{"id":23725,"date":"2021-06-04T07:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T14:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=23725"},"modified":"2021-06-04T07:19:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T14:19:51","slug":"icloud-keychain-vs-1password","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/icloud-keychain-vs-1password\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do I Need a Password Manager if I Have iCloud Keychain?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ICloud
ICloud Keychain Offers to Save Password<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently in one of our community channels we were chatting about the announcement that 1Password is now available for Linux<\/a>, and someone said that they use iCloud Keychain and that it\u2019s good enough for them. I\u2019ve heard this before, and I never sat down to really outline what a password manager gives you that iCloud Keychain does not.<\/p>\n

I wanted to understand what people are missing if they only rely on iCloud Keychain and there’s no better way to learn than to try to explain it. After listening to my arguments, you may still feel that iCloud Keychain gives you what you need, but maybe you\u2019ll learn something that would be valuable to you in a password manager.<\/p>\n

My recent experience is all with 1Password, but I used to use LastPass years ago. They\u2019re both terrific services and have many of the same features. The names of the functions may be different, but I think if I use 1Password as an example you\u2019ll get the point of the advantage of using a password manager.<\/p>\n

iCloud Keychain<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start by understanding what iCloud Keychain does for you because it really is a terrific service.<\/p>\n

According to Apple\u2019s support article HT204085<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n iCloud Keychain stores credit card numbers and expiration dates\u2014without storing or autofilling the security code\u2014and passwords and usernames, Wi-Fi passwords, Internet accounts, and more.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously, this is the kind of data we want to protect. Apple explains that iCloud protects your information with end-to-end encryption. They protect it in transit and at rest. This is all terrific. Even Apple can\u2019t get to your data.<\/p>\n

However, this data is protected on your device only by your login password\/passcode. How many digits long is your Mac login? Do you have numbers and letters and special characters in it? I have to admit that while my login password is probably better than average, it\u2019s definitely not worthy of protecting my bank login. How about your iPhone\u2019s login password\/passcode? I wouldn’t trust my family jewels to mine!<\/p>\n

Bad actors won’t get to your data stored in iCloud Keychain on the Internet because Apple is protecting it really well, but there’s still a huge vulnerability in your own device passwords.<\/p>\n

Passwords<\/h3>\n
\"iCloud
iCloud Keychain Auto Generated Password<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The weakest link in passwords is us. Humans are not good at thinking up long, complex, random passwords. It\u2019s not our fault, we\u2019re simply not designed to do it. The non-complex passwords we think up are naturally repeated across websites because it\u2019s just too hard to do anything else.<\/p>\n

One of the great things about iCloud Keychain is that it suggests long, complex passwords for you when you first need to create one. If you allow iCloud Keychain to create your passwords and store them, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. And this really is a game of being ahead of the pack.<\/p>\n

The passwords that iCloud Keychain creates are long and complex as I said, but they\u2019re also difficult to type and impossible to remember. They\u2019re a random glop of numbers and letters and special characters. This is normally just fine because the goal is not to try to remember your passwords (you can\u2019t), it\u2019s to trust the systems, either iCloud Keychain or a password manager. Unfortunately, sometimes you do have to type them in and it will be quite the chore if you use iCloud Keychain to create your passwords.<\/p>\n

Syncing<\/h3>\n

The only way that these great passwords will be any help is if they\u2019re always there for you. The fact that iCloud Keychain syncs across your iPhone, Mac, and iPad means that you\u2019ve got them at your fingertips. If you know you can trust that iCloud Keychain will have your passwords when you need them, you\u2019re more likely to let it choose your passwords for you, which is a good thing.<\/p>\n

But what if you have a Mac with an Android phone? Or maybe you\u2019re an iPhone user but you use a Windows PC. iCloud Keychain won\u2019t be there for you. If you don\u2019t have the passwords when you need them, you won\u2019t trust iCloud Keychain and you\u2019ll go back to using less-secure and reused passwords.<\/p>\n

And what about passwords to accounts you share with others? Maybe you and your partner have a shared bank account or credit card; what happens if you have to change the password for some reason? How do you let your partner know? Maybe your memory is perfection itself but the rest of us have about a 50% success rate.<\/p>\n

If something were to happen to you, I would assume that at least one person you love has access to your phone or Mac or iPad. They could log into your accounts because of iCloud Keychain which is great. But how do they know what accounts exist? If you take care of the phone bill, do they know what website to go to? How would they figure that out from iCloud Keychain?<\/p>\n

Password Managers<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s switch gears and compare iCloud Keychain to using a password manager. Like iCloud Keychain, 1Password information is encrypted in transit and at rest with AES 256-bit encryption. If you lose your 1Password login, they simply cannot retrieve it for you (1password.com\/…<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Let’s go through some of the features and advantages you get with 1Password.<\/p>\n

One Long Complex Password<\/h3>\n

I explained that iCloud Keychain protects your passwords with your Mac or iPhone\u2019s login, and it\u2019s highly likely that you have fairly simple passwords on both. With a password manager, you create one wicked long password with numbers and letters and special characters and a goat in it. You make it this complex because it is literally the key to the kingdom.<\/p>\n

You will have to type it in from time to time but in most cases, you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n