ADAM ENGST 6 December 2024

In “Using Apple’s iCloud Passwords Outside Safari” (1 April 2024), I wrote:

Although Apple released iCloud Passwords only for Chromium browsers—and it seems to work equally well in all the variants I’ve tried—the company has done nothing for Firefox users. However, an independent developer named Aurélien Garnier recently published a Firefox add-on also called iCloud Passwords, so that’s an option for those running Sonoma or recent versions of Windows—it doesn’t work for earlier versions of macOS. It’s not yet well-known, with only 716 users last I checked (versus 2 million for the iCloud Passwords Chrome extension), but I’ve installed it and verified that it works. Although I’m a little hesitant to recommend an independent add-on that interacts with a system-wide password store, it’s open source, and anyone can view its code on GitHub.

Those who have been dissuaded from using macOS 15 Sequoia’s Passwords app as their password manager because of a reliance on Firefox can now make the move with confidence: Apple has taken over the previously independent iCloud Passwords add-on for Firefox.

On 4 December 2024, iCloud Passwords for Firefox developer Aurélien Garnier updated the add-on’s README.md file on its GitHub repository with:

The AMO ( addons.mozilla.org) listing of this extension was transferred to Apple Inc. They are now the sole owners in charge of maintaining their own official iCloud Passwords extension. This repository and source code are no longer linked in any way to it apart from historical reasons.

It remains unclear if Apple acquired the code or hired Garnier, although his LinkedIn profile suggests he remains a technical lead at the Web development agency Avicenne Studio in Paris.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple replaced this iCloud Passwords add-on with an official version; it could be that the company simply hasn’t gotten around to such a transition yet.

Regardless, it’s a positive move to see Apple extending its password management features to non-Apple browsers and platforms. Although the current iCloud Passwords add-on doesn’t work in Firefox for Windows, it seems likely that Apple will eventually add Windows support to match its iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome.