There are a lot of fun new tricks in iOS 12. And if you’re big on security—who isn’t!—you’re going to love all the little password-themed features that Apple has dropped into its latest mobile operating system. Some of them are pretty obvious, like being able to autofill SMS-based authentication codes without having to switch over to Messages, or the new password suggestions you can use to generate strong, unique passwords (that synchronize to your other devices via iCloud).
Those who don’t use iCloud and instead prefer a third-party app for managing their passwords, like LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane, will love how easy it is to autofill passwords in iOS 12. You won’t have to pull up your password app to copy and paste your credentials each time you need them; you can tap on the autofill prompt that appears above your keyboard whenever you tap on a user name or password field, and iOS 12 will pull in your credentials from your preferred app.
Of course, you have to set this up first before it will work, but it’s a pretty easy process. First, make sure the LastPass, 1Password, or Dashlane apps are installed on your iPhone or iPad—of course—and that you’ve already set up your account with them. Standard stuff.
From there, tap on your Settings app and scroll down until you see Passwords & Accounts. Tap that:
From there, tap on AutoFill Passwords:
Select which of your apps you’d like to use for autofill. If you don’t have any passwords saved on your iCloud Keychain, feel free to disable that—LastPass recommends doing so, at least.
Now, whenever you go to enter a password in a website or supported app, you’ll see a little prompt that you can tap to automatically input your user name and password:
Tapping on that prompt will pull up your third-party app up, and you might have to authenticate into the app again—easy enough to do so if you’ve set up Touch ID or Face ID with your password app. Going back to your login, you also might have to tap on each field separately when autofilling your user name and password. It’s a mild annoyance, but it beats jumping back and forth between apps.