Apple Passwords Review: Free and simple password manager

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When Apple launched iOS 18, the updated iteration of the software came with an entirely new password manager app called, simply, Passwords. So, how does it compare to the existing iCloud Keychain and does it have enough features to have Password Managers like Dashlane and 1Password looking over their shoulders? 

What Apple’s Passwords app does (and doesn’t) do

• Auto-fill passwords
• Supports Passkeys
• Can share passwords with family members

Apple’s Passwords app works helps with basic functions most of us rely on. It stores and fills login passwords, Wi-Fi passwords, 2FA codes, and passkeys. It warns you of easy-to-guess passwords, reused passwords, and passwords that appeared in major data breaches. It’s also relatively easy to securely share passwords with others. Apple also provides its own suggested passwords for new signups.

With the app up and running, you’re able to have it auto-fill account login details, saving you the hassle when you want to quickly go to an online store and order something. The app supports biometrics, so Face ID and Touch ID can be used instead of having to type in a password for the app. 

Apple’s Passwords not only handles login details for online accounts, it also can become home for your Wi-Fi passwords, Passkeys and verification codes. Unlike most of the major password manager apps, Passwords doesn’t hold your payments details or other forms of secure documentation such as drivers’ licence or passport information, plus there is no storage space for personal documents you want to keep safe. (Read about how to add your driving license or ID to the Wallet app).

It doesn’t give you much in the way of other features–stored credit card and identification info to autofill in forms, secure document storage or notes, and so on. Apple has other apps that do those things in encrypted ways. If you use other platforms and browsers, they’re not easily available.

You can set up a family sharing feature to securely allow other members of your family to receive and use passwords and passkeys from your accounts. This is helpful if you’ve been asked for the Netflix login by your children for the 17th time. If you want this feature outside the family, then Shared Groups offers the same capabilities, with you creating a list of trusted contacts, each of whom can share passwords and passkeys with others in the group. This could be useful for a trip with friends or if several of you are organising an event. 

Security & Encryption

• 256-bit AES end-to-end encryption
• Security warnings
• Automatic Verification codes

As you’d expect, the security on the Passwords apps is solid, with 256-bit AES encryption deployed end-to-end, so no hackers should be able to sneak a peek at your login details at any time. 

There’s also the standard security monitoring area in the app that warns you if any of your passwords have appeared in data leaks or are weak and could do with being replaced by stronger alternatives. Apple’s new app does have a password generator, which can instantly auto-generate strong ones for you to use, plus you have a few configuration options such as making ones with no special characters, but this only works on supported websites. It’s simple to use, but a bit basic when compared to the likes of Dashlane and 1Password. 

The security section is also on the simple side, with none of the graphical representations you’ll find on other apps. This makes it more list-based, which is less interesting and engaging than with some of its rivals. 

One useful feature you can use in Passwords is to use it as an authenticator for one-time multi-factor authentication sites and accounts. With this set up, you can use your iPhone to generate the codes without needed SMS texts or other apps. 

Moving to Apple Passwords

If you already have account details and passwords in your iCloud Keychain, then these should appear in the Passwords app once you’ve logged in and given permission. It might seem like Apple is replacing iCloud Keychain with the new Passwords app, but the two will happily co-exist, with the latter being how your details sync across all your devices. The Passwords app itself is essentially a user interface for iCloud Keychain, and as such it’s clean and friendly to use. So, if you’ve yet to get to grips with an app of this kind then it could be an excellent first step. 

It’s slightly more complicated to import data from an existing password manager app. This involves creating a .CSV file and then using the import feature to pull it in. Getting passwords out of 1Password was easy enough. 1Password export passwords to CSV format and the Passwords app quickly imported them. It dealt with the duplicates well enough, and only a handful of passwords didn’t import. Dealing with those duplicates was more annoying and ended up having to add some manually.

We also grabbed the iCloud Passwords extension for autofill to work with Chrome (there’s also an Edge extension but no Firefox estension) and installed the iCloud app on a Windows machine to sync passwords there (Apple provides no password management on Windows, but the passwords sync to the browser extensions through the Windows iCloud app). This process took an afternoon and then we spent a few days cleaning up the occasional bad URL or duplicated password.

If you’re thinking of switching to save the fee for your password manager, expect it to take a little time.

Price & Availability

As with iCloud Keychain, Passwords is a free service that comes with any iPhone running iOS 18, or devices on iPadOS 18 or macOS Sequoia. One thing to bear in mind is that this isn’t a cross platform service, so if you have an Android phone or tablet, Linux PC, or Chromebook then you won’t be able to use Passwords. There is compatibility via iCloud for Windows, but it isn’t as clean and well designed as you’d find with a standard password manager.  

The Passwords app is available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS and also works with Apple Vision Pro, so you can have your details to hand on all of your devices. 

Should you use Apple Passwords? 

If you’re looking for a basic, easy to use password manager, and only really intend it to work with Apple devices, then Passwords is certainly worth a go. The lack of features does make it less appealing that the leading passwords managers, but its simplicity means it would be a great first step into using this kind of app. Security is decent, there’s no cost in using it, plus it’s already on your device. 

To see what it’s up against, take a look at our roundup of the best password managers for Mac and iPhone.

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