Cheapskates Rejoice, iOS 6 Eliminates Pointless Password Input for Free Apps

We get it, inputting a user password when purchasing a paid app protects users from unscrupulous thieves and hackers who could otherwise run up an enormous credit card bill (or chew through your iTunes credit) if your iDevice is lost, stolen, or hacked. But must we go through the rigamarole of punching in a password even for free apps? At worst, a mischievous mobile thief could load up an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch with a bunch of free games, but the likelihood of that happening is pretty small.

So small, in fact, that Apple is reportedly removing the requirement to input a password when downloading free apps within iOS 6. It was already known that nabbing updates and re-downloading previous purchases would no longer require one, but according to those who have played with the latest beta, (iOS 6 beta 3), free apps no longer need one, as well.


Sure, it's not a groudbreaking feature update, but it sure will be nice not to have to punch in uppercase, lowercase, and numerical characters every time a free app is downloaded. Now if only Apple would stop kicking users out of the App Store and to the desktop when installing new apps...