HN Explorer

Ask HN: Best Mac OS X Password Manager

1 points by specialist ↗ HN
I currently use Keychain / iCloud, 1Password, and Stickies to manage my passwords. Because one tool doesn't handle everything. (For instance, I put the "2FA" stuff like my first pet's name in Stickies.) Which I imagine is less secure than having just one solution.

Is it reasonable to expect these solutions to converge? Now that Apple Safari has content blocking hooks, I fantasize they'll add hooks for suggesting passwords and filling out forms. So that Safari and 1Password aren't clobbering each other.

Instead of managing passwords, I'd like some kind of key exchange, a la ssh. Is that on the horizon?

Thanks for humoring my questions.

5 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 23.3 ms ] thread
YoAdrian
I only use 1password across OSX, iOS and Windows. I share my vault via Dropbox as iCloud doesn't play nice w/ Windows yet. You can add custom fields into login records to save your 2FA stuff. Just flag the field as a password and it won't show in plain text until you "reveal" it. It's one of the few of these kinds of apps that are being integrated with other iOS apps at the moment (e.g. eBay, Uber and Disney). Safari already has an extension for 1password. I just tell it and Chrome to not ask to save passwords and log in via the extension.
specialist
Thanks for the replies. I guess I just needed validation before abandoning Keychain.

I'll figure out how to migrate the 2FA stuff.

Is a Keychain -> 1Password migration tool (feature) a good idea?

cjensen
Use 1Password's "Secure Notes" instead of stickies so that your 2FA stuff is encrypted.
skygazer
I use 1Password as well, but instead of using its secure notes section for "security question answers," I put these inside optional fields in the 1Password logins records for the particular site. You can create whatever additional fields you like, or just use the note field. Further, instead of adding "valid" information, I use random strings of characters for my answers, and store them here as well, unique to each site. Seems much more secure than telling a whole bunch of sites my first pets name.

Another nice feature of 1Password is that it can store/generate the rolling Google Authenticator style 2 factor authentication codes right inside the login details in one of the additional fields.

laveur
I also only use 1Password. It supports more than just passwords, it includes Credit Card Info, and App Registration data as well. Its been great to get access to it, and use the password generator at work to generate new passwords every 180 days because of our password policy :(