Apple Passwords 2024

WWDC this year brought an actual Passwords app from Apple for iOS and Mac. Two years ago, I moved temporarily from 1Password to Apple Keychain.

Previously, on brookshelley.com

With the announcement of 1Password 8 and its move to Electron, along with iOS 15 bringing a Safari password service capable of creating two-factor passwords, it seems like the perfect time to try moving back to the keychain.

Seven years later, and a number of funding rounds for 1Password means they’re catering to enterprise users more explicitly, which isn’t much solace as an individual user. I don’t doubt 1Password will continue to be an excellent app for some time to come, but I wanted to see if I could keep it exclusively for work

I moved back to 1Password due to a few remaining conflicts and frustration with the autofill and missing keyboard shortcuts for keychain, but two years later, 1Password is working less-often, and with more friction and Apple just Sherlocked it.

Sure, it might not have every feature, like Secure Notes, and credit cards, but it’s possible to keep those in Notes and Safari Autofill instead. I get the sense this time around my experiment will stick, since Passkeys are also more prevalent and equally supported in Apple Passwords.

2024 New Try

When it comes to software, I always prefer to use less apps that cover more surface area, with my main apps of Slack, iA Writer, Reeder, and Messages staying consistent year over year. Not every Apple app is enough for my purposes (see Apple Podcasts, Notes, and Weather), but lately they’ve done a much better job of focusing on the consumer use case and leaving the specialist tools to 3rd party apps.