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Apple passwords deserve an app

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Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#21
post #4

I tried going all-in on using iCloud Keychain (correct term?) for my passwords from having previously used LastPass. In short. 1. The experience on Windows is terrible. They can claim it's cross-platform but it's truly a sub-par product. 2. On Mac it's tied specifically to Safari. I use Safari a lot but if I'm in a different browser then my passwords are unavailable. 3. The GUI is buried in System Settings. Heaven fo…

Agree on most of this but Keychain Access IS a standalone app on the mac so slightly confused about the comment about it being buried in System settings. Its still a pain to go to the app and copy a password for non-Safari browsers though.

I just do cmd+space -> type "pass" -> Return -> fingerprint. That gets me to my iCloud Keychain. I used to use Keychain Access but like the UI of the Passwords tab of Settings more.

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#22
post #17
post #4

I tried going all-in on using iCloud Keychain (correct term?) for my passwords from having previously used LastPass. In short. 1. The experience on Windows is terrible. They can claim it's cross-platform but it's truly a sub-par product. 2. On Mac it's tied specifically to Safari. I use Safari a lot but if I'm in a different browser then my passwords are unavailable. 3. The GUI is buried in System Settings. Heaven fo…

There seems to be a Google Chrome extension called "iCloud Passwords" but it only has two stars, so I don't think you'll be positively surprised. Also, on iPhone it's ok-ish but on Mac the experience is a subpar too: Keychain, the app you use to view your passwords, feels like a 90s Visual Basic application. Plus you can't organize your accounts, and even if you prefix them to "sort by name", the special name you giv…

+1 to subpar on Mac. iPhone is about the only surface where its seamless/smooth. The rest leaves me constantly frustrated.

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#24
post #4

I tried going all-in on using iCloud Keychain (correct term?) for my passwords from having previously used LastPass. In short. 1. The experience on Windows is terrible. They can claim it's cross-platform but it's truly a sub-par product. 2. On Mac it's tied specifically to Safari. I use Safari a lot but if I'm in a different browser then my passwords are unavailable. 3. The GUI is buried in System Settings. Heaven fo…

Sounds like vendor lockin is the aim here, not being fully cross-platform without any hassle.

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#25
post #4

I tried going all-in on using iCloud Keychain (correct term?) for my passwords from having previously used LastPass. In short. 1. The experience on Windows is terrible. They can claim it's cross-platform but it's truly a sub-par product. 2. On Mac it's tied specifically to Safari. I use Safari a lot but if I'm in a different browser then my passwords are unavailable. 3. The GUI is buried in System Settings. Heaven fo…

Apple makes a iCloud Passwords chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/icloud-passwords/p...

Maybe this was it...IIRC the user must also have iCloud For Windows installed? It's been several months since I tried this setup. For my personal user experience it was unacceptable.

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#26
While we're on the subject, other Apple things that deserve an app:

Dashboard/status

- I have a smart lock, and they have their own app, where all it really does is show the current status of the lock and let me toggle it. There are quite a few apps like this. It'd be nice if they could all be condensed into a dashboard/status app that could just tweak values and show current status. Apple Home attempts to do some of this.

Notifications

- It'd be nice if there was a notifications app, and I could set most of my apps to deliver their notifications to that app, instead of me directly. This would reduce notification overload and distraction.

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#27
post #4

I tried going all-in on using iCloud Keychain (correct term?) for my passwords from having previously used LastPass. In short. 1. The experience on Windows is terrible. They can claim it's cross-platform but it's truly a sub-par product. 2. On Mac it's tied specifically to Safari. I use Safari a lot but if I'm in a different browser then my passwords are unavailable. 3. The GUI is buried in System Settings. Heaven fo…

Funny situation, there's another thread I was replying to someone who wanted to shift back to native apps instead of cross plat electron apps (for performance reasons).

Well, Apple Passwords on Windows is a good example of how that turns out in reality. I believe it's using WinUI. While the performance is nice, the experience is entirely unlike what you get on Mac and winds up making you wish you were using another service entirely.

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#29
It took effort but I finally got my dad to use 1Password regularly, but my mom would be a lot easier to convince if Apple just made its own password tools easier to use, especially cross-platform, including maybe putting a nice app face on it.

> PPS: I dream of a future where Passkeys could make the password manager extinct. But it’ll take time…

Passkeys even more so need more of a "curated app experience" to work right, cross platform. Ironically, it is my impression that preparing for Passkeys is why Apple finally added that password explorer to Windows' weird iCloud "control panel". (For a long time, the only way to use iCloud passwords on Windows was the awful Edge/Chrome integration.)

Re: Apple passwords deserve an app

#30
internally, apple used to have a pretty big 1Password contract - https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/07/10/apple-looking-to-...

Maybe they don’t want to promote their own too heavily, to allow 1Password to take on the organizational risk of running a password manager? (For context, think about your current view of lastpass vs how you felt about it a year before their leak). Maybe the internal password management functionality is better suited to orgs which restrict third party apps?

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