Unveiling APPLE's Latest Vault: Can the New Passwords App Outshine Traditional Managers?

For the modern individual, whose entire lifespan is recorded online and whose secrets are too often lurking in the digital space, protecting our keys is essential. APPLE’s new Passwords app is another step along the road of improving cybersecurity – but the announcement raises the exciting question for the password manager space: is this the beginning of the end?

APPLE's Fresh Take on Password Management

With the addition of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, APPLE now sits at the intersection of a previously empty Venn diagram: cybersecurity providers. The long-awaited Passwords app comes out of the shadows of the venerable (and generally built-in) Keychain utility, and is positioned to carry the flag of convenience for handling your digital credentials. But are we finally ready to stop paying for password managers?

The Layout: A Breath of Fresh Air

It opens with a default page that emulates the design of the Reminders app – simplicity, minimalism, ease of use. The capacity to save all sorts of pre-defined functions opens up many possibilities for reinventing the design Passwords contains categories – All, Passkeys, Codes, Wi-Fi, Security, and Deleted – that not only make it easy to organise the saved credentials, but also allow you to keep track of passkeys, passcodes, saved Wi-Fi logins, and alerts on password breaches, in addition to your regular saved passwords.

The APPLE Ecosystem: Seamless yet Exclusive

APPLE’s Passwords app has the added benefit of storing the credentials on any other signed-in APPLE device. The ecosystem frees you from having to be seated at your laptop to manage your password vault, assuming, of course, that you carry your phone in your pocket and have a desktop or laptop with iCloud for Windows, which allows access to iCloud features on Windows. Android users and people in mixed-device households are left with no browser or Android support, an example of tilting the playing field toward their own ecosystem.

The Paid Password Managers: A Tough Act to Follow

Although the new APPLE password manager imitates some of the features of paid services such as 1Password, it grants access to only the most rudimentary capabilities. Sure, most users don’t need a password-storage service to be more than a basic vault. But 1Password offers much more than simple password storage: you can generate two-factor authentication codes and fill in forms automatically. Its paid competitors can even allow you to synchronise notes securely, save documents, and integrate across browsers. Compared with the depth of functionality offered by paid services, APPLE’s free app can seem downright dinky.

Is APPLE's Passwords the Future?

It turns out, however, that if you peel back the neat skin of APPLE’s Passwords app, you’ll see that it’s the perfect place for the password-management novice to begin. Its ease of use and its deep integration into APPLE’s user experience make it hard to resist for many, even to the fully indoctrinated APPLE user.

But for 1Password or some other ‘power user’ who needs all the bells and whistles that come with the service, leaving Passwords and using APPLE’s freebie is less appealing. It’s really up to the individual in terms of needs, wants and the devices they use at home or work.

What Lies Ahead for APPLE's Passwords App?

By launching the Passwords app, APPLE has also acknowledged its willingness to continue pushing itself and its users towards greater security – and hopefully, eventually, more privacy. How much will APPLE tweak this tiny app to make it meet more needs? Is it possible that one day APPLE might roll it out more fully and compete with a paid password manager? I have faith.

Discovering the Core of APPLE's Innovation

What powers these innovations is APPLE’s fidelity to user experience, and their devotion to building functional, elegant products. The iPod made music lighter and more accessible. The iPhone made the smartphone inevitable. The Passwords app aiming to make online security lighter, more accessible and easier to manage than ever before. We can certainly count on APPLE to pull it off.

The Passwords app will be either an end in itself, or a beginning – the first step for users dipping a toe into digital-security waters, before moving to an app like 1Password. But for those using macOS 13 Ventura on their Macs or iPhones, the Passwords app might be just the next step in how users keep track of their digital keys. As for APPLE, there isn’t likely to be a long pause in its march forward. It will keep charging into the future with the same mission statement it made years ago: ‘We exist to challenge the status quo because we believe in a better life through innovation.’ And innovation will continue to be shaped by its commitment to the privacy of its users.