No matter how hard companies pitch the benefits of being in their ecosystem, more often than not, consumers end up buying products from different brands that render some ecosystem-exclusive features useless. In an attempt to make iCloud Keychain accessible to those with Windows PCs, Apple has released a Chrome extension. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work at the time of writing.
The interface doesn’t show any text, and users are greeted with two blank dashes and six empty boxes, the latter seemingly being a placeholder for a 2FA code. It’s only when the first dash is clicked that the extension says it requires iTunes for Windows to function — this isn’t mentioned in the description on the Chrome Web Store. Even with the latest version installed, however, it still doesn’t work. Other users who have tried it out have had a similar experience.
Until now, iCloud Keychain was only available on Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This was a hurdle for those using Apple products along with others such as a Windows laptop. With this extension, users with Windows machines should be able to access their iCloud passwords and other saved information, but they’ll have to wait until Apple rolls out a fix. It’s surprising the extension has been released at all given its current state, so perhaps somebody pushed the button too early.
While we wait for a fix, you can still install the extension from the Chrome Web Store, but keep in mind that it’s only meant for Windows PCs and will require iTunes for Windows to operate.
