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The problem with iCloud Keychain is....

V

virtuosity

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2008
98
1
Manchester, UK
it doesn't work within apps!!

So I register on an EasyJet site, my Safari browser suggests a super strong password. Perfect.

I then launch my EasyJet app, it tells me to log back in as my password has changed, and then I have to open Keychain on my Mac again, find the EasyJet entry, right click it, open info, type in my secure OS X Password, click the Show Password button, then spend 10 minutes manually typing in this ridiculously long and secure password into my EasyJet app - all while on the move!!

This is the same for all my other airline apps, for Facebook, for Twitter, for LinkedIn and so on...

Very disappointing - they clearly didn't think about this use case when developing and testing it...

Nice idea Apple, but unless you're going to extend Keychain into iOS apps, then it's almost unworkable / too unwieldily.
 
virtuosity said:
Nice idea Apple, but unless you're going to extend Keychain into iOS apps, then it's almost unworkable / too unwieldily.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say unworkable, as it works with apples built-in apps, but you have definitely brought up an idea for improvement.
 
According to Apples own FAQ on iCloud Keychain, it is available to app developers. So they just need to update their apps...

I take your point, though...
 
I agree that iCloud Keychain is a big mess. I cannot imagine a simple user actually understanding it to its full extent.
 
Aucun Express said:
I agree that iCloud Keychain is a big mess. I cannot imagine a simple user actually understanding it to its full extent.
Click to expand...

Anytime I try to log into anything online I get told that they have requested my password not get stored...So much for that.
 
Fission said:
Can't without setting lock for phone, which i hate
Click to expand...

Was not aware of that. Personally, I think that's a good thing. Seems dangerous to want to enable such a feature without setting a password lock on the phone. Imagine absolutely anyone having access to all your accounts you've saved passwords for.
 
Syndicate0017 said:
Was not aware of that. Personally, I think that's a good thing. Seems dangerous to want to enable such a feature without setting a password lock on the phone. Imagine absolutely anyone having access to all your accounts you've saved passwords for.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that we would have another way to use the cloud keychain... Like we could enter a really easy password instead Nord-Trondelag in the something
 
Fission said:
I was under the impression that we would have another way to use the cloud keychain... Like we could enter a really easy password instead Nord-Trondelag in the something
Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but even a simple 4 digit unlock code should be sufficient to use the feature. You can even change it to not require it immediately. My data on my phone is more sensitive so I have mine set to 5 minutes. Data on my iPad is less sensitive so I have a 15 minute timeout. Certainly shouldn't be overly cumbersome to do that if the feature is important to you.
 
Syndicate0017 said:
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but even a simple 4 digit unlock code should be sufficient to use the feature. You can even change it to not require it immediately. My data on my phone is more sensitive so I have mine set to 5 minutes. Data on my iPad is less sensitive so I have a 15 minute timeout. Certainly shouldn't be overly cumbersome to do that if the feature is important to you.
Click to expand...

I just looked at what I typed...I was using dictation and had no idea autocorrect typed all that garbage at the end...
 
You can go to Settings - Safari - Passwords & Autofill - Saved Passwords, then you can copy passwords from there into apps, so long as you have stored the passwords by using the web login first.

This is entirely workable for me, but what it is really missing for me is some way to backup my iCloud keychain. It's pretty easy to accidentally delete or change a password you didn't intend to.
 
Ahonen said:
This is entirely workable for me, but what it is really missing for me is some way to backup my iCloud keychain. It's pretty easy to accidentally delete or change a password you didn't intend to.
Click to expand...

How so? When going into Settings > Safari > AutoFill to view a password, they aren't immediately editable.

However, on the Mac, there is some sort of database in ~/Library/Keychains/ and I assume that's the iCloud Keychain database that you could theoretically back up.
 
No problems here at all with Keychain. Works as advertised for me on both my Mac and syncing with my idevices.

Once developers start adding in support in their apps, it will become even better.
 
Tzuten said:
No problems here at all with Keychain. Works as advertised for me on both my Mac and syncing with my idevices.

Once developers start adding in support in their apps, it will become even better.
Click to expand...

Yep. Works like a champ for me. What's the problem?

I set it up to auto-fill even if websites request not. On iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air, all my passwords fill in on their websites just fine. Sure, it doesn't yet work on third party apps, but that's understandable up front. Apple will take a while to let Keychain work in the wild on Safari before releasing the API to other devs, making sure it isn't misused in a way that compromises user security. Or, they may keep it to themselves to ensure that our passwords don't end up where they shouldn't. I'd rather have it work in Safari and nowhere else than not at all, or in a way that risks user security.
 
I think like this and so many other threads people are quick to damn or dismiss a feature when it doesn't work as they would envision or just lack of understanding. So without any research they quickly load up a site to complain to the world. We can get into the most self entitled generation but that's a whole other ball of wax.

The API for this feature already exists I believe it's just a matter of app devs allowing it. Some will never, like banking institutions, but that's fine. I can still use it as a repository in safari settings to copy and paste it into apps and wallah.
 
Here's my problem: how do I "force" a website to remember my password? On my Mac and iPhone sometimes I am not even prompted to remember my password. Or another scenario is that I am prompted for Safari to generate a password for me, but I can't use that because it's for an account I already have a password for. So when I type my actual password in, I am still not prompted.

Edit: I do have "Allow Autofill even for websites that request passwords not be saved" on both my Mac and iPhone.
 
iCloud Keychain implementation with Adobe Air application.

Hi,

I will be thankful to you, if someone can please let me know the way of implementing iCloud Keychain with an Adobe Air application for iPad.
I have a requirement where I need to store user's IAP details, user email and password details on iCloud so that if user installs our app on some other IOS device then he can get all those details there.

Please help.
 
iCloud Keychain is an extremely obtuse implementation of a centralised password organiser. When it was announced, I thought the 1Password people would be shivering in their boots. Seeing it in action, though, makes me realise that 1Password is not at all under threat! For one thing, iCloud Keychain seems only to work within Apple apps and is essentially the exact same thing as keychain has always been, except that the keychain data is stored in the cloud rather than locally. So, essentially, this service is great for Safari, but not much else. Even in the case of Safari, I've found it of limited utility. It does not automatically fill in blank fields even after the information is saved to it. With 1Password, I can hit a hot-key and immediately insert my login details and issue the 'Go' command. iCloud Keychain, if it even functions, feels much more restrictive. It's also relatively pointless on the iPhone, because most common sites have apps making login via browser a moot point. I'm certainly not bemoaning my 1Password purchase now, despite how expensive it is. Still haven't worked myself up to spending £12.99 for the iPhone/iPad app yet, though...
 
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