VARanger1 wrote:
Can someone explain the functional relationship of the new Apple Passwords app and the Keychain app?
First of all, remember that it is the "Keychain Access" app. That's a key distinction. There is a lower-level system called "Keychain". That is where the data is. That system has a low-level interface that Apple apps and 3rd party apps use.
Keychain Access is a user interface to the Keychain. Passwords is the same thing. It's just that the Passwords app has been written with more modern web usage, and cross-platform iOS/macOS support, in mind.
Does Passwords completely replace Keychain? If so, does Keychain get deleted?
Not completely. Apple never comments on future changes. But it's pretty obvious. There is no Keychain Access app on iOS. Apple is methodically porting all of iOS to the Mac. It seems logical that Keychain Access will be going away.
Does Keychain stay intact, but feed its data to Passwords, i.e., is Passwords a user front end to Keychain?
Yes. But this is the Keychain framework and data. Keychain Access is the old, deprecated interface. It's gone.
Where is the data stored if I join a new website and create a new User Name and password? In Keychain or Password, or both? Which of these apps provide the "suggested" new password?
If both apps stay, are they continuously synchronized?
The data is stored in the Keychain system. All of these systems are layered. There is the user interface, Password app. Then there is the old user interface, Keychain Access. There is a system that suggests new passwords. There is a part that shares data between platforms via iCloud. Then there is a part that caches that ephemeral cloud data to the local data store.
The help files seem to skirt around this relationship question, leaving me completely confused.
Are you less confused now, or more confused?
