Apps to Watch: mSecure password manager
A common problem with today’s proliferation of logins, usernames and passwords on different devices and websites means that many people use smartphone password managers to keep a (hopefully) secure record of such information. Not only that, most password manager apps also allow you to enter other details such as passport numbers, driving licenses and so on.
There are already a number of popular such apps for Android and iOS such as 1Password and LastPass. In my case, I’ve been a long-time user of mSecure by mSeven Software which offers an app for iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows Phone and the Mac.
This year mSecure also released an Apple Watch app, giving quick access to any of your logins and password from your wrist. There’s nothing fancy or particularly impressive about the user interface, but it’s one of those apps that I find myself using again and again. Need quick access to one of your credit card PINs whilst at a checkout? Tap the watch app and glance at the password. It’s certainly quicker than pulling out a phone. The app also provides the option of enhancing security even more with a 4-digit PIN, and uses 256-bit Blowfish Encryption.
Within the iPhone app you can add any of the stored items to the Apple Watch, which simply presents them in a scrollable list sorted alphabetically. mSecure isn’t the most well-known password app and doesn’t have many bells and whistles, but it gets the job done as simply and effectively as possible.
In my case, I also use the mSecure phone app to generate passwords (in the situations where Safari doesn’t automatically suggest them) and to keep a second copy of some of my Mac’s Keychain passwords. This feature isn’t available on the Apple Watch app yet however.
Overall, mSecure’s Apple Watch support is quite limited, but hopefully this will improve as the watch develops over time. It’s also likely that the other password managers will continue to improve and add features to their watch apps – location-based notifications could be an interesting addition, for instance.
If you’re deciding upon a password app for Apple Watch, it definitely wise to try out several in terms of capabilities and features on a PC/Mac, smartphone and wearable to see which one fits your needs. For the time being though, mSecure is doing a fine job of “doing exactly what it says on the tin”.
You can find mSecure on the App Store, Google Play and Windows Phone.
