Passwords Becomes a Real App in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18

Passwords Becomes a Real App in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18

Although we’re still fans of 1Password, and there are plenty of other good password managers out there, like BitWarden and Dashlane, Apple has finally removed the last hurdle to using its built-in password management capabilities.

Starting in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and visionOS 2, Passwords is now a real app rather than being trapped inside Safari, System Settings, and Settings. If you have resisted using a password manager or don’t wish to continue subscribing to an alternative, give Apple’s Passwords a try. It makes creating, maintaining, and entering passwords faster, easier, and more secure than doing it by hand. Those already using a password manager can export their accounts and import into Passwords.

What You’ll Find in Passwords

We’ll focus on the Mac version here, but the other versions are nearly identical apart from their screen sizes.

The left-hand sidebar, reminiscent of Reminders, provides categories of accounts:

●     All: Select All to see all your accounts, regardless of what shared group they may be in.

●     Passkeys: If you have any passkeys for large websites like Apple, Google, and others, they’ll appear here.

●     Codes: Passwords can create, store, and enter two-factor authentication codes for sites that support them. If you need to look one up manually because Passwords couldn’t autofill it, you’ll find the associated account here.

●     Wi-Fi: This category contains stored passwords for all the known Wi-Fi networks on your device. Because known Wi-Fi networks aren’t synced between devices, the number of these will vary between your devices.

●     Security: If you have any accounts with weak passwords, accounts you previously shared and stopped sharing, or accounts whose passwords were leaked in a security breach, they’ll appear here. Edit these accounts and click the Change Password button to start the process; when the password changes, they’ll disappear from this category.

●     Deleted: Any accounts you delete stay here for 30 days before being deleted for good. You can delete any of these accounts immediately or restore them to their previous group.

●     Shared Groups: If you use Family Sharing, you automatically get a Family Passwords group to simplify sharing important accounts with your family members. But you can also share accounts with other groups of Apple device owners. To move an account to a group, choose it from the Group pop-up menu.

The middle pane lists the accounts in the selected category. You can sort the list using the menu with vertical arrows, search for a specific account, and manually add a new one with the + button. Otherwise, scroll through the list and click an account to view it in the right-hand pane.

At the top of the right-hand pane is an AirDrop button and an Edit button. Click AirDrop to share an account with someone nearby or Edit to make changes or set up a two-factor verification code. If you want to copy information, click the User Name, Password, Verification Code, or Website item to get a Copy menu. The password becomes visible when you mouse over it. Clicking Website also offers an Open Website option and lets you add more sites where the password should autofill.

Setup Requirements

Most people shouldn’t need to do anything to start using Passwords. However, if you have trouble, check the following items:

●     Turn on Password AutoFill: If your device isn’t entering passwords for you, turn on AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys in Settings/System Settings > General > AutoFill & Passwords. Also, ensure that Passwords is enabled in the AutoFill From section if multiple password managers are installed.

●     Turn on iCloud Keychain: If you want your passwords to sync securely among your devices, which makes life a lot easier, go to Settings/System Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Passwords and turn on Sync This Device.

Set up iCloud Passwords for other browsers:Apart from Safari, Chromium-based Web browsers (Arc, Brave, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc.) can access and autofill your saved passwords if you install Apple’siCloud PasswordsChrome extension. (There’s also now aniCloud Passwordsadd-on for Firefox.) The overall experience is not as seamless as in Safari, requiring a once-per-launch code, and you have to create new accounts in Safari or manually in Passwords, but it works.

Configure settings: Choose Passwords > Settings (or look in Settings > Apps > Passwords for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18) to access options. Generally speaking, it’s fine to keep them all turned on.

If you have additional questions, check Apple’s documentation for detailed instructions for all the platforms on which Passwords runs. But realistically, Passwords is easy to use, and although the app itself is new, the underlying password management features and syncing have been in place for years, so they’re stable and reliable.

(Featured image by iStock.com/designer491)

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Social Media: Apple’s new Passwords app in macOS 15, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and visionOS 2 makes the company’s longstanding password storage and syncing features more straightforward and easy to use. It’s password management for the rest of us!

In iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Control Center Is Now Highly Customizable

In iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, Control Center Is Now Highly Customizable

Control Center has been a part of our iPhone and iPad experience for over a decade, first appearing in iOS 7 in 2013. It provides direct access to important controls so we don’t have to hunt through Settings or apps. On the whole, it has been a welcome addition.

Although Control Center has changed a bit over the years, it provided relatively minimal customization options until iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. Previously, in Settings > Control Center, you could choose which controls appeared and in what order, though a few essential controls always appeared at the top.

With this year’s operating system updates for the iPhone and iPad, Apple decided to give us nearly free rein to personalize Control Center, even allowing us to add multiple pages of controls. While some people will go wild and utterly reimagine what Control Center can do for them, we expect most to employ more modest tweaks that make it slightly easier to use.

Here’s what you can do in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18:

Learn the basics of getting around in Control Center:

●     Open Control Center: Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.

●     Move between Control Center pages: During the initial swipe to open Control Center, keep swiping down to navigate to later Control Center pages, represented by tiny icons on the right side of the screen. Once Control Center is open, swipe up or down anywhere on the screen to move between pages or tap the icons.

Use controls:Tapping an icon in Control Center usually either toggles a setting (like Orientation Lock and Silent Mode) or opens an app (like Magnifier or Wallet). Many display additional options when you touch and hold them (tap the Focus icon to toggle Do Not Disturb; touch and hold it to access more options, each of which offers even more settings). A few controls allow direct manipulation (like Now Playing, Volume, and

Add, organize, and remove items from Control Center:

●     Enter and leave editing mode: Tap the + icon in the upper-left corner, or touch and hold on any empty part of the Control Center screen, much like you enter wiggle mode on the Home Screen. You can swipe between screens in editing mode as well. When you’re done, tap any empty area to leave editing mode.

Add a control:In editing mode, tap Add a Control at the bottom of the screen, search or browse for available controls, and tap the one you want to add to the current screen. Note that many apps now provide controls, vastly increasing the actions available from Control Center.

●     Move a control: Touch and hold a control and drag it to the desired location. While holding the control, drag it to the bottom or top of the screen to move it to a different page.

●     Add a new page: When you’re in editing mode, a new empty page always appears at the bottom. To make it stick around after you exit editing mode, add or move a control to it.

Resize a control:If a control has a curved resize handle on the lower-right corner of its icon, drag that handle to make the control larger or smaller. Most offer only 1-slot, 2-slot, and 4-slot sizes, with the latter two adding the name—we’re partial to the 2-slot size because we have trouble recognizing little icons. (Control Center would benefit from an option to display names under 1-slot icons as it does on the Add a Control screen.) A few controls, notably Now Playing, are more malleable—it offers two 4-slot sizes, an 8-slot size, a 16-slot size, and a full-page 32-slot size.

●     Delete a control: To remove a control, tap the – button in the upper-left corner of the icon.

●     Reset the layout to the default: It’s easy to go overboard and end up with a mad scientist layout. To return to the default set of controls, go to Settings > Control Center > Reset Control Center.

Take advantage of extra Control Center tips and settings:

●     Check privacy status alerts: In the middle of the screen, you may see one or more small icons and an app name ➊. That indicates the app has permission to do things like track your location, use the camera, or record with the mic. Tap that area to see more details.

Power down the device:Touch and hold the power button at the upper-right corner of the screen➋. It’s similar to holding the physical side button and one of the volume buttons for a few seconds, except the physical buttons also provide sliders for viewing your Medical ID and making an Emergency SOS call. Even if you cancel the power-off action, you must enter your passcode to re-enable FaceID.

●     Turn off Control Center access in apps: If you accidentally invoke Control Center in apps because you want to swipe near the top right of the screen, go to Settings > Control Center and turn off Access Within Apps.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed with Control Center’s customization possibilities. There’s no harm in sticking with the default layout, but our initial advice is to think about what you use Control Center for now and make sure those actions are well-represented by icons on the first page. Also, if you have trouble remembering what particular icons do, resize them to the 2-slot size so you can see their names. Later on, you can look through the full list of available controls and add those that seem appealing.

(Featured image by iStock.com/yacobchuk)

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Social Media: The new Control Center in iOS 18 and iPad OS 18 is vastly more customizable and has more options. Our article tells you what’s on offer and how to use it.

Restrict Access to Sensitive Apps in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18

Restrict Access to Sensitive Apps in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18

Do you worry about family members with whom you’re otherwise happy to share your iPhone passcode reading your private diary in a journaling app? Or perhaps you want to keep your child out of apps where they could cause mischief. A new feature in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 lets you use Face ID or Touch ID to restrict access to specific apps, optionally hiding them in the process. Touch and hold the app’s icon on the Home Screen, and tap Require Face/Touch ID. When prompted, either tap Require Face/Touch ID to leave the app’s icon visible on the Home Screen but restrict access or tap Hide and Require Face/Touch ID to restrict access and hide the icon. Protected apps only open after you authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID; hidden apps can be accessed only from the Hidden folder in the App Library after authenticating. (To reach the App Library, swipe left repeatedly on your Home Screen, then scroll to the bottom to find the Hidden folder.)

(Featured image by iStock.com/SasinParaksa)

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Social Media: Keep prying eyes—or mischievous children—out of sensitive or important apps by requiring Face ID or Touch ID access before the app opens. You can also hide such apps so they appear only after you authenticate.