How to create secure passwords on iPhone when iOS password manager is unavailable

A password manager along with a keychain is a great thing. You don't have to think about creating a password yourself, you don't have to remember it, because it is safely stored in iCloud. Importantly, it can be accessed from any Apple device assigned to an Apple ID. What if we need to generate a strong password for someone or for a service not related to the iPhone? In such a situation, it is worth reaching for a shortcut to generate passwords.

The Generate password shortcut is used to generate strong passwords, similar to those generated by Apple's password manager. Generating passwords with the Generate password abbreviation consist of three six-character blocks separated by dashes. They consist of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters. The Generate password shortcut is useful wherever Apple's password manager does not work, e.g. in third-party web browsers or some applications. It can also conveniently generate secure passwords for other people, e.g. parents or children.

What You Need To Know Before Installing The Shortcut

Make sure you're using iOS 14 or later. In older versions of iOS, the Safari Plus shortcut will not work. You must also have enabled the ability to add untrusted shortcuts to the Shortcuts application, and enabled access of the Shortcuts application to iCloud.

Before going on to the next part of this text, make sure you understand well what abbreviations are and what the consequences may be of using them. Everything about untrusted shortcuts can be found in the entry How to enable the download of untrusted shortcuts on the iPhone. The author of the text and the AppleMobile.pl editors do not take responsibility for the consequences and potential damage to the iPhone user using untrusted shortcuts. The user does so entirely at his own risk.

Add the Generate password shortcut to your iPhone

You can find the Generate password shortcut at this link. To download it to your phone, open the link with the Safari browser on your iPhone.

Safari will automatically recognize the shortcut and launch the Shortcuts app. Then click the Download Shortcut button. The Add Shortcut tab is displayed. Scroll to the very bottom and click the Add Untrusted Shortcut button. The shortcut you added will appear in the My Shortcuts tab of the Shortcuts app.

How to use a password shortcut

Option 1 - from the share sheet

Launch Safari or any other application that can access the share sheet. Now tap on the Share button and then select Generate password from the list of options. A notification will appear at the top of the screen informing you that the shortcut is generating a password. After a second or two, the next notification will show the password, which will be automatically copied to the clipboard. Now tap Done to exit the alert, then close the share sheet. If you want to use the password in any form, just double-tap the input field and select Paste from the context menu.

Remember: You have 10 minutes to paste the password, after which the clipboard will be cleared.

After entering the password into the form field, tap Save Password when iOS asks if you want to save it to iCloud Keychain. If you don't see this prompt, you can always go to the Settings app, then select Passwords from the menu and add them to your Keychain manually.

Option 2 - from the Shortcuts application

If you need a password for any purpose other than creating an account via the website, you can generate it directly from the Shortcuts application. To do this, run the Shortcuts application. Now go to the My Shortcuts tab and tap the Generate password tile. A password notification will appear at the top of the screen. This password will also be automatically copied to the clipboard. Tap Done to close the alert, and then exit the Shortcuts app. You can add a password to your iCloud Keychain from the Settings app.

How to increase security

To use the shortcut more safely, you can change a few settings. First, shorten the storage time of the password in the clipboard. By default, the password is kept for 10 minutes, but you can shorten this time. Secondly, disable the notification that shows the generated password, thanks to which you are guaranteed that no one else in the vicinity has seen the password.

Option 1 Reduce the storage time of the password in the clipboard

To edit a shortcut, tap the ellipsis (•••) on the Generate password tile. Now go to the Calendar action. There you will find the message Add 10 minutes to date, where "10" is the number of minutes the password is kept in the clipboard. Touch "10" and select a lower number. Or you can tap "minutes" and change it to "seconds", but if you want enough time to not only use the password but save it as well, you'd better stick to minutes. Press Done on the keyboard. If that's all you want to change, hit OK in the top-right corner of the workflow to save it. If not, go to the next delete notification option.

Option 2 Delete notification with password

To remove the notification that shows the password, find the Previewing action - at the very bottom - and click the (X) icon to remove it. Once removed, the notification will no longer be displayed with the password. Click OK in the upper right corner to save the edited shortcut.

How to create secure passwords on iPhone when iOS password manager is unavailable