iOS password manager - family IT support

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mdf

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#289825 1-Oct-2021 12:51

Hoping someone can provide a recommendation for iOS password management. I am the default family IT support, but am Team Android so don't have any first hand experience of iOS and its particular requirements. I use LastPass for password management, which works really well overall on Android, but perhaps I am doing something wrong because it seems to be suboptimal on iOS.

Essentially looking for secure (i.e. long and random) password generation and ideally auto-filling in apps and websites. iPhone is the primary use case, but obviously highly advantageous if it would also work on an iPad and perhaps - if I am lucky - a Windows PC (happy to install Safari on that if necessary). Ease of use / lack of confusion mandatory requirement. Happy to pay to get that.

I'm not sure if there is a difference, but iCloud Passwords and iCloud Keychain seems to tick all the boxes. Dashlane also seems to come highly recommended for iOS use cases.

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#2787639 1-Oct-2021 12:54

1password is generally the de facto mac/ios recommendation

Otherwise there's bitwarden if you're just using the iOS app, the bitwarden browser extension is average in terms of UX, the development pace is extremely slow and they take forever to accept pull requests to add UX improvements.

I guess that's what you get for $10/year and/or free if you host your own bitwarden instance.

eracode

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#2787641 1-Oct-2021 13:00

I'm no expert but have used the Apple PW system on iOS, iPadOS and Mac for years and it works well - syncs across platforms via iCloud. Includes face-recognition on mobiles and touch recognition on MacBook. Long, random, complex PWs are generated but you can easily use your own if you wish. It alerts you if the same PW has been used more than once - but doesn't prevent you from doing that. Free.

Where apps are well set-up to use it, it's brilliant. Eg When I tap to open the BNZ Mobile app on iPad or iPhone, it automatically goes to face-recognition then straight into the open app, with no further ado. Maybe other PW managers do that too, I don't know - but it's great.

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Sounddude

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#2787650 1-Oct-2021 13:30

I use LastPass on my iphone. Its now allows itself to be embedded into the OS so you can defaullt it, rather than using the Safari built in password manager.

michaelmurfy

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#2787651 1-Oct-2021 13:31

Bitwarden here. I find it way better than Lastpass personally too (and cheaper).

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boosacnoodle

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#2787652 1-Oct-2021 13:33

Just use the built-in one?

davidcole

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#2787657 1-Oct-2021 14:02

Without having to think about it too much (for support) the built in one is probably quite good. To transition in, easiest way is normally log in to site via safari (eg go to tvnz.co.nz and log in to the site, when it asks if you want to save password then agree to it). When they then load the tvnz app, that saved password should then be available. On all of their icloud connected devices.

It's built in, doesn't cost anything. The only thing you're giving up is that they are stored in the cloud.

Else you're up for something like keepasium which costs about $20 a year, and having to get them to save it somewhere (icloud?, dropbox, or nextcloud) but they have to go through the steps to manually save it there.

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#2787658 1-Oct-2021 14:04

mdf:

Dashlane also seems to come highly recommended for iOS use cases.

Ive used quite a few managers over many years and dashlane has by far been the most polished out of them all, works flawlessly on ios and supports replacing the built ios password manager i.e logging into apps etc

Comes with a vpn which is neat :)

but in saying that, the built in ios password manager works great too, not sure how/if it works cross platform if you needed it on windows though?

alasta

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#2787661 1-Oct-2021 14:20

I have always just used the iCloud keychain and it works great for me. Admittedly I'm not a power user but it sounds like your family members aren't either.

My only complaint is getting it to generate and store a password when you create a new account somewhere. It works fine when creating a new account on a web site via Safari, but it doesn't seem to provide any intervention when creating a new account on a third party app. Hopefully that might have been fixed on the latest iOS.

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#2787733 1-Oct-2021 16:15

Bitwarden here. Clean and simple to use on all your devices and FREE.

I used to be a long time lastpass user but I wasn't interested when they upped the price.. as in, not free 😅

danielparker

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#2787742 1-Oct-2021 16:43

If you were to use 1Password.. here's a 50% off for the first year for Family - https://1password.com/affiliate/promo/families/?c=SWITCH50

(I dont get anything from the above.. and have no connection to the company except as a user.. Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, IOS and Android)

Daniel

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#2787744 1-Oct-2021 16:49

I have no issues using LastPass on iOS, works perfectly. What exactly is sub-optimal for you?

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#2787934 2-Oct-2021 00:52

I moved from LastPass to BitWarden when LastPass started charging for multiple devices.

I previously used 1Password on Mac and Ios and it was really nice, but a little costly.

BitWarden seems okay

eracode

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#2787938 2-Oct-2021 01:43

What features do the third-party apps have that the Apple built-in app doesn’t have?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

davidcole

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#2787948 2-Oct-2021 07:13

eracode:

What features do the third-party apps have that the Apple built-in app doesn’t have?

probably access to passwords on a pc. But o do see with the windows iCloud a passwords option now. Needs windows hello to work.

bp1000

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#2792722 10-Oct-2021 15:05

I used KeePass on my Windows laptop to setup a shared password DB. The DB is stored on a cloud drive, and then KeePassium is used on iPhones and iPads to access and update the DB, as well as ongoing use and updates on the laptop.

It all works really well and free too.

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