macOS Sonoma brings iCloud Password extension to third-party browsers

AppleInsider

macOS Sonoma saw the release of its first public beta recently, and along with it, Apple is bringing its password manager feature to third-party web browsers.


Apple Passwords

Apple wants to make it easy to manage passwords, and not just within its own software and apps. For example, in 2021 the company launched an official iCloud Passwords extension for Google's Chrome on Windows, broadening the availability of iCloud Keychain.

Apple also has the same extension available for Microsoft's Edge on Windows as well. It's all very easy to use.

And that effort is broadening even more with the future launch of macOS Sonoma later this year. The first public beta of macOS Sonoma brings with it the ability for users to add the iCloud Passwords extension to Chrome on Mac.

The feature was announced during WWDC week, but a member of the passwords team at Apple highlighted the feature again now that the public betas are out.

macOS Sonoma brings Apple's password manager to Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and other browsers using their extensions stores with the "iCloud Passwords" browser extension.

If you're running the macOS Sonoma public or developer beta, you can try it right now! [1/n] pic.twitter.com/stkbQqFtfx

-- Ricky Mondello (@rmondello)

July 12, 2023

Mondello notes that support for additional extension stores is present, meaning the iCloud Passwords extension should work for web browsers like Edge on Mac in the future, just like on Windows.

The iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome on Mac is available in the latest developer beta for macOS Sonoma as well.

With this extension, it goes beyond simply storing passwords. It supports auto-filling passwords on websites while using web browsers and also the ability to autofill one-time codes. Users can right-click on a QR code to set up code generation, and it also supports saving new passwords.

And, of course, these saved passwords are available in iCloud, meaning they'll be available on your Apple-branded products.

This isn't the only work Apple is doing to help smooth over using passwords. macOS Sonoma makes it much easier to share passwords and usernames right from within Safari, so family and friends get right to the information without any additional clicks on the user's part.

macOS Sonoma is expected to launch in the fall of 2023.

Read on AppleInsider

filemakerfeller

More and more competition for password managers. Third parties are going to have an even harder time; it's hard to win against "comes with the platform" plus "no added cost."

xyzzy-xxx

Too bad Apple decided to do this with extensions. Apple already has a mechanism (Password AutoFill) that allows to fill in passwords.
Apple should have opened Password AutoFill to third party browsers, this would allow to fill in iCloud Keychain passwords and in addition to that any password manager supporting Password AutoFill would also be compatible!

xyzzy-xxx

FileMakerFeller said:

More and more competition for password managers. Third parties are going to have an even harder time; it's hard to win against "comes with the platform" plus "no added cost."

There are many people who don't like their passwords to be stored in iCloud (even if it's encrypted, which may not the case in the future in GB ...).

dewme

FileMakerFeller said:

More and more competition for password managers. Third parties are going to have an even harder time; it's hard to win against "comes with the platform" plus "no added cost."

Yes indeed. If this product category follows what we’ve seen with other product categories like office productivity apps, ebook readers, PDF viewers and annotation tools, etc., the best third party apps like 1Password will survive but fewer new startups will jump into the competitive fray for the product category that Apple decides to bundle into the OS. It’s unlikely an all-or-nothing outcome.

The other thing to think about is that, in the case of software, higher availability is usually aided by having diversity of implementation between redundant functionality. This is one reason why I always have more than one web browser installed on every internet connected device I own. The less commonality between the redundant implementations the better. On iOS and iPadOS it’s not (yet) as easy to achieve diversity because of the underlying browser engine commonality. But even in those cases the unique configuration of each browser powered by the same engine can differ quite significantly, e.g., built-in content blockers and filters, which very often allows one web browser to work for me while another one simply won’t.

chasm

FileMakerFeller said:

More and more competition for password managers. Third parties are going to have an even harder time; it's hard to win against "comes with the platform" plus "no added cost."

I think 1Password (the only alternative pw manage even worth considering) is going to be just fine. Too many people have cross-platform households, with a mix of iPhones, Androids, Macs and PCs.

This forthcoming change to allow the simplified Safari-style Keychain to work in other browsers is another great help, but Keychain isn’t truly cross platform and doesn’t support family vaults either, so at least for the foreseeable, 1Password is the best solution for folks in that situation.

For us dedicated Apple-only households, this will make Keychain just about perfect.