Get a grip

My passwords are all over the place. Some are very strong and secure, but many have been compromised — and I still haven’t fixed them.

Plus, I’ve been using the same default password for almost 30 years now.

Ofc, I don’t use it for anything critical. I only use it for apps and services that I don’t care if they get hacked: forums, games, stuff like that.

I continue to use it because I know I’ll remember it. I know this sounds potty when password apps and browsers will automatically remember things for you, but that’s not always the case — and the risk seems so low, it’s not worth the extra hassle of faffing about with Apple’s Passwords app. So, same old default password it is.

The good news is, it probably won’t take you very long to fix your passwords with the Passwords app.

Apple’s stand-alone app is great for lots of things, from generating very strong passwords to sharing them with friends, family members or co-workers (a feature I’ve started using more and more).

To celebrate World Password Day, why not spend a few minutes fixing your own passwords?

Also in today’s newsletter:

• In a blockbuster ruling, a federal judge ended the 27% “Apple tax” on in-app purchases and called for a criminal investigation — yes, criminal — into Apple execs (including Tim Cook) for noncompliance with previous rulings. And we thought Apple was the good guy! Details here.

• Following the judge’s ruling, Epic Games’ super-popular game Fortnite might return to the App Store within a week.

• This Amazon deal on the super-hot black titanium Apple Watch Ultra 2 drops it to near its cheapest price to date.

• If you’re tinkering with passwords, it’s a great idea to convert as many as possible to Passkeys, a much stronger biometric authentication system. More and more sites and services support them, and converting passwords to Passkeys is pretty straightforward.

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

Tweets of the day

Wallpaper of the day

One more thing ...

Today’s poll

Results from yesterday’s poll: Do you use Visual Intelligence?

Best reader comments

Subscribe to The Weekender — Get the week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.