This article was published on March 16, 2021

Dropbox declares its password manager will be free to use


Dropbox declares its password manager will be free to use

Password managers are important. You don’t want to remember all your credentials or write them down in a notebook — your sibling might steal them.

That’s why (or maybe some other reason) Dropbox is making its password manager feature available to everyone starting in April. The cloud storage service launched this feature last year for its paying customers.

With this new announcement, anyone with a Dropbox account could use it. However, there are few caveats to this service: you can only store 50 passwords and sync up to three devices to access your credentials from anywhere.

In terms of security, the app is using zero-knowledge encryption — a type of encryption where you don’t have to reveal the password for verification. It can also generate unique passwords for new sign-ups and autofill your credentials on apps and websites. The company said that it’ll soon bring a new feature that’ll let you share passwords with your friends securely.

For a basic user, this is not a bad deal. You could store your social media and email account credentials on Dropbox. Plus, if you own a phone, a laptop, and a third device like an iPad, you don’t need to pay up any money.

Dropbox’s timing of this launch is great. Last month, popular password manager LastPass said that it will limit its free tier to only one device — a phone or a computer. So, users looking to shift services might find Dropbox’s offering lucrative.

If you want to store more than the free 50 passwords, you’ll have updrage to Dropbox’s paid plans starting from $9.99 per month. That’s pricier than other password managers such as 1Password and Lastpass that offer $3 per month plans. However, Dropbox offers storage services too.

If you don’t use any password manager, this is your chance. You could sign up here for an alert when Dropbox Password becomes available for you.

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