I am so glad to hear that Apple is adding a password auto-generator to future versions of Safari on Mac and iOS.

As someone who has worked tech support as a personal assistant (and for my parents), I can tell you that people use terrible passwords. They pick a common word, maybe slap a number on the end, and then use that same password for everything.

Normal people don’t realize how easy it is to crack even the most eXtR3m3!! passwords.

I use 1Password to generate random unique passwords for every online account, and I’ve tried to set that system up for other people too. But it’s fiddly and complicated. It requires a browser extension, and it requires the user to remember to actually use the damn thing.

Apple’s solution will not be the best password solution, but just as they did with personal backups and Time Machine, they’re taking something complicated and vital and distilling it down to something simple enough for my mom to use.

I think this will be a huge security improvement for average users.