This needs to be multiplatform for it to be a viable option for the more tech inclined. I run all three major desktop operating systems plus iOS, so I use Bitwarden
My approach has been to move all of the critical secrets out of the vendor device and embed it in a keyboard. It then works with anything that accepts a keyboard.. I'll be releasing this as open source (hardware & software) soon:
Sadly, proly not till next year. I'm funding this myself and hardware is hard. Embedding it into a case has a whole lotta mechanical engineering challenges as well.
The desktop and tablet version will be released this year though.
Yeah, I miss the real physical keyboards. I started with the Palm Treo smart phone in 2001 and stuck with Palm till they died. Better even than blackberry keyboards.
It is available across the two major desktop operating systems, but you'd have to read the article to find that out.
> The Passwords app is free to download, available across iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and MacOS 15, and will also work with the Vision Pro and Windows computers, says Apple.
No Linux or Android, which makes it useless for anybody having any devices running those. And since nobody wants to use two password managers, it remains a better solution to use a truly multi-platform one.
The Android one puzzles me a bit. We were Android + Mac for a very long time, more than a decade. I've switched to iOS over the last few years, but my wife remains a dedicated Android user. I don't really want to switch from BitWarden, but if I did Passwords would be a non-starter for us because of this.
I suppose that Apple really considers the iPhone to be the center of its customer's lives, with a Mac or Windows computer... rather than my view, of my computer being the center and my phone tertiary.
I think you might have it the wrong way round, and that you're a good example of why they do it.
You actually care about your computer, and if software isn't available for your OS then you're unlikely to ever switch OS to use it.
But you could be persuaded to move to iPhone, and maybe if enough new Apple services (which aren't available on Android) tempt your wife then she might make her next phone an iPhone, too?
Apple cares more about persuading people to switch from Android to iPhone than about Windows to Mac. But I also suspect there are many more Windows+iPhone people than Mac+Android.
Linux isn't even relevant in this context with it's <1% DWM install base. Android, yes you have a point, though a Mac and Android is a strange combination.
What's strange in it? I've been using macs and android phones for over a decade. And a lot of tech savvy people do the same. Macbooks have been a solid dev platform for a while, and do not really require any mobile platform preference.
> though a Mac and Android is a strange combination.
Probably so, but there is one demographic well represented here that does this routinely: Developers. Macs are the default and often mandatory computers issued to developers at tech companies (I strongly disagree with this approach and think employees should get the platform they are most comfortable on, but Macs only is the current state of things in most places).
So many use Macs because of work, but have Android phones due to reasons I won't articulate here, mostly due to time but also with the audience on this article I expect it would melt down into an argument about which flavor of ice cream is better (metaphorically, not literally). Suffice it to say, Android users would agree with the reasons, Apple users will say you shouldn't be doing those things anyway, and we'll have to agree to disagree.
For me it's pragmatic; MacBooks are or have been the best laptops, and Android phones have been the best value for money while also being less locked down. IPhones are just really expensive luxury devices imo. My phone will probably break for some reason out of my control within a few years of getting it, or it'll become outdated, so I want to get the best hardware + software combination I can for around ~$400USD
I don't see how that could possibly be true objectively, it's my impression that neither platform has any intrinsic hardware qualities that allow it to last longer, but with a Pixel I do have more control over how long I can keep it running if it doesn't succumb to irreparable physical damage.
Anecdotally, it's also my subtle impression that iPhone users are more inclined to update frequently regardless of how much longevity they could get out of it. I just buy my phone and keep it operational for as long as possible, only buying another if my current one is physically inoperable, and I feel like I'd get to that point more quickly with an iPhone, since parts are more expensive and not as readily available.
Main thing is iPhones get security updates for about 8 years. My iPhone 6S is still fine. Pixel in particular will now get 7 years, but this wasn't the case in the past. Random other Android phones don't have good support, and even third-party repairs might be harder.
That's a fair point, and the 6s is a great piece of hardware imo. I just find it frustrating that after security updates stop for my mac, I can definitely keep using software that's always worked on it, supposing I have the executable and any third-party backend services are still running. On my old iPad 3, since the App Store is the central software distributor, more and more apps have been pulled off of it at the discretion of the publisher. It was never really that useful of a device to begin with, but to use the same software, I'd need to buy a new piece of hardware, despite new iPads offering practically nothing substantial in terms of added value (for me) since mine came out. They're nice I guess, but not hundreds or thousands of dollars nice when I likely wouldn't use them for anything different.
The existence of a port does not guarantee future support of a port. Safari used to run on Windows. They're also somewhat notorious for trash quality Windows ports.
Unless Apple treats every major OS as a first class citizen for this password management app, this becomes another form of ecosystem/vendor lock-in. Have all your passwords securely stored in our app? Thinking about buying an Android phone? Think again.
Of the major tech companies, Apple probably has the worst track record of not playing nice with other platforms, walled gardens and all. Passwords are needed on all platforms. Apple would be the last company I would trust to ensure that I would be able to access my passwords anywhere I may need them.
I actually read the article and didn't see this at first. It's mentioned at the very bottom, right above the "featured stuff" and unrelated article below it, and after a lot of text about what Passwords does that Keychain already did.
I've found it easier to use Keychain as my "master database" and selectively copy passwords as needed into whatever browsers on non-Apple devices, granted it's not super often. Also, often I can directly use my phone to authenticate another device (passkeys, TOTP, or custom solutions).
