Screenshot: Ricky Mondello
For a couple of years, Apple’s had a way to use your iCloud Keychain on Windows. It required a dedicated Windows app and browser extensions, but thanks to all that, you could do something on Windows that you couldn’t do on the Mac, where the feature was exclusive to the Safari browser: autofill passwords from iCloud Keychain on a Chrome browser. But now, starting with macOS Sonoma, Apple is adding support for the same process on the Mac. In fact, if you’re running the public or the developer beta, you can try it out yourself using the iCloud Passwords extension in the Chrome store. (Microsoft Edge support is coming soon.)
And on the Mac, you already have the iCloud Keychain installed and ready-to-go, so all you’ll need is the iCloud Passwords Chrome extension. And yes, it will work even if you’re using a Chrome-based browser like Arc, Sidekick, Opera, and more. Basically, if your browser supports Chrome extensions, it will support iCloud Passwords.
The extension is also quite robust. Once it’s set up, you will be able to to log in to websites using the autofill feature. And mercifully, this will work for two-factor authentication as well. In fact, you can even set up a new two-factor verification code using a QR code right inside the Chrome browser. All the data is saved securely in iCloud Keychain, and will be available on your iPhone and iPad.
This will help plenty of users finally embrace iCloud Keychain as their main password manager. Third-party options like Bitwarden and 1Password had a lot of appeal so far because they worked seamlessly across multiple browsers, and across apps. With the iCloud Passwords extension, the Chrome browser is taken care of. In fact, this is a great time to start embracing iCloud Keychain because the password-less passkeys future is fast approaching, and Apple is at the forefront of securely generating and saving these cryptographic keys in your iCloud Keychain account.
[Mashable, Ricky Mondello]
