryption. Notes and even plain old files on One Drive have that same level of encryption.

To be fair, anyone with access to your unlocked phone could access your Notes and therefore your passwords/secure notes. iOS18 does address that, though, with its new ability to lock access to apps through FaceID/TouchID (just at the cost of always needing to use FaceID whenever you want to access anything in Notes).

 

[Abazigal]

I think 1Password has just been Sherlock’d.

You all make it sound like it's such a dirty word.

Yes, from the perspective of the developer, it's never fun or a cause for celebration to see your business model get cannibalised by another company. We are talking about the livelihood of an entire company and their employees here.

On the other hand, given Apple's massive user base, there is a lot of room to benefit a ton of people from bringing a feature which was previously a paid third party app, and making it free and preinstalling it on a billion iOS devices later this year. Especially with Apple's ability to integrate their apps and services on a system level, and possibly iron out potential pain points that users were having wth the original app (just think of how much better AirTags were compared to Tile trackers).

I feel like with 1password, the writing has been on the wall for some time now. I have stuck with the app even as they moved to a subscription model and shifted to electron and even their unreliable safari extension that I ultimately turned off because there didn't seem like a viable alternative for me (at least 1password doesn't seem to have been embroiled in any security-related fiasco yet?). I don't know how true the claims of them prioritising enterprise customers more really are, but I think it's about time for a change, and news of this upcoming Passwords app couldn't come soon enough for me.

 

[Apple_Robert]

To be fair, anyone with access to your unlocked phone could access your Notes and therefore your passwords/secure notes. iOS18 does address that, though, with its new ability to lock access to apps through FaceID/TouchID (just at the cost of always needing to use FaceID whenever you want to access anything in Notes).

If you password protect a Notes file, a family member or friend using your phone still wouldn't have access to said document.