Your iPhone can now tell you if your password has been HACKED in seconds
APPLE is working on a new iPhone feature that alerts users if their passwords have been exposed online.
The addition to iCloud Keychain, Apple's password management tool, is coming to iPhones and iPads later this year in a free software update.
Once the upgrade has been released, Keychain will highlight passwords you've stored that may put your online accounts at risk.
That includes credentials that are easy to guess or have been leaked online by a major data breach.
The new password checker, which is part of Apple's iOS 14 software update, was reported over the weekend by .
Though it isn't due out until September, Apple has released an early version of iOS 14 to app developers, revealing all the features coming to iPhone.
According to 9to5mac, which has access to one of these "beta" updates, the password checker is found in a new “Security Recommendations” menu.
That menu is located in Keychain, an older Apple tool that stores and syncs all your passwords from different websites and apps through iCloud.
By heading to Settings app and then the Passwords menu, you can view all of the passwords stored in Keychain.
On iOS 14, this menu comes with alerts like "many people use this password, which makes it easy to guess" and "this password is easy to guess".
Another new alert reads: "This password uses a sequence, '123'. Using common patterns makes passwords easy to guess."
It's hoped that by warning users of an insecure password, Apple can encourage them to switch to something a little harder to guess.
With iOS 14, Keychain will also notify you if your passwords have been compromised by a data breach.
Data breaches occur when hackers break into the database of a major website and snoop on all of its users' usernames and passwords.
Leaked data is often posted online and, if you're exposed and use the same username and password on other websites, can be used by cyber crooks to break into your other online accounts.
Keychain will soon alert you if your password is vulnerable with the message: "This password has been exposed in a data breach, which puts this account at high risk of compromise.
"You should change your password immediately."
Apple has a similar system in place to protect users of its MacOS computer software.
"Safari securely monitors your saved passwords, automatically keeping an eye out for passwords that may have been involved in a data breach," according to the company.
"To do this, Safari uses strong cryptographic techniques to regularly check derivations of your passwords against a list of breached passwords in a secure and private way that doesn’t reveal your password information — even to Apple.
"If Safari discovers a breach, it can help you upgrade to Sign in with Apple when available, or automatically generate a new secure password."
iPhone tricks to try today
Here are some of the best...
- Typing cursor – When typing, hold down the space bar to turn your keyboard into a trackpad, letting you move around words and sentences more easily
- Close all Safari tabs – To do this in one go, simply hold the overlapped squares in the bottom right-hand corner, and press close all tabs
- Delete lots of photos quickly – Hold down on a photo and then drag your finger diagonally in Photos to select lots of images at once, then hit delete
- Convert currency quickly – Swipe down from the top of your Home screen (or swipe left to right on an iPhone X or later model), then tap in the bar and type a currency (like $200) and it will automatically covert to your local currency
- Check if you're due a battery upgrade – Batteries inside smartphones degrade over time. Just go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and check out the Maximum Capacity reading. Generally a battery is considered worn when you're down to 80% capacity. If you're below, you can buy a battery swap from Apple
- Move apps around faster – Hold an app until it starts wiggling, then (while still holding) tap other apps, causing them to stack so you can move them around easier
How to get iOS 14 early
Typically, iOS 14 will launch around the same time as the next iPhone.
That means you're probably looking at the middle of September, though this hasn't been confirmed.
But there's an early version of iOS 14 that you can get your hand on.
The iOS 14 Developer Beta is available right now, with the only catch that you need to be registered with Apple as a developer.
You can register .
And you'll then be able to download the iOS 14 beta from the from June 22.
However, remember that early beta versions are usually very buggy – and so you shouldn't install it on your only device.
If something goes wrong, you could lose data with potentially no way of retrieving it.
And using the device might be a horrible experience until any and all bugs are squashed.
It's important to back up your iPhone before installing a beta version of iOS, as a safeguard if anything goes wrong.
For regular users, anyone without technical know-how or multiple device, it's probably worth waiting for the July public beta – or even the general release in September.
Most read in Phones & Gadgets
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Scammers are using Google Alerts to send out links to malware.
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Have you ever been caught up in a major data breach? Let us know in the comments...
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