Apple’s latest software update for iPhones, iOS 18, arrives today and includes a new app: Passwords. For the first time, Apple is taking advantage of the phone’s ability to save login details and putting them into a standalone app. It could help improve the terrible passwords of millions of people.
After years of being told that you should create unique, strong passwords for every website and app you use, you probably fall into one of two groups: people who are fully subscribed to the password manager life, or those who still use “123456” for every other website.
Apple’s new encrypted Passwords app is automatically included in iOS 18, and is a public evolution of its Keychain and password-saving capabilities. Keychain, which has been around for more than a decade, no longer has a prominent place in the iPhone’s settings, and details that were previously stored there are being moved to the new app.
The launch of the password management app, which will also be available on macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18, may help improve people’s relationship with their passwords, but it could also, to varying degrees, challenge existing password managers.
“This move makes the app more visible to regular users and informs them about this secure method of storing and managing passwords,” said Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk of the security firm. Misco“You have a default password manager preinstalled on your device (that) provides end-to-end encryption when syncing data between devices.”
New passwords
The Passwords app has a fairly basic layout. When you open the app on an iPhone, you’re presented with six different boxes: All, Passcodes, Codes, Wi-Fi, Security, and Deleted. These are essentially the app’s core functions, allowing you to save each type of data to its corresponding sections. The Security section includes checks that allow you to identify weak and exposed passwords.
“This will undoubtedly increase the adoption of this pre-installed app and strengthen user security,” Bakry and Mysk say, adding that it presents saved data “in a more organized way than the Settings app.”
Apple says the Passwords app uses end-to-end encryption to store your data, meaning no one, not even Apple, knows what you’ve stored. Within the app, you can search for login details for your entries and set up groups to share passwords with others.
Your saved login details are synced across all your Apple devices using iCloud, which means that encrypted data is shared with Apple’s cloud servers and is available on all your Apple devices. You can disable password syncing on a specific device in Apple settings. The app is locked using Face ID.
When using the Passwords app, any data you’ve previously saved to Keychain or AutoFill will be moved to the new location. This includes if you’ve used the app Sign in with Apple Sign In Password system on any website or app. It’s not clear why Apple has decided to turn its Keychain system into a full-fledged password manager, though the company has been developing the individual features over the course of several years. (Apple has not responded to WIRED’s request for comment as of this writing.)
