# Apple Passwords Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-passwords/ 82 people recommended Apple Passwords in Hacker News comments, 28 had mixed feelings and 73 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 12 months, in 51 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free, built-in password manager with easy biometric autofill; critics cite a barebones feature set and Apple device lock-in. Summary written by Claude from 56 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 54 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Autofill with Face ID or fingerprint (5 comments in the sample): "Apple passwords just work. They integrate nicely with most websites where I can authenticate using biometrics instead of copy-pasting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46940388)) "Having it all in Passwords is better in that regard, since it requires you to use Face ID to open the app." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46515662)) "The user experience is great if you switch to Safari with fingerprint login." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47144226)) - Trusted Apple security team (4 comments in the sample): "I trust Apple’s security team way more than I trust pretty much any other company on this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49549885)) "Apple at least pretends to care about keeping my information in-house." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186001)) "today it doesn't seem significantly worse to just trust Apple with this, than Bitwarden" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48190160)) - Easy shared passwords with family (3 comments in the sample): "I have a "Family" group in my Passwords app where I share passwords and passkeys with family members for exactly this purpose." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010419)) "create a family group and add the shared passwords there so there's a central access to everything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46446856)) "It does everything we need in our household, including shared creds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47141071)) - Windows support now improving (3 comments in the sample): "Apple has released iCloud Passwords which lets you access passwords and passkeys from a Windows computer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008306)) "okayish and getting better Windows app today that works in supported browsers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50094210)) "the Apple password implementation on Windows is actually pretty good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750182)) ## What people warn about - Missing Linux client, limited Windows app (3 comments in the sample): "Password App surely is a good alternative, however i don’t think there are clients for Linux or Windows?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185259)) "My dad didn't like iCloud Passwords because he still uses a Windows laptop and only recently has the iCloud Passwords app been good or all…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50093927)) "I don't think Apple bothered to implement passkey support in their Windows iCloud password implementation yet." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50091151)) - Barebones features compared to dedicated managers (3 comments in the sample): "It works, it's functional, sure. But compared to apps like 1Password it's really, really barebones." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46442283)) "Apple Passwords will store a user/pass combo for a site. That's it, feature list over." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49547150)) "Custom fields and some other special fields aren’t supported in Apple PW" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48294946)) - Device access exposes every stored password (2 comments in the sample): "all someone needs to do to get access to every single stored password, is grab your iPhone while it's unlocked" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47043558)) "one of its downsides is that if I have my TOTP app on my iPhone, both passwords and TOTP live on the same device" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588377)) - Lock-in to Apple devices (1 comment in the sample): "the same thing could have been implemented without requiring device/iOS lock-in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46941033)) ## Other password managers people recommend - [Bitwarden](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bitwarden/): 184 recommend, 64 mixed, 197 criticize - [1Password](https://hackerapproved.com/p/1password/): 158 recommend, 61 mixed, 157 criticize - [KeePassXC](https://hackerapproved.com/p/keepassxc/): 106 recommend, 14 mixed, 34 criticize - [Vaultwarden](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vaultwarden/): 97 recommend, 10 mixed, 12 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.apple.com/icloud/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Passwords", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-passwords/ (82 recommend, 28 mixed, 73 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.