the_mac_mentor

The Coffee Shop Trap: Why Public Wi-Fi Is Riskier Than You Think

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:58:39 GMT

It’s one of the great conveniences of modern life — settle into your favorite café, open your laptop, and get to work. Free Wi-Fi, good coffee, and a few productive hours. What’s not to love?

Quite a bit, actually. Public Wi-Fi networks are one of the easiest hunting grounds for cybercriminals, and most people using them have no idea how exposed they are.

What’s Actually Happening on That Network

When you connect to a public Wi-Fi network — at a coffee shop, hotel, airport, or restaurant — you’re sharing that network with every other person in the building. Unlike your home network, which you control, public networks offer little to no protection between users. Anyone with basic hacking tools and the motivation to use them can potentially intercept the data traveling between your device and the internet.

This technique, called a “man-in-the-middle” attack, allows bad actors to capture login credentials, read unencrypted messages, and monitor what sites you’re visiting — all without you ever knowing. Even more concerning is the “evil twin” attack, where a criminal sets up a fake Wi-Fi network with a convincing name like “Starbucks_Guest” to trick you into connecting to their hotspot instead of the real one.

What’s at Risk

The consequences range from mildly annoying to genuinely devastating. On the low end, attackers can track your browsing habits and harvest data for targeted advertising. On the high end, they can capture banking credentials, access business email accounts, or intercept sensitive client information. For business owners and professionals, the liability of a breach that originates from a public network can be significant.

How to Protect Yourself

The most effective tool is a VPN — a Virtual Private Network — which encrypts your internet traffic so that even if someone intercepts it, they can’t read it. Apple devices make VPN setup relatively straightforward, and there are solid, reputable options available for individuals and small businesses alike.

Beyond a VPN, a few habits go a long way: avoid accessing banking or sensitive accounts on public Wi-Fi, make sure the sites you visit use HTTPS, turn off automatic Wi-Fi connection on your iPhone and Mac, and when in doubt, use your iPhone’s personal hotspot instead. It’s slower, but it’s yours — and that matters.

The Bottom Line

Public Wi-Fi is a convenience, not a right — and it comes with real strings attached. A few simple precautions can make an enormous difference between a productive afternoon and a very bad week.

Want to Work Safely From Anywhere? MacMentor Can Help.

Setting up a VPN, configuring your Mac and iPhone for safer public network use, and understanding your actual exposure takes a little know-how. At The MacMentor, we help individuals and small businesses build practical, easy-to-maintain security habits that fit real life. Visit us at TheMacMentor.com or stop by our Highland Park location to get started.

The Right Way to Back Up Your Mac and Why Most People Aren’t Doing It

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:54:39 GMT

Ask most Mac users if they back up their computer and they’ll say yes. Ask them when they last verified that backup actually worked, and you’ll get a very different answer.

Backup is one of those things everyone knows they should do and almost no one does correctly. And the consequences of getting it wrong don’t reveal themselves until the worst possible moment — a hard drive failure, a stolen laptop, or a ransomware attack that locks you out of everything.

Why iCloud Isn’t Enough

The most common misconception is that iCloud is a backup. It isn’t — it’s a sync. There’s a critical difference. When you sync, changes on one device propagate everywhere. That means if you accidentally delete a folder, or if malware corrupts your files, that corruption syncs across every device tied to your account. A backup, by definition, is a separate, independent copy that doesn’t change when your primary copy does.

iCloud is a wonderful tool. It is not a safety net for catastrophic data loss.

The 3-2-1 Rule

The gold standard in data protection is the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of your data, on two different types of media, with one copy stored offsite. For most individuals and small businesses, a practical version of this looks like: your working files on your Mac, a Time Machine backup on an external drive, and a cloud backup service like Backblaze running quietly in the background.

That combination covers virtually every realistic failure scenario — hardware failure, theft, fire, and accidental deletion — with minimal ongoing effort once it’s set up.

Time Machine: Simple, Powerful, and Underused

Apple’s built-in Time Machine is one of the most underappreciated tools in the Mac ecosystem. Plug in an external drive, turn it on, and it runs automatically — backing up hourly snapshots that let you restore individual files or your entire system to any point in time. It requires almost no maintenance and has saved countless people from disaster.

The catch: it only works if the drive is connected. Leaving your backup drive in a desk drawer defeats the purpose. It needs to be in regular rotation — ideally connected whenever you’re at your desk.

Test Your Backup

Here’s the step most people skip entirely: actually verifying the backup works. A backup you’ve never tested is a backup you don’t actually have. Once every few months, open Time Machine and restore a file — any file — just to confirm the process works end to end. It takes five minutes and provides genuine peace of mind.

The Bottom Line

A solid backup strategy isn’t complicated or expensive. It’s a one-time setup with minimal ongoing effort. The alternative — losing years of photos, client files, financial records, or creative work — is a cost no one should have to pay.

Let MacMentor Set It Up and Make Sure It Actually Works.

At The MacMentor, we set up complete, reliable backup systems for individuals and small businesses — Time Machine, cloud backup, the works — and we make sure everything is verified and running before we’re done. It’s one of the best investments you can make in your digital life. Visit TheMacMentor.com or stop by our Highland Park location to get protected.

iCloud Security: What’s Actually Protected & What Isn’t

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:49:20 GMT

For most Apple users, iCloud is the invisible infrastructure of daily life. Photos, contacts, messages, documents, passwords — it all lives there, syncing seamlessly across every device. It feels secure because Apple says it is. And in many ways, it genuinely is. But “secure” is a spectrum, and understanding where iCloud sits on that spectrum — and where the gaps are — matters more than most people realize.

What iCloud Actually Protects

Apple uses end-to-end encryption for a growing list of iCloud data categories, meaning only you — on your trusted devices — can read it. Nobody else, including Apple, can access it. This includes iCloud Keychain (your saved passwords), Health data, payment information, and with Advanced Data Protection enabled, most of the rest of your iCloud data including backups, photos, and notes.

That last part is important: Advanced Data Protection is not on by default. You have to turn it on. Most people never do, which means their iCloud backups — which can contain an enormous amount of personal information — are encrypted, but in a way that Apple can access if legally compelled to do so.

Where the Gaps Are

Even with strong encryption, iCloud security is only as strong as your Apple ID. If someone gains access to your Apple ID — through a phished password, a compromised email account used for recovery, or a weak security question — they have access to everything iCloud holds. No amount of encryption protects you from someone who has legitimately authenticated as you.

Two-factor authentication on your Apple ID is non-negotiable. Without it, your account is far more vulnerable than it needs to be. And yet a surprising number of people still haven’t enabled it, or have set it up in ways that undermine its effectiveness — like using an SMS code sent to a phone number that isn’t well protected.

iCloud Is Not a Backup Strategy

Another common misconception: iCloud sync is not the same as a backup. If you delete a file, it deletes everywhere. If your account is compromised and someone wipes your data, it’s gone from every device simultaneously. A true backup strategy includes a local copy — Time Machine on an external drive, for example — that exists independently of iCloud and can’t be touched remotely.

The Bottom Line

iCloud is a genuinely impressive security system, and Apple has made meaningful strides in expanding what it protects. But it requires active configuration to reach its potential, and it operates within limits that every user should understand. Turning on Advanced Data Protection, locking down your Apple ID with strong two-factor authentication, and maintaining a local backup are three steps that together make an enormous difference.

Not Sure If Your iCloud Is Configured Correctly? Ask MacMentor.

Most people assume their iCloud setup is fine because nothing has gone wrong yet. At The MacMentor, we do a thorough review of Apple ID security, iCloud settings, and backup strategy for clients who want to know they’re actually protected — not just probably protected. Stop by our Highland Park location or visit TheMacMentor.com to schedule a security checkup.

Before You Sell That iPhone: What Happens to Your Data When You Trade In a Device

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:14:28 GMT

Upgrading to a new iPhone or Mac is exciting. Handing over the old one — whether to Apple, a reseller, or a friend — is something most people do without a second thought. A quick factory reset, and it’s gone, right?

Not necessarily. And for anyone who has used that device for banking, business, personal communication, or storing sensitive files, “not necessarily” is a phrase worth taking seriously.

The Myth of the Factory Reset

A factory reset wipes the visible layer of your data — your photos, contacts, apps, and settings disappear from the screen. But on many devices, especially older ones, that data isn’t truly gone. It’s simply marked as available space, meaning it can potentially be recovered with the right software until something new is written over it. Forensic data recovery tools that were once available only to law enforcement are now widely accessible, and a motivated person with a recovered device and a grudge — or a profit motive — can sometimes retrieve far more than you’d expect.

What Apple’s Process Actually Does

To Apple’s credit, modern iPhones with their Secure Enclave architecture handle this better than most. When you erase an iPhone running a recent version of iOS, the encryption keys are destroyed, making the data cryptographically unreadable even if the underlying bits remain. For most people trading in to Apple directly, the risk is genuinely low — provided the erasure is done correctly.

The danger zone is everywhere else: selling on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, trading in through a third-party retailer, donating to a school or charity, or passing a device to a family member without fully understanding what “erase” actually means in each context.

The Right Way to Do It

Before handing off any Apple device, the process should go in this order: sign out of iCloud and disable Find My, unpair any connected devices like Apple Watch, perform a full erase through Settings, and verify the device is no longer associated with your Apple ID. For Macs, this means signing out of all Apple services, using Disk Utility to erase the drive with the right security options, and reinstalling macOS clean.

It sounds straightforward, but it’s surprisingly easy to miss a step — and one missed step can leave more behind than you realize.

The Bottom Line

Your old devices carry years of your digital life. Taking thirty minutes to wipe them properly before they leave your hands is one of the highest-return security habits you can build. The alternative — discovering months later that someone has access to your old email or banking app — isn’t worth the time saved.

Upgrading Soon? Let MacMentor Handle the Handoff.

At The MacMentor, we walk clients through the full device transition process — making sure old devices are properly and completely wiped before they go anywhere, and that new devices are set up securely from day one. It’s one of the most common things we help with, and one of the most important. Reach out at TheMacMentor.com or visit our Highland Park location before your next upgrade.

Battery Health: What That Percentage Really Means and How to Protect It

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:05:16 GMT

Your iPhone tells you your battery health is at 79%. Should you be worried? Is it time for a replacement? And does it actually affect how you use your phone day to day? Battery health is one of the most misunderstood metrics in the Apple ecosystem — and one of the most important ones to get right.

What Battery Health Actually Measures

The percentage shown in your iPhone’s battery health settings represents your battery’s current maximum capacity relative to when it was new. A battery at 100% holds as much charge as the day it left the factory. A battery at 79% holds roughly 79% of that original capacity — meaning your phone will run for about 21% less time on a full charge than it once did.

Apple considers a battery “consumed” at 80% — below that threshold, you may start noticing meaningful performance impact, and Apple recommends replacement. On Macs, you can find similar information in System Information, though the metrics are presented differently.

How Batteries Degrade

Lithium-ion batteries degrade with every charge cycle — one cycle being a full discharge and recharge. The average iPhone battery is rated for around 500 cycles before dropping to 80% capacity. For most people, that works out to roughly two years of normal use before degradation becomes noticeable.

But how you charge matters enormously. Letting your battery regularly drain to zero and then charging to 100% accelerates wear. Keeping your phone between 20% and 80% — sometimes called the “middle zone” — significantly extends battery life. Heat is also a major factor: leaving your phone in a hot car, or charging it in a case that traps heat, degrades the battery faster than almost anything else.

The Performance Connection

A few years ago, Apple quietly introduced a feature that throttles iPhone performance when the battery is sufficiently degraded — the idea being to prevent unexpected shutdowns on a battery that can no longer deliver peak power. This caused significant controversy when it came to light, but the logic is sound: a phone that slows down is better than one that shuts off without warning.

You can now see this clearly in Settings. If your battery health is low enough to trigger performance management, your iPhone will tell you. Replacing the battery — a relatively inexpensive repair — often makes an older iPhone feel dramatically faster.

The Bottom Line

Battery health is a quiet but powerful indicator of your device’s overall condition. Monitoring it, charging smarter, and replacing the battery at the right time can meaningfully extend the useful life of an iPhone or MacBook — often at a fraction of the cost of a new device.

MacMentor Can Check Your Battery and Tell You Exactly Where You Stand.

Not sure if your battery needs replacing or just better habits? At The MacMentor, we run a full battery diagnostic on iPhones and Macs and give you a clear, honest recommendation — replace, wait, or just change how you charge. Stop by our Highland Park location or visit TheMacMentor.com to find out where your battery really stands.

Mac "Tools" You Probably Don't Need

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:56:19 GMT

There's a whole category of Mac apps that brand themselves as essential tools , utilities , or optimizers — but most of them either duplicate something macOS already handles well, or solve a problem that doesn't really exist.

If you've ever wondered whether you actually need that cleaner app nagging you from the menu bar, here's an honest rundown.

"Cleaner" and "Optimizer" Apps

These apps promise to sweep away junk, free up space, and make your Mac feel new again. Reality, they mostly clear out files macOS would have managed on its own.

• CleanMyMac X — This app is the poster child of the category, because macOS already handles cache management, and aggressive "cleaning" can occasionally break apps. The junk files it claims to find are often things the system clears anyway.

• MacKeeper — This is my least favorite of apps, as it is notorious for aggressive marketing, dubious value, and being INCREDIBLY hard to uninstall. Avoid.

• MacBooster, Mac Cleaner Pro, Advanced Mac Cleaner — Same playbook as MacKeeper, just different names.

• Onyx — This one is actually legitimate and free, but the average user doesn't need it. macOS runs its own maintenance scripts automatically in the background.

"Memory" or "RAM" Tools

Examples: Memory Clean, FreeMemory, iBoostUp.

For the last few years, macOS manages RAM dynamically and does it well. "Freeing" RAM manually can actually hurt performance because it forces the system to reload data it had intentionally cached for speed.

"Antivirus" Suites

Examples: Norton, McAfee, Avast for Mac.

As I’ve mentioned to you all, your Mac has built in Anti-Virus software, XProtect and Gatekeeper that covers any realistic threat for most users. Third-party antivirus slows the machine down more than it protects it. The one reasonable exception, which I’ve pointed out many, many times is Malwarebytes, which can be run as an occasional scanner — it’s not needed as an always-running tool.

"Uninstaller" Apps

Examples: AppCleaner, App Uninstaller, CleanMyMac's uninstaller.

AppCleaner (free) is fine and lightweight, but the truth is: dragging an app to the Trash leaves behind only small preference files. Definitely not worth a paid subscription.

"Duplicate Finder" Tools

Examples: Gemini 2, Duplicate File Finder Pro.

Useful once in a blue moon, but rarely worth a paid license. Finder's Smart Folders can handle most of what you'd actually need.

"Startup Managers"

There are various login-item managers which promise to control which apps launch at startup.

You already have that control: System Settings → General → Login Items. Everything's right there, built into System Settings.

"Battery Health" Apps

There are various "battery doctor" apps that claim to monitor and protect your battery.

macOS shows battery health directly under System Settings → Battery. Most third-party apps simply just repackage that same information with a prettier interface.

The Honest Rule of Thumb

Again, something I’ve stressed, if a third party Mac app's pitch is "your Mac is slow / cluttered / unsafe — and you need us to fix it," it's almost always selling you a problem rather than solving one.

The genuinely good and useful third-party utilities — Alfred, Raycast, Rectangle, BetterTouchTool, 1Password, Bartender — don't market themselves that way. They add capability rather than promising to rescue you from something that isn’t a real issue/problem, and right there, that's the tell. Tools that earn their place do a specific job well. Tools that don't are usually selling fear.

Have questions about your setup or want recommendations for utilities that are actually worth installing? Reach out anytime — happy to help.

Cheap Cables, Real Consequences: Why Your Charger Matters More Than You Think

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 08:24:20 GMT

It happens to everyone. You’re at the airport, your charging cable just gave out, and there’s a kiosk selling a three-pack of cables for $9.99. Or you order a replacement wall adapter from an unfamiliar brand on Amazon because it’s $7 and ships free. It seems harmless — a cable is a cable, right?

Wrong. The charger ecosystem is one of the most overlooked areas of device health, personal safety, and even environmental responsibility. What you plug into your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook matters far more than you realize.

The Hidden Risks to Your Devices

Apple devices are precision instruments with sophisticated power management systems. Your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch are designed to receive a very specific flow of electricity — the right voltage, the right amperage, delivered cleanly and consistently. Quality chargers, including Apple’s own and certified MFi (Made for iPhone/iPad/Mac) accessories, communicate with your device in real time to deliver exactly the power needed.

Cheap, uncertified cables and wall adapters simply do not do that. They cut corners on the components that regulate power delivery. The result can be anything from slower-than-expected charging to voltage spikes that silently degrade your battery over time. In more serious cases, inconsistent power delivery can corrupt data, cause unexpected shutdowns, or damage charging ports — repairs that often cost more than a new device.

Your battery is particularly vulnerable. Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to how they’re charged. Cheap adapters that don’t properly regulate output can cause your battery to age faster, losing capacity sooner than it should. For a $1,200 iPhone or a $2,500 MacBook Pro, that’s an expensive lesson learned from a $7 shortcut.

The Safety Issue Nobody Talks About

Beyond device damage, cheap chargers pose a genuine physical safety risk. Reputable chargers are built with internal protections — surge protection, thermal cutoffs, and insulation standards that prevent overheating. Counterfeit and ultra-cheap alternatives routinely skip these safeguards.

The result? Chargers that overheat. Chargers that have been linked to electrical fires. There are many documented cases of cheap charging bricks causing house fires, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission issues recalls on counterfeit charging products regularly. This is a well-documented pattern that consumer safety agencies have tracked for years.

If you’re charging your phone on your nightstand while you sleep, or leaving a laptop plugged in at the office overnight, the charger you’re using deserves serious consideration.

The Environmental Cost

Here’s the angle that often gets missed: cheap chargers are an environmental problem .

Quality chargers from reputable manufacturers are built to last. A genuine Apple charger or a certified third-party alternative like Anker or Belkin is designed for thousands of charge cycles. A cheap, uncertified cable typically starts fraying within weeks and fails entirely within months.

That means more cables in landfills, more plastic waste, and more demand for the mining of raw materials used in electronics manufacturing. Buying cheap and replacing often is, counterintuitively, far worse for the environment than spending more on something built to last.

What to Use Instead

The good news is that you don’t have to buy directly from Apple to get a safe, high-quality charger. The MFi certification program exists specifically to validate that third-party accessories meet Apple’s standards for safety and performance. Brands like Anker, Belkin, and Nomad produce excellent, certified cables and adapters at reasonable prices.

Look for “MFi Certified” on the packaging. If you don’t see it, or if the price seems too good to be true, trust that instinct — it usually is.

The Bottom Line

Your iPhone, iPad, and MacBook are significant investments. Protecting them with a quality charger isn’t an upsell — it’s basic maintenance. The few dollars you save with a cheap cable aren’t worth the battery degradation, the potential device damage, or the very real safety risks that come with it.

When in doubt, buy quality, buy certified, and buy once.

Not Sure What to Buy? We You Covered.

Sorting through cables, adapters, and certifications can be surprisingly confusing — and the wrong choice can cost you far more than the price difference. At The MacMentor, we recommend only certified, tested accessories that we trust with our own devices. Whether you need a replacement cable, a travel adapter, or a complete charging setup for your home or office, we’ll point you in the right direction.

Stop by our Highland Park location or visit TheMacMentor.com — we’re happy to help you protect the devices you depend on every day.

Ten Mac Essentials for new Mac users

geoff@themacmentor.com (Geoff Horwitz) — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 10:45:37 GMT

Are you a new Mac user? Well congratulations on joining the world of Mac computing! Now, getting used to a new operating system can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be, we're here to help. In this micro-blog, we share ten Mac essentials that every new (and existing) user should know. By the end of this post, you'll feel much more confident navigating your Mac.

1. Get to know the Finder: The Finder is the file management system for the Mac. Spend some time exploring its various features, such as the sidebar, toolbar, and view options.

2. Learn keyboard shortcuts: Macs have numerous keyboard shortcuts that can save time and improve productivity. Some essential shortcuts include Command+C (copy), Command+V (paste), and Command+Tab (switch between open apps).

3. Set up Time Machine: Time Machine is the built-in backup feature on the Mac. Set it up to automatically back up your files to an external hard drive or network-attached storage device.

4. Customize the Dock: The Dock is the bar of icons that sits at the bottom (or side) of the screen. You can customize it by adding or removing apps, changing its size, and enabling magnification.

5. Use Spotlight to find files and launch apps: Spotlight is the built-in search feature on the Mac. Use it to quickly find files, launch apps, perform calculations and even do web searches.

6. Take advantage of multi-touch gestures: MacBooks (Air and Pro) have a touchpad called the trackpad that supports various multi-touch gestures, such as swiping between open apps and zooming in and out of documents. Similar features and functionality can be found on the mouse that comes with the iMac.

7. Use iCloud to sync your data: iCloud is Apple’s cloud-based storage and syncing service. Use it to keep your contacts, calendar events, notes, and other data in sync across all your Apple devices.

8. Install and use third-party apps: The Mac App Store has a vast selection of apps, but don't be afraid to explore third-party options as well. Popular apps include Google Chrome, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office along with many others.

9. Customize your settings: The Settings app (System Preferences, if you have yet to upgrade to macOS Ventura) is where you can customize your Mac's settings, including your desktop wallpaper, trackpad and mouse preferences, and security settings.

10. Explore the menu bar: The menu bar is the bar of menus that sits at the top of the screen. It contains various system-wide menus, such as the Apple menu and the Spotlight menu. Spend some time exploring its various options and features.

We know these ten Mac essentials will help you make your start to the Mac world a smooth one. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to The Macmentor at https://www.themacmentor.com/ . We are always happy to help new Mac users get the most out of their devices.

Why iPhone’s Don’t Need Anti-Virus Software

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 08:33:46 GMT

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, do I need to download an Anti-Virus app for my iPhone? If so which one and why? The answer 99.9 percent of the time is no, you do not need an anti-virus app for your iPhone or iPad. The .1 percentage of the time you would need it is if you decided to “jail break” your iPhone, meaning, download a third party’s version of iOS.

Apple has designed iOS with security first and foremost in importance.

Many companies do offer “security” apps for your iPhone/iPad, these apps do NOT help with viruses.

What are Passkeys and why you should be excited.

geoff@themacmentor.com (Geoff Horwitz) — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 14:34:44 GMT

Passwords are the bane of our online existence. We struggle with creating passwords, storing them and updating them.�� It is suggested to create unique passwords for each system we login to, then our information gets hacked and sold and we need to change passwords for one or more systems.��

For everyone who has ever logged into a website or app and forgotten the password, then had to jump through hoops to reset it, then had to enter it in the unprotected spreadsheet (or what ever insecure location you store your passwords), get excited, because pretty soon, passwords will be a thing of the past, thanks to Passkeys. Passkeys are new to consumers and will enable a fully password-less experience!

Passwords are typically not secure, prone to very frustrating security policies (character length, special characters etc.) and vulnerable to phishing attacks. Passkeys are the standards-based solution to the password problem that is rolling out to modern browsers, phones and tablets.

Passkeys can reduce the risks of your account being compromised because it removes passwords. The way they work is thru multi-factor authentication; those factors include, Something you know: The passkey to your iPhone/iPad. Something you have: an authenticator embedded in your iPhone/iPad. Something you are: Your fingerprint or your face.

Passkeys are not reused across sites like passwords can be (and all to often are!), so the risk of stolen credentials affecting other accounts is far less.

In the Apple world Passkeys rely on iCloud Keychain (your iPhone/iPad must be at iOS 16, and your Mac must be at macOS Ventura) which in turn requires two-factor authentication for further protection. Passkeys will sync across all of a user's devices through ‌iCloud‌ Keychain, which is end-to-end encrypted with its own cryptographic keys.

Passkey synchronization across accounts provides redundancy in case an Apple device is lost, but should all of a person's Apple devices become lost and the passkeys along with them, Apple has implemented an iCloud Keychain escrow function to recover passkey information. There is a multi-step authentication process to go through to recover an ‌iCloud‌ Keychain with passkeys, or users can set up an account recovery contact.

Passkeys, when put to use, will be as simple as using ‌Touch ID‌ or ‌Face ID‌ to create a passkey to go along with a login.

Apple is currently working with members of the FIDO Alliance (FIDO is short for Fast IDentity On Line), including Google and Microsoft, to ensure that passkeys can also be used with non-Apple devices and across platforms. On non-Apple devices, Passkeys will work through QR codes that will authenticate using the ‌iPhone‌, but it will require support from other companies, so it's a standard that needs to be adopted across the tech world.

Apple says that transitioning away from passwords is going to take some time, but it is working with developers to create a password less future.