With the recent introduction of OS X Mavericks, Apple brought a new feature to the OS. The ability to sync the OS keychain up to iCloud and then from their down to iOS devices. (and vice versa)
Previously the only two applications which came close to being able to do this was LastPass.com and 1Password. The main downside to the two contenders was their reliance on additional applications, and the need to copy/paste between your password storage and your browser.
Apple may have just hammered another nail into their coffins with the introduction of the new iOS 8 operating system, and it’s ability to pull stored credentials from the keychain even inside applications on the device.
So going forward, not only will you be able to autofill credentials directly into website login forms, but also application logins to. This is a fantastic move in the right direction in my opinion.
I used LastPass for many years, but was reluctant to pay the membership fee simply for the mobile access to my passwords. Now with the keychain sharing as powerful as it is, I very rarely have to visit the LastPass site.
Of course, this iCloud sharing is not without it’s caveats. The biggest being, to gleam the benefits from it you’ll need to be using safari as your browser. You’ll also need iCloud syncing turned on, and the other small issue being, you’ll need to own a mac.
I’m looking forward to iOS 8s release, even more so with this new feature.