Passkeys are slowly but surely becoming more prevalent to bring us to the passwordless future tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft have been promising for years. Still, we’re not quite to the point where a secure password is unnecessary. iPhone and iPad users are likely already familiar with iCloud Keychain and its ability to generate passwords, but it’s not a perfect solution.
Apple introduced its own password manager in the form of the Passwords app in iOS 18, which alleviates the limitations Keychain had, but those who are looking for a bit more flexibility or use an unsupported version of iOS or iPadOS may be looking for different options, and luckily, an easy-to-use solution is available inside an app you likely already have installed: Siri Shortcuts.
Below, we’ll show you how to generate passwords on the fly in the Passwords app and the Siri Shortcut that’s a bit more accessible in some ways than Apple’s own solution.
Two-factor authentication adds another layer of security to your accounts, by asking you to verify your identity via text or app. However, the most secure 2FA option is with a physical key, like this one from Yubico, which you insert into your iPhone’s charging port. A hacker would need both your password and this key to access your accounts protected by 2FA.
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How to generate a password with the Passwords app
If you have iOS or iPadOS 18 installed and just want a no-frills, easy way to generate a secure password on the fly, the Passwords app may be all you need. Here’s how to do it.
- Open the Passwords app
- Tap the + symbol at the bottom right of the screen
- Ignoring the Website or Label and User Name sections, tap on the Password field, as if you’re going to type one in — not the Password label.
- A small “Strong Password Suggestion” will appear right above your keyboard. You can tap on the password suggestion to add it to the password section and copy it for use wherever you want.
Generate a secure password in 2 taps with Apple’s Password app.
You can add a website/label and username, as well as any notes, if you want to save these credentials and not just generate a password. If you want another password suggestion, just tap on any other text input field, like User or Notes, and then tap the password field again to get another suggestion.
That’s it. If that’s all you want out of your password generator, it really doesn’t get easier than this. However, if you want to be able to access your password from multiple locations, then maybe you should read on for the next option.
Generate passwords with a Siri Shortcut
Using the link below, download the Generate Password shortcut onto your iPhone. This will automatically redirect you to the Shortcuts app — tap Add Shortcut to download the shortcut on to your phone. The Generate Password shortcut will then appear in your library of shortcuts.
Generate Password will be saved to the Shortcuts section in the Shortcuts app.
Your on-demand iPhone password generator in action
Once the shortcut is installed, you can use Generate Password to quickly create Apple-style passwords, which are 20 characters long and include two hyphens, a capitalized letter and a number (“fevNaq-1zumki-gorfoc” is an example).
There are several ways to use Generate Password:
- Siri: Say, “Hey Siri, Generate Password.”
- Share Sheet: Tap the share sheet in Safari or anywhere else, scroll down and tap Generate Password.
- Shortcuts: Tap the Generate Password shortcut directly in the Shortcuts app.
- Back Tap: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap and choose the Generate Password shortcut. You can then tap the back of your iPhone to run the shortcut.
The first time you run Generate Password, you’ll be asked to give the shortcut access to your clipboard. Hit Allow to do so. From then on, anytime you run Generate Password, a password will be created and automatically copied to your clipboard. You’ll also see a notification showing you the password. Hit Done when you’re finished.
Generating a password via Share Sheet (left) and Siri (right).
The password will expire from your clipboard in 10 minutes, so make sure to use it relatively quickly or else you’ll need to generate a new password. You can press down in any text field and hit Paste to enter the password from your clipboard.
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