personal tech<\/p>\n
iBiz might not win the AI race, but analysts say it’s focusing on features people may actually use<\/p>\n
Apple says that its next-gen operating system will allow users to update their weak and compromised passwords with a single tap.<\/p>\n
Upgrades coming to iOS 27, announced at Tim Cook\u2019s last Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week, introduce a significant change to the way users manage their passwords.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding on its ability to alert users about weak and compromised passwords, Passwords can now automatically fix these for users with just a tap,\u201d Apple said on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing Apple Intelligence and Safari to agentically take action on a user\u2019s behalf, Passwords securely navigates through websites to sign in and upgrade their accounts to strong passwords.\u201d<\/p>\n
The iGadget-maker\u2019s existing password manager already flags passwords that are known to be included in prior data breaches, checking whether they appear in known data leaks.<\/p>\n
However, current Passwords still requires users to update affected accounts themselves and does not offer a way to change multiple compromised credentials at once.<\/p>\n
Selecting one of those alerts typically takes users to the relevant account page, where they must complete the password change manually.<\/p>\n
The new update is designed to remove much of that legwork, with iOS 27 automatically navigating supported websites and updating eligible accounts to stronger passwords after user approval.<\/p>\n
Of course, in the very brief section of the video in which the new capability was announced, the feature worked flawlessly. In practice, however, it remains to be seen how effective Passwords is at agentically navigating different websites\u2019 login processes on behalf of users, especially if MFA is also set up on the account.<\/p>\n
And for those of you who remember a story The Register covered earlier this year about the (in)security of AI-generated passwords<\/a>, fret not.<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s Passwords app generates solid passwords by default \u2013 strings that, according to NordPass\u2019 online password checker, are \u201cstrong\u201d and would take centuries to crack.<\/p>\n Security company Irregular\u2019s research from February looked at scenarios where users were querying LLM chatbots for password ideas, rather than looking at those generated by purpose-built password managers.<\/p>\n Siri state of affairs<\/p>\n As predicted by many, this year\u2019s WWDC put Siri, now known as Siri AI, front and center as Apple looks to deliver on its promises made two years ago.<\/p>\n It announced Apple Intelligence in 2024, but the offering has underdelivered on pretty much every count.<\/p>\n