- Utilizing the same password over and over again throughout a large spectrum of systems as well as web sites creates the headache situation where as soon as someone has actually determined one password, they have identified all your passwords and currently have access to every component of your life (system, e-mail, retail, monetary, work).
- Password Keeper remembers all your passwords and more. It features high encrypted secure database, import and export functions, Password Generator for Secure Password, Skins, and drag and drop for.
There are three things that I can remember without looking them up: the phone number for repair to my cable service, my favorite Pizza place, and my social security number. The rest I couldn’t tell you on a bet. My solution to this area of my life is Keychain. My personal keychain has around 300 entries and I rely on it daily. In case you are not familiar with Keychain on your Mac here is what you need to get up to speed.
Getting started with OS X's Keychain
I tried the most popular Password Managers and the ones that are add-ins in those virus software programs, where you pay for the program and hidden in that High price is a password manager option. After testing mostly all of them, I came back to Keeper.
- Keychain is password management system in OS X developed by Apple. It was introduced with Mac OS 8.6, and has been included in all subsequent versions of Mac OS, including OS X. A Keychain can contain various types of data: passwords (for Websites, FTP servers, SSH accounts, network shares, wireless networks, groupware applications, encrypted disk images), private keys, certificates, and secure notes. You will find Keychain in the Utility folder in the Applications folder. Unless you indicate otherwise on a case-by-case basis, you can not open your keychain without your administrator password.
Keychain will generate and store all your Safari-based passwords and autofill them for you where and as needed. However, there may be times when a website doesn't allow autofill (for example, at public terminals or when a site has been coded to specifically block autofill).
I love Keychain and have since it was first released. We are all bombarded with info every day. Who can remember all this stuff? This can be particularly true if you visit a website that you haven’t visited in a couple of months. Which password did you use the last time you were there?
And don’t even think about just creating a new account. Your account is in their databases and most of the time a site will not let you create another account. You get messages like “that email address is already in use”, or “the name you have entered already has an active account with us.”
Now we have Keychain available on our OS devices through iCloud.
iCloud Keychain
iCloud Keychain requires OS X v10.9 or later or iOS 7.0.3 or later. iIt keeps the following account information up to date across your Mac computers and iOS devices:
▪ Website account names and passwords that Safari autofills for you
▪ Credit card numbers and expiration dates that Safari autofills for you
▪ Most Wi-Fi network names and passwords
iCloud Keychain also keeps account names, passwords, and settings that you add to it, such as the registration codes for your software. Passwords and credit card information are encrypted in your OS X keychain and your iCloud Keychain.
Set up iCloud Keychain on your Mac
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
- Turn on Keychain, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Approve a device to use iCloud Keychain
If you set up iCloud Keychain on your Mac, and then you set it up on another device, you may receive a notification on your Mac asking if you want to let the other device use your iCloud Keychain.
Do one of the following:
- In the notification alert, click View, or
- In iCloud preferences, click Option to the right of Keychain, then click Details.
In the dialog that appears, enter your Apple ID password, then click Allow.
Change how new devices can be approved
After setting up iCloud Keychain on your Mac, you can change whether your iCloud Security Code can be used to approve iCloud Keychain on new devices. You can also change the iCloud Security Code or the phone number used to verify your identity after you use the iCloud Security Code.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
- Make sure Keychain is on and your Mac is approved.
- Click Options next to Keychain, then make changes in the dialog that appears.
How to Set Up iCloud Keychain
- How to turn on (or turn off) iCloud Keychain on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Launch Settings from the Home screen
- Tap on iCloud.
- Tap on Keychain.
- Toggle iCloud Keychain to On.
- You will be asked to either set up an iCloud Keychain password or enter the existing one. You can also choose to verify with another device if you choose.
How to Manually View Credit Card Numbers with iCloud Keychain
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap on Safari.
- Tap on Passwords & AutoFill under the General section.
- Tap on either Saved Passwords or Saved Credit Cards.
I find it particularly helpful that I can now access Keychain info on either my iPhone or my iPad. Before this became an option I always had to wait until I was at my Mac to transact business. It’s that whole memory thing.
These days, it seems that we have an account for everything online, and then some. With so many bank accounts, bills, subscription services, social media logins, work-related accounts, and more, it's important to have a strong and secure password. And not only that, but having a unique strong and secure password for everything. We can't stress that enough — never use the same password for multiple accounts, as it increases potential risk if someone ever happens to get a hold of your info.
But we get it, remembering a billion different combinations of letters, numbers, and special characters is pretty much impossible. Fortunately, there are password management apps designed to help you keep your digital data safe and secure on the Mac, and most of these also have mobile counterparts to simplify your life.
1Password
1Password is one of the most popular password manager apps out there, and it's the one I use personally on a daily basis. It's available on every platform you can think of, and it has a huge set of useful features in a nice interface.
With 1Password, you're able to store your login details, bank account information, credit cards, ID cards, email accounts, secure notes, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It has a convenient password generator to help you create randomized passwords to use, and the Watchtower feature lets you know when a password has been reused, has been in use for a long time, or even when a site may be compromised, so you should update your password info.
1Password is free to download, but you will want to grab a subscription to the get the most out of the service. It starts at $3 a month for an individual account, or you can even get a Family account for just $5 a month so everyone is protected.
LastPass
A popular alternative to 1Password is LastPass, which is also a free download with plenty of great features in a simplified design.
With LastPass, you're able to store all of your usernames and passwords in a vault, and sync them across all of your devices for free. If you have a lot of passwords to go through, you can quickly search for what you need, and LastPass automatically fills in your credentials when you need them. There's a password generator, ability to create secure notes and add attachments too, encryption, and more.
There is a subscription service for LastPass for families and premium users, which includes Emergency Access, so trusted friends and family can access your information in an emergency. A subscription also has other features like unlimited sharing, 1GB of file storage, and more. The subscription costs $24 a year.
DashLane
DashLane is another well-known brand when it comes to password management. With DashLane, you're getting a fast and simple way to keep track of all of your important login information, payments, personal info, and more.
Like the competition, DashLane not only keeps your login details safe and secure, but can generate passwords and update them when needed, fill in forms, and alert you when websites you use are compromised. It's free to download for up to 50 items, and if you need more, there are two tiers of premium plans.
The first Premium plan gives you unlimited passwords on unlimited devices, Dark Web Monitoring, a free VPN built-in for safe browsing, and up to 1GB of file storage. The Premium Plus plan (US only) offers real-time credit monitoring and alerts, live identity restoration, and up to $1 million of identity theft insurance. Premium is $60 a year and Premium Plus is $120 a year.
Keeper
Need more than just password storage and management? Then Keeper could be the app for you.
Password Keeper Software For Pc
Keeper allows you to keep multiple vaults, and you can choose which one you want to use once you login with your master password. So if you need one vault for personal and another for work, then Keeper can handle it, no problem. Keeper lets you save passwords, generate passwords, fill out forms, share individual items with people you trust, monitor the dark web, have up to five trusted users to access your data in case of emergency, and much more. You can even use Keeper to save video files.
Keeper is free to download and use with some limitations. But you can subscribe to Unlimited for no restrictions, or you can purchase more storage for file attachments if needed.
EnPass
One thing that all of the apps we've mentioned so far have is that they all need a subscription to get the most out of them. But what if you just want a completely free password manager? Look no further than EnPass.
You can store anything in EnPass, such as your login credentials, bank account information, email accounts, secure notes, and more, without any restrictions. There is also a strong password generator and password audit, which lets you know if your passwords are weak, mediocre, or strong. EnPass automatically locks itself when not in use and you can sync your data across multiple devices. Everything in EnPass is stored locally, and never uploaded to an online server.
mSecure
Need a simple and no-frills solution to password management? Then give mSecure a try. It has a straightforward approach to keeping all of your data secure on your Mac and every other device.
How To Reset Keeper Password
With mSecure, you're getting a safe place to store all of the important details that matter to you, and everything gets encrypted. You get a password manager, strong password generator, autofill forms, and templates with the info you need. The free version of mSecure can be used forever without paying a dime, and you get an unlimited number of records. But if you opt for Pro, you can get more, such as syncing across all devices, backup and restore options, custom templates, and more. A Pro subscription costs $30 a year.
Password Safe
Tired of subscription services but want a premium app that can handle more than a free option? Then pwSafe - Password Safe is the one you should try out.
The thing that sets pwSafe apart from others is the fact that it is a one-time purchase, and there are no in-app purchases after that. So you spend less than $20 to get the app, and then it's yours forever, at least, until the next major version if they decide to charge for it.
With pwSafe, you get simple and secure password management for all of your login credentials, bank accounts, credit cards, emails, secure notes, and more. There's a password generator for making those random passwords, and it can fill out the forms you need it to. You can have multiple safes, unlimited saved items, unlimited fields per item, iCloud sync, and more. There is also the option to print out a hardcopy of the items you need, giving you a complete safeguard in case anything happens (store it away in a safety box or something). If you prefer to use a service like Dropbox for backups, that option is in Password Safe too.
Password Safe is a good option to consider if you just want a one-time price on an app with a premium experience.
Digital Password Keeper
Avast Passwords
Avast Passwords is another good option to consider if you want a convenient and powerful password manager. Like others, it is free to download with the option to subscribe to a premium version for more features.
With Avast, you'll be able to store your passwords, logins, email account info, bank information, credit cards, secure notes, generate strong random passwords, and fill in forms quickly with the browser extension. Avast is a trusted name in security solutions, and it is free to use Avast Passwords across multiple devices.
The Premium subscription includes the audit feature, which lets you know about your weak passwords and encourages you to update them to stronger ones. It also has the ability to notify you of potentially compromised websites so you can update your information. Premium costs $20 a year, so it's one of the more affordable alternatives compared to the competition.
iCloud Keychain
Of course, if you don't want to pay for or use a third-party service, then there is also iCloud Keychain, which is built in to your Mac and iOS devices. With Keychain, your basic login details (usernames and passwords) should be saved automatically and sync across all of your devices through iCloud. There's nothing you need to do aside from having it turned on in the iCloud pane in System Preferences.
Stay safe and secure online
These our some of the best options out there on the Mac App Store for password management on your Mac. It's important to use strong, randomized passwords so no one can easily guess them if they're trying to get to your information, and change passwords often. And never use the same password more than once! These apps help keep you and your data secure online.
What are you using for password management on your Mac and iOS devices? Let us know in the comments.
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exposure notificationNational COVID-19 server to use Apple and Google's API, hosted by Microsoft
Password Keeper Programs
The Association of Public Health Laboratories has announced it is working with Apple, Google, and Microsoft to launch a national server that will securely store COVID-19 exposure notification data.