We all have so many passwords for online retailers, banks, courts, etc. that you need to have some way to track them all. That’s why I recommend that everyone consider getting a password manager app. There are quite a few good ones out there, but I really love the one that I use: 1Password. The app gives me a central location to store all of my passwords in a super secure fashion on my iPhone, plus the app syncs the passwords so that they are also available on my iPad, my PC and my Mac. The idea is that you just have to remember your one master password, and then type in that password to get access in the app to all of your other ones — which you no longer need to remember, so they can be long and complicated, and thus more secure. Better yet, with a new iPhone or iPad, you don’t even have to type your master password and can instead just use your fingerprint to start the app.
The most recent update to 1Password was late last month and it added a great new feature called Login Creator. It used to be that when you went to enter a new website password into the 1Password app, you were always presented with the same blank form so you had to fill out the fields from scratch. But with the new Login Creator, the app already knows about hundreds of popular websites.
For example, as you start to enter your Amazon password, as you type the first few letters of “Amazon” the app recognizes the service. Just tap the service as it comes up, and now you don’t have to spend as much time creating the entry. You need to provide your username and password (or let the app create a secure, random password for you), but the app already knows other details such as the website address.
If you have been using 1Password for a while, you have already entered your most frequently used passwords like your Amazon password. But if you haven’t yet started using 1Password, with the new Login Creator, it is even faster to get up and running.
And 1Password is not just for passwords. Last year, I wrote about how you can use 1Password to create a digital wallet with copies of your license, credit cards, etc. just in case you ever lose your wallet. I also love the Secure Notes feature of 1Password, which gives me a place to type private information that I don’t want anyone else to see — such as if I let one of my kids use my iPhone to play a game. I use it to store both secure personal data and some private client-related information that I want to keep privileged and confidential.
If you have been thinking of getting a password manager, I encourage you to try 1Password on your iPhone. If you like it, then you’ll also want to get a copy for your computer, but you can start with just the iPhone/iPad app to see if it is right for you. The app itself is free so that you can easily take a test drive, and then with a $9.99 in-app purchase you can take advantage of all of the advanced features such as automatic sync, the ability to use folders, additional categories for items like a driver’s license and passport, etc.
Click here to get 1Password (free; $9.99 in-app for pro features):
What alternates are there?
I’ve been using 1Password on my iPhone for a while, and I’m starting to consider getting something that I can use on both my iPhone and my mac. 1Password on the mac is quite overpriced for a junior, non-biglaw attorney, especially since all I want it for is the features that are free on the iPhone.
I’m leaning towards lastpass, which has a free version for the mac.
LastPass is the one that I hear recommended the most, other than 1Password. 1Password only costs $50 for the Mac. Or if you are cross-platform like I am, you can pay $70, which got me a license to use it on my PC at work and my Mac at home. I always feel more secure paying for a product than relying upon a free one — is anything in life really free? — but I haven’t tried LastPass and I certainly know people who use and like it, so it may do everything that you need. Fortunately you can try out both iOS apps for free to compare them.
-Jeff
This is very useful. I have definitely got to try this app. I’d been thinking of getting a password manager for a while now.
Jeff: what happens if you have lots of saved passwords already and then get 1Password? Do you start over and what about keychain passwords?
Thanks for any insight.
Steve
Passwords that are saved in the Safari keychain are different from 1Password entires. So yes, even if you have passwords saved in Keychain, you do need to enter them again in the 1Password app.
-Jeff
I use 1Password too, across the board for my Windows or Apple computers and all mobile devices. But lately I’ve become more concerned about doing so. Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t putting all of your numerous information and passwords in one location, protected from unauthorized access only by only a single “Master Password” even riskier than it is for having them spread out so that an intruder has to break all of the passwords separately? While I know that Agilebits uses strong encryption for 1Password it still seems to me hat its more likely that the master password will be cracked and everything opened up this way. What do you think about that aspect?
As long as you use a good master password — don’t use the name of your child or pet — I think that 1Password is a far better choice. It allows you to use crazy complicated, almost impossible to guess, passwords for the popular sites that hackers are far more likely to try to crack, like Amazon or eBay or PayPal etc. And it makes it super easy to use different passwords on every site, so even if a bad guy gets your BestBuy password they don’t also have your Eddie Bauer password, etc. A hacker is far more likely to hack a popular website than your particular 1Password account.
Moreover, 1Password uses the best type of security on 1Password itself precisely because they know that if anyone got access to your master password they would have access to everything else. So security is all that 1Password worries about, every single day. You hear about popular websites being hacked all the time, but I’ve never heard of a bad guy hacking a 1Passowrd account (or any of the other popular services such as LastPass).
There is always some risk no matter what approach you take, but overall I think that using 1Password is less of a risk than other options.
-Jeff