One of the last truly free password management apps is also an excellent choice to keep you safe online


(KTLA) – Let’s face it: reusing the same password over and over puts your personal data at serious risk. It’s why you need to use a password management app now.

“Part of our philosophy is that basic password management should be free for everyone,” started Michael Crandell, CEO of Bitwarden. I met up with him at a beachfront hotel in Santa Barbara, near the company’s headquarters.

Bitwarden makes a popular, open source password management software that also happens to be free.

That’s good to know, especially at a time when another popular password management app called LastPass is making changes on March 16 that have many users looking for a new option. LastPass will begin charging for some features that used to be free. This includes the ability to sync your passwords across all of your devices, including tablets, mobile phones and computers at the same time.

“One key aspect of a password manager is that it be available to you on every device on every platform that you use,” said Crandell, well aware of the changes happening at the competition.

Password managers work by generating strong, unique and random passwords for every site you visit (14 characters seems to be the sweet spot for maximum security, according to Crandell). The app also stores all of the information, so when you come back to the website, the password manager fills in all of the info for you.

You just have to choose one “master” password to secure your account and enable two-factor authentication to be sure no one else can get in.

“Bitwarden as a company as a service can never, ever see your passwords, they’re only available to you,” explained Crandell.

There are also some other free password manager options remaining. Dashlane has a free product that is excellent, but again, you can only access your passwords on one device. This means that you would be typing or copying and pasting passwords from your phone to computer or vice versa every time you wanted to use them. Also, Dashlane’s free tier is limited to…

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