When Apple announced its new password manager app, cleverly called Passwords, it highlighted the need for such functionality in the contemporary age. While many folks (not to mention businesses and government agencies) have avoided adapting such solutions, the fact of the matter is that password management goes a long way toward security.

Password hacking continues to be one of the most common methods bad actors employ to run scams. Nowadays, use of previously compromised credentials, acquired on the dark web, is the most common scheme. But old-school brute force processes and malware, including viruses propagated through social media sites, are still used.

Password management came onto the scene about a decade ago but hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. Password management software allows you to store all your passwords in a single location and easily retrieve them when logging into websites and apps. In the past there was some concern that all of a person’s passwords were accessible if someone gained access to their master password. Nowadays, however, with the use of multifactor authentication, that concern is largely mitigated.

With password management, gone are the days of using one password for everything, or tracking your passwords in a spreadsheet, or relying upon the recovery capabilities of the website. Good password managers work on multiple platforms and with all types of software, including phone/tablet apps, websites and desktop applications. Popular password management software includes DashLane, Bitwarden and 1Password, among others.

So where does that leave Apple’s Passwords? Most iPhone users are familiar with Keychain, and those ensconced in the Apple world appreciate that passwords are accessible across iPads and Macs through iCloud. This leaves a hole for the very common user combination of an iPhone and Windows-based PC. While it is possible to use Keychain on Edge and Chrome browsers in Windows, this is what we like to call an expert-friendly process, typically used only by the geekiest of geeks.

Passwords promises much better interoperability with Windows, but that’s it. Notably, no plans for Android or Linux versions are on the horizon. In this sense, Passwords is only for users of Apple products, while most other password managers are targeted at a wider market.

Of course, one of the most attractive features of Passwords is that it’s free — provided, of course, you’ve spent several hundred on an iPhone or over $1,000 on a Mac. But to get more than bare-bones functionality out of other password managers, you’re going to pay at least a few bucks a month.

As far as functionality goes, Passwords is pretty much on par with the rest of the bunch, at least when it comes to dealing with … passwords. Saving, recalling and advising on risk are all in its wheelhouse. Sure, some apps don’t integrate well with Passwords, but they typically don’t integrate well with other password managers, either. The biggest flaw in virtually all password managers is that some apps don’t recognize when you are creating or updating a password.

But features found in other password managers, such as saving credit card information, or notes with the password, are lacking. This could be because other apps handle this, such as Apple Wallet, but if you’re on a Windows machine, your Wallet isn’t running there.

Finally, while Passwords does have a sharing function suitable for family and friends, there is no “enterprise” version (a version used by organizations rather than individuals). Most enterprise versions provide similar functionality as the consumer versions at the endpoint but include additional features for centralized management throughout the organization.

But if you are a person living in an all-Apple world or Apple/Windows world, Passwords is a good option. It will probably be around as long as Apple is around, which is more than can be said for other password managers. Apple typically takes great care of its own apps, continuously improving them. It will probably always be free. And, while not perfect, Apple does a good job with respect to security breaches, which can’t be said for all other password management vendors.

John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 25 years of information technology experience in Hawaii and around the world. He can be reached at jagsalud@live.com.