Passwords is a password manager application developed by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

available for devices running

iOS 18 iOS 18 is the eighteenth and current major release of Apple's iOS operating system for the iPhone. It was announced on June 10, 2024, at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It was made publicly available on September 16, 2024, as ...

iPadOS 18 iPadOS 18 is the sixth and current major release of Apple's iPadOS operating system for the iPad. It was revealed at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It is the direct successor to iPadOS 17 and was announced alongside iOS 18 ...

macOS Sequoia macOS Sequoia (version 15) is the twenty-first and current major release of Apple Inc., Apple's macOS operating system, the successor to macOS Sonoma. It was announced at Worldwide Developers Conference#2024, WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024. In li ...

, and

visionOS 2 visionOS is a mixed reality operating system derived primarily from iPadOS and its core frameworks (including UIKit, SwiftUI, ARKit and RealityKit), and MR-specific frameworks for foveated rendering and real-time interaction. It was developed b ...

or higher.

Features

The app allows users to store and access encrypted account information saved to their

iCloud Keychain iCloud is the personal cloud service of Apple Inc. Launched on October 12, 2011, iCloud enables users to store and sync data across devices, including Apple Mail, Apple Calendar, Apple Photos, Apple Notes, contacts, settings, backups, and fi ...

or created via

Sign in with Apple Sign in with Apple is a single sign-on provider operated by Apple Inc., introduced on June 3, 2019, at Apple's 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in iOS 13. Usage It is designed to allow users to create accounts for third-party serv ...

. Passwords can also be accessed through the iCloud for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

program. Users can choose to manually enter new account details into the app, requiring a label or website name alongside the associated username and password. Additional notes can also be attached to an account for further details; however, users are unable to add their own data fields. Accounts created through Sign in with Apple will be automatically registered into the app and will display their proxy e-mail address if iCloud's "Hide My Email" feature is used. When entering a new account into the keychain, the app will also provide a strong password suggestion composed of random numbers and letters. All details are encrypted and stored on a user's iCloud account via Keychain, allowing Passwords to be synced and used across devices. AutoFill allows details stored in the app to be automatically entered into a website or application for quick and simple account login. Alongside standard passwords, the program supports the use of passkeys and

multi-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; two-factor authentication, or 2FA) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting two or more distinct types of evidence ...

security codes and will provide users with security recommendations if their passwords are easily guessable or found in a data breach. Accounts can also be added to shared groups to grant access to friends and family. Passwords will also store the details of any connected

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

networks and can generate a QR code that can be scanned to connect another device to the same network.

History

Apple first developed their

Keychain A keychain () (also keyring) is a small ring or chain of metal to which several keys, or fobs can be attached. The terms keyring and keychain are often used interchangeably to mean both the individual ring, or a combined unit of a ring and fob ...

password management system as a component of their now-discontinued

PowerTalk Apple Open Collaboration Environment (AOCE) is a collection of messaging-related technologies introduced for the Classic Mac OS in the early 1990s. It includes the PowerTalk mail engine, which is the primary client-side interface to the system, th ...

e-mail system. The concept was eventually revived and directly integrated into the operating system with Mac OS 8.6, allowing for the secure storage of several types of sensitive data. At WWDC 2013, Apple unveiled iCloud Keychain, which introduced the encrypted storage of account details over iCloud. This allowed for logins to be synced across Mac devices and introduced other notable features including AutoFill and generating suggested passwords upon sign-up. A simplified version of Keychain has also been included in

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

since its initial release, with password storage previously accessible only through the Settings app. Password AutoFill was first integrated into the operating system with the release of

iOS 11 iOS 11 is the iOS version history, eleventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., Apple, being the successor to iOS 10. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2017, and w ...

, later being expanded into an API for third-party password managers. The application was announced on June 10, 2024, by

Craig Federighi Craig Federighi (born May 27, 1969) is an Apple engineer and business executive who is the senior vice president (SVP) of software engineering at Apple Inc. He oversees the development of Apple's operating systems. His teams are responsible for ...

WWDC 2024 The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...

, and shipped with

and

on September 16, 2024.

References

{{iOS 2024 software Apple Inc. software Password managers IOS software IPadOS software MacOS software