micj
Level 1 (9 points)
Apple Music

Q: apple ID/keychain

Will keychain generate a strong password for my apple ID account?

 

Apple has asked me to change my password to strengthen it and keychain doesn't offer my the option to use one of it's strong passwords.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), 8GB RAM

Posted on Sep 16, 2014 4:28 PM

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micj

Q: apple ID/keychain

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Sep 16, 2014 4:34 PM in response to micj
    Level 10 (270,020 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 16, 2014 4:34 PM in response to micj

    Where, when, and how did Apple make this request? It's not common for Apple to do this.

  • by micj,

    micj micj Sep 16, 2014 4:45 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 16, 2014 4:45 PM in response to Kappy

    Apple requests I change my password when I go to "manage my appleID" through iCloud preferences.  Basically they are trying to have everyone with "weak" passwords strengthen them.  I think this effort started with recent roll-out of the 2 step verification and the "nudies" that were obtained from appleID accounts with weak passwords.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Sep 16, 2014 10:09 PM in response to micj
    Level 10 (270,020 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 16, 2014 10:09 PM in response to micj

    The Keychain does not have a password generator built-in. But you don't really need one. Just make up a series of letters and numbers. Letters should be both upper and lower-case. Your password should be around 13 characters long.

  • by micj,

    micj micj Sep 17, 2014 6:30 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 17, 2014 6:30 AM in response to Kappy

    Keychain generates passwords for website logins all the time. So it does have a password generator. I also have an app that generates strong passwords when Keychain fails to do so (usually when changing passwords from an account that a password has already been assigned).

     

    And sure, I know how to make a complex password manually but will Keychain remember that password for the AppleID account?  Or do I have to write it down on a posted note and keep it in my wallet?

     

    I thought maybe I was missing some basic action that would cause a password to be generated for the AppleID password fields.  Seems strange that Keychain generates passwords for everyone else's website but Apple does not use it to generate strong passwords for it's own website.

  • by honDA9xsi,

    honDA9xsi honDA9xsi Oct 22, 2014 5:03 AM in response to micj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2014 5:03 AM in response to micj

    I can sort of see a catch 22 with having Keychain generating its own password (essentially). Regardless it certainly would be nice to see some type of password generator built into Keychain so that users have the ability to generate password(s) for accounts/websites that Keychain does not "support." Naturally I have other alternatives for fulfilling just that but it would be nice to see Apple take Keychain a little further (-;

  • by micj,

    micj micj Oct 22, 2014 1:53 PM in response to honDA9xsi
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Apple Music
    Oct 22, 2014 1:53 PM in response to honDA9xsi

    Keychain does have a password generator...sort of. In Keychain, you have to click on Passwords, then the plus sign at the bottom and it will com up with a menu for creating a new Keychain item.  Instead of creating the new item, click on the picture of the key next to the Password field and a password generator will appear.  You then have to copy the password and paste it into where ever you are that is needing a password.