Apple may improve its password manager, iCloud Keychain with iOS 14

Apple’s iCloud Keychain, for now, simply saves your password and autofills it when required. The feature may soon support 2FA security layer or give you reminders to change the passwords.

Apple’s iCloud Keychain, for now, simply saves your password and autofills it when required. The feature may soon support 2FA security layer or give you reminders to change the passwords. (Apple)

It looks like Apple is planning to turn its iCloud Keychain password protection feature into something that makes it a direct competitor of popular rivals like 1Password and LastPass. The password manager by Apple is expected to get an overhaul later this year as a part of iOS 14 and get some new features, as per an early build obtained by 9to5Mac.

It has been added that Apple's iCloud Keychain, for now, simply saves your password and autofills it when required, saving the time to manually copy and paste long passwords between apps. The feature doesn't support 2FA security layer or gives you reminders to change the passwords, both of which are there in apps like 1Password and LastPass. With iOS 14, the iCoud Keychain could get both of these features.

The report states that it is not concrete if Apple will have its own password authenticator like Google's Authy but it will sure remove users' reliance on less secure 2FA ways of SMS or emails. Also, it will cut the market of 1Password and LastPass that usually cost users more than $35 on an average.

Talking about upcoming iOS versions, the latest iOS 13.4.5 developer preview has hinted the launch of a new iPhone soon. Although the string of codes in iOS 13.4.5 doesn't mention the name of the smartphone, it does reveal about the CarKey API feature. While CarKey API is not new, for the first time the codes mention that the feature will work with an iPhone that has TouchID installed. This is said to be the upcoming iPhone 9 or iPhone SE 2.