I'm hoping that Bungie will provide their in game/in application 1st party release solution sooner rather than later.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news... but Bungie decided that providing a robust API was a far more productive use of their time than building tools of this kind. The Destiny Companion App will always be decent - but if you want GREAT tools, they're COUNTING on you using 3rd party apps.

(The stuff we're talking about might NEVER be available from Bungie, directly.)

Yeah, I can for sure see where you (or perhaps Bungie) may be coming from. It makes tons of sense to spend resources wisely and examine the trade offs.

I guess maybe I'm talking about different stuff than the collective 'we'. I'm not looking for all the bells and whistles. I don't really need 'load outs' or any of the other advanced features somehow provided by 3rd party. By 1st party release I just mean in game (or official companion application), basic functionality.

So do you think that an upgraded vault with better sort options is for sure off the table?
Or upgraded 'collection' pages? Separate individual pages for Ship, Sparrow, Shader, Emote, etc.
Bungie.net Armory with player inventory access is gone for good?
Kiosks won't be making a triumphant return with some future Event or Downloadable Content (I wouldn't even be mad if all the kiosks had to be hidden under menus of the current singular Vault - or sequestered to The Farm or something)?
How about a page with the Season Items that will be getting locked away forever, and a proposed date with when those are going to be magically 'going away for good'?

(I hope none of this sounds condescending. I'm being completely honest here)

I'm not really on board with 3rd party tools that require authorization from my account credentials. To my knowledge I haven't really used one yet and don't have a plan to start using one. I'm hoping that Bungie will provide their in game/in application 1st party release solution sooner rather than later.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news... but Bungie decided that providing a robust API was a far more productive use of their time than building tools of this kind. The Destiny Companion App will always be decent - but if you want GREAT tools, they're COUNTING on you using 3rd party apps.

(The stuff we're talking about might NEVER be available from Bungie, directly.)

I could use this on my apple hardware, but I regularly have to use a PC--is there a client for that?

They have a Windows client, as well. Their annual subscription is $36, and it's worth every penny (and probably more). I use 1Password on my Mac, PC, and iOS devices every day. Can't recommend it enough.

INdeed.

1Pаsswоrd is my choice for password managers.

I've many great things from many different people about this. I've just been to lazy to set it up.

1Pаsswоrd is my choice for password managers.

Watch out for IDN homograph attacks... you know... as much as possible.

Good point. This is exactly why I suggested the use of a good password manager, though – they cannot be spoofed by a character that looks the same but is actually different.

I'm not really on board with 3rd party tools that require authorization from my account credentials. To my knowledge I haven't really used one yet and don't have a plan to start using one. I'm hoping that Bungie will provide their in game/in application 1st party release solution sooner rather than later.
After basically scrapping 3 years of collecting progress in Destiny 1 and then declaring Destiny 2 a "collection game" prior to providing the basic tools in game for collecting, it is down right low. It is like putting the proverbial cart before the horse. To compound it, there are items that are collectible, but out of reach beyond a soft pay wall, and will be going away forever after an unprovided timegate/date on the calendar? Frustrating beyond belief.

I was not truly involved with collecting in Destiny 1 until Bungie themselves made it a rewarded focus during Rise of Iron and Age of Triumph with the addition of in game 'books' that tracked progress. Don't get me wrong I was involved with saving cool unique weapons, special armor sets, event specific things, and some mission items/consumables that I liked. And I had a Vault space that was jam packed and difficult to manage. However I was not concerned barely at all with vendor sold Emblems, Ships, Shaders, Sparrows, Exotics, etc until there were active book nodes for them (The various in game kiosks were a god-send). That is when my pre-existing inner monster was released.
With the exception of unique Emblems, I don't care much for personalization options. These items were more or less personalization items and were basically inconsequential to me at that time.
All around I am a bit of a completionist/perfectionist when it comes to gaming, at times cripplingly so. Enough that sometimes I cannot start and just play to enjoy a game without a paranoia that I might be missing progress/achievement/item/etc. Or I will barely start a game and get side tracked and then never actually finish it. I've always been a secret hunter and a careful player but I think this evolved to a new level with Xbox Achievements.

Only works for websites.

Well...

No.

Watch out for IDN homograph attacks... you know... as much as possible.

How do I know it's the Bungie website I'm dealing with? This extends to Xbox Live too credentials too.

When the login auth page shows up, check its URL. If it's anything other than a domain that you're expecting, then it's a phishing scam. Also, use a good password manager. :)

Is it very difficult or even impossible to spoof a URL? I genuinely know nothing about that sort of stuff. Am I generally good if I know the URL and see the https address?

How do I know it's the Bungie website I'm dealing with? This extends to Xbox Live too credentials too.

When the login auth page shows up, check its URL. If it's anything other than a domain that you're expecting, then it's a phishing scam. Also, use a good password manager. :)