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Encryption Security IOS Privacy Apple

Apple Introduces Standalone 'Passwords' App (macrumors.com) 39

An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia feature a new, dedicated Passwords app for faster access to important credentials. The Passwords app replaces iCloud Keychain, which is currently only accessible via a menu in Settings. Now, passwords are available directly via a standalone app for markedly quicker access, bringing it more in line with rival services. The Passwords app consolidates various credentials, including passwords, passkeys, and Wi-Fi passwords, into a single, easily accessible location. Users can filter and sort their accounts based on various criteria, such as recently created accounts, credential type, or membership in shared groups.

Passwords is also compatible with Windows via the iCloud for Windows app, extending its utility to users who operate across different platforms. The developer beta versions of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia are available today with official release to the public scheduled for the fall, providing an early look at the Passwords app.

Apple Introduces Standalone 'Passwords' App

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  • by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 ) on Monday June 10, 2024 @06:48PM (#64539425)
    Sure, let me abandon my trusty old accessible-via-ssh from-anywhere system where I run the simple Unix app pass [passwordstore.org] to store my passwords and instead trust big tech / Apple. What could possibly go wrong?
    • Sure, let me abandon my trusty old accessible-via-ssh from-anywhere system where I run the simple Unix app pass [passwordstore.org] to store my passwords and instead trust big tech / Apple. What could possibly go wrong?

      Your average Apple user has no idea what SSH is. They certainly don't know anything about authorized keys, port knocking, or fail2ban so if they did somehow manage to set up SSH and forward the necessary ports through their home router, they'd probably have it "secured" with an idiotic password like '1234' and their system would be part of a botnet in less than 24 hours.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Your average Apple user has no idea what SSH is

        That's because your average Apple user clings desperately to the ideology that if SSH were something worth knowing Apple would have already told them about it when they spent thousands of dollars on their Apple gear--because they're better than you.

        • by Shakrai ( 717556 )

          ssh is installed by default on macOS and accessible from terminal, which is more than you can say for Windows.

          • Well, newer installs of windows seem to have ssh client installed as default.

          • ssh is installed by default on macOS and accessible from terminal, which is more than you can say for Windows.

            And can be enabled (as "Remote Login") through the GUI in System Preferences (now Settings). This has been true since OS X 10.0, and continues to this day.

            https://support.apple.com/guid... [apple.com]

            No need to touch Terminal for basic ssh. There are some more Options using CLI Incantations; but basic ssh Access can be enabled in a couple of Clicks entirely in the macOS GUI.

        • Your average Apple user doesnâ(TM)t know SSH, just like your average Windows, Linux or Android user, because there is no need for it.

          And how long does it take you to create and use a twenty character password? On this very site, I will tap on "log in to post", tap that I want the password from my browser, look at the phone for a second, and there is my username and password. How long with SSH?
          • I'm logged into to my shell-host most of the time. So, it takes as long as typing "pass show thething". So, uhm, not very fucking long.
      • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        Your average Apple user has no idea what SSH is. They certainly don't know anything about authorized keys, port knocking, or fail2ban so if they did somehow manage to set up SSH and forward the necessary ports through their home router, they'd probably have it "secured" with an idiotic password like '1234' and their system would be part of a botnet in less than 24 hours.

        Hahah. The joke's on you. My password is app1e.

      • Your average computer user has no idea what SSH is.

        Fixed that for you.

        Also, I love your tech buzzword bingo. fail2ban? How quaint.

        • You didn't fix anything. The topic is about Apple so limiting my statement to Apple users is on topic, more specific, and thus more accurate.
          • You didn't fix anything.

            Sure did.

            The topic is about Apple so limiting my statement to Apple users is on topic, more specific, and thus more accurate.

            lol, what?
            Being overspecific does not make you more accurate.

            "Your average New Yorker has no idea what SSH is". This is accurate, but highly incomplete. It arguable targets New Yorkers, relying on the ignorance of the reader to think that New Yorkers have some kind of deficit in this area. This is how political spin operates.
            "Your average person has no idea what SSH is". This is accurate, and complete.

            You were trying to be smug, while throwing around some buzz words that make me think you're

      • Isnâ(TM)t the average android user the same? Itâ(TM)s not like the average phone user in general knows ssh or pass, no matter the platform or brand.
    • Sure, let me abandon my trusty old accessible-via-ssh from-anywhere system where I run the simple Unix app pass [passwordstore.org] to store my passwords and instead trust big tech / Apple. What could possibly go wrong?

      How could someone be so clueless about what people want from a password manager?

      • Sure, let me abandon my trusty old accessible-via-ssh from-anywhere system where I run the simple Unix app pass [passwordstore.org] to store my passwords and instead trust big tech / Apple. What could possibly go wrong?

        How could someone be so clueless about what people want from a password manager?

        But but but I'm a nerd who knows some shit that 99.9999% of the population couldn't care less about!!!

      • Because I don't give a flying fuck what "people" want and just want my own needs met ? Not everyone wants a slick GUI.
    • Pass is not a particularly secure password manager, and has quite significant security flaws under certain usage conditions. I would not recommend using it.
      • by pacinpm ( 631330 )

        Pass is not a particularly secure password manager, and has quite significant security flaws under certain usage conditions. I would not recommend using it.

        Could you elaborate? I discovered Pass thanks to this topic discussion and it looks tempting.

    • Call it a hunch, but you may not be the average user of password storage applications, and if I may, perhaps not the target for this one.

      Further,
      I don't know the guy, or have anything against him, but that [zx2c4.com] is a pretty fucking elementary security mistake.
    • you know, as much as I agree with you design wise, using pass over ssh is just clunky.

    • Sure, let me abandon my trusty old accessible-via-ssh from-anywhere system where I run the simple Unix app pass [passwordstore.org] to store my passwords and instead trust big tech / Apple. What could possibly go wrong?

      Pass has significant security issues (or so I'm told); but if you insist:

      https://github.com/adur1990/Pa... [github.com]

    • by cob666 ( 656740 )

      Sure, let me abandon my trusty old accessible-via-ssh from-anywhere system where I run the simple Unix app pass [passwordstore.org] to store my passwords and instead trust big tech / Apple. What could possibly go wrong?

      My primary issue with the 'new' password app is that it's just a minimal bolt on UI to the existing iCloud KeyChain. There doesn't appear to be any way to add custom fields so I highly doubt that people that are currently using a third party password manager are going to switch over to the apple app and lose functionality. However, users that don't use an existing manager and are using Chrome or KeyChain through the Settings app, those are the ones that will most likely use the new app.

    • 1) You do know that Apple has had this feature since 1999, right? The main difference is it was/is part of Settings. Now they made it a standalone app. I guess the main reason is the Settings UI is limited as to what widgets can be used so making it an app expands the UI possibilities. 2) No one is forcing you to use it.
      • I didn't say they were forcing me. I'm just saying the GUI Password tool isn't attractive because I've already got this problem licked. I'm also not a MacOS user, I'm a NetBSD user.
        • Again, you have already expressed no desire to use it and you will not use the hardware. And? Your complaints are like an Xbox fan screeching how they will never use a PlayStation feature. They were never going to buy a PlayStation regardless.
  • Passwords are not "currently only accessible via a menu in Settings". Today, they're still available in the Keychain app (even the ones that Settings puts there, if you wade through the relatively new metadata entries that it creates), and some things are still only accessible from there. But there's a lot of stuff in Keychain that regular users should probably not fiddle with, so the relatively new Passwords section in Settings has been great, if somewhat limited. And I don't miss Keychain's knack of de
    • Weirdly, though, this new password app doesn't seem to support secure notes - which Keychain has offered for 15-20 years!

      I'll be sticking with Bitwarden anyway, so I it doesn't particularly matter to me... but it just seems weird to drop a basic feature like that.

      • Yes, in the past, I resorted to Keychain's secure notes when Keychain deleted my password comments. I used them for things like recovery info Q&A. But then, it was an extra step to get to them, and they're still not available on an iPhone. Today's Passwords in Settings at least resolves my main use case, but like you, I still use secure notes for other things.
        • by Shakrai ( 717556 )

          The main Notes app now offers end to end encryption if you enable Advanced Data Protection so there's not really a use case for Secure Notes any longer.

          • Don't be stupid.
            Just because you feel a particular use case is handled by something else differently, does not mean that someone else's use case is.
            Secure Notes allows you to add notes to the credential in question. The Notes app does no such thing.
    • I think you are talking about the Mac. The line you are quoting is about iOS. The passwords item in settings has been there for many iOS versions, and there is no âkeychainâ(TM) app on iOS.

  • ... it will be encrypted and not available to authorities ... right ... are you sure... anyway...
  • Glad to see apple is creating what everyone else has had for 10years.
    • Apple has had it for years. The main difference is this app is now standalone and the functionality is not exclusively in Settings anymore.
  • I have been using the keychain for many years now to sync usernames and password between devices and it was a slight annoyance when I had to look at the passwords manually via the settings menu.

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