[NewsPoster]

iCloud Keychain support has been removed from the iOS 7 gold master, users note. The option has gone missing from iOS 7's iCloud preferences. Apple has also marked Keychain as "coming soon" on its iOS 7 website, implying that the feature won't be in the public release of the firmware or in any near-term point release.


The technology expands on the original OS X incarnation of Keychain, letting people carry usernames, passwords, Wi-Fi logins, and credit card numbers across devices. Apple has presumably encountered trouble implementing it though, and decided to avoid postponing the iOS 7 launch. The next release opportunity may be alongside the introduction of OS X Mavericks, which should arrive in October or November and carry the same feature.

[Spheric Harlot]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo...

[pairof9s]

Agree...that was a feature I greatly looked forward to. I guess we continue on w/ 1Password Pro.

[reader50]

I hope they postponed it to audit the full crypto pathway. In view of NSA revelations, iCloud Keychain is a tempting target. Cracking it would grant access to everything one owns in the Apple universe.

Apple has been fairly quiet about the scandal, not joining other tech giants in suing for the right to greater transparency. It would be reassuring to hear they're revamping user security, making sure there are no glitches.

[Spheric Harlot]

Apple did issue a memo about iMessage, pointing out that it was encrypted end-to-end, and that even Apple could not decrypt it if they wanted to.

[jreades]

Good point by reader50 on the possible crypto implications, but if (like me) you basically assume that the NSA can already attack any computer connected to the Interwebs using exploits we've not heard anything about then this wouldn't be a make-or-break issue for me since I'm already pwned if they give a hoot.

[drbenru]

I hope its issues with implementation, iCloud keychain seemed like a useless option just two weeks into using it. I didn't delve into the technical details and I don't know what made iCloud keychain react this way but almost every site that I wanted a password saved for all I would get would be a warning "Keychain will not save this password because the site has requested passwords not be saved". And guess what every single site that gives a hoot had this. So paypal, any of my credit cards, AT&T account management, everything supposedly blocks passwords from being saved. It only saved my password to a couple of blog comment sites and a couple of forums. The old non-keychain version of Safari would save many more passwords for me only locally on my iPhone, this keychain version was useless.

I guess apple has to figure out how to get around that limitation, seems more like an issue of letting the user decide if the password is saved, not allow the pages to dictate policy.