iCloud Keychain Gaining Password Warnings, Support for Generating Two-Factor Authentication Codes in iOS 14

Apple is working on some useful changes for iCloud Keychain, according to details found by 9to5Mac in a leaked version of iOS 14 that has been circulating for the last few weeks.

‌iCloud‌ Keychain, for those unfamiliar with the feature, stores login names and passwords for websites and apps, with the information synced across a person's iOS and Mac devices through ‌iCloud‌. It is a free and useful way to manage unique passwords for each different service used.

In ‌iOS 14‌, ‌iCloud‌ Keychain will include warnings whenever a password is reused, which should help encourage users to select different passwords for each login. With all the password leaks these days, choosing a different password for each site prevents malicious entities from being able to access multiple sites that use the same password when leaked info is obtained.

Apple also appears to be adding a way to save two-factor authentication passwords, which would presumably allow ‌iCloud‌ Keychain to generate two-factor authentication codes to prevent the need for a two-factor authentication app. 1Password and other password management apps already have these features, and if Apple added them, it would make ‌iCloud‌ Keychain an appealing alternative to paid solutions.

Apple is working on quite a few other features for ‌iOS 14‌, and details on what's in the works can be found in our iOS 14 roundup.