The Best Password Managers for Android

Getting your password hacked is not a pleasant event. Dealing with password recovery, convincing the website the account actually belongs you, and getting everything back in order is a real pain. If you create your password too weak and easy to remember, the chances of getting hacked goes up. If you do a really complicated password, chances are you’ll either forget it or you have to write in a paper or in notepad to remember it. If this sounds like a problem you’re having then why not try out a password manager?

Password managers allow you to save your passwords to apps and websites in a secure place. You can make them as complicated as you want and the manager will remember them for you. Then, you just have to remember one password: the password to the password manager. If this sounds like something you want to do, here is our list of the best password manager apps for Android.

After its mid-2014 redesign, 1Password has been tossed back into relevance on Android as a really great password manager. The new app looks and works well, with no extra flair that gets in the way of you accessing your secure information. 1Password secures your logins, passwords, payment info, secure notes and information with AES-256 bit encryption, and syncs to all of your devices via your own Dropbox account or stores locally for any other app to sync if you choose. The integrated browser lets you visit websites and auto-fill data, or you can copy and paste manually from the app into any other app or website if you'd like.

Because it uses your own storage and account to sync you control your own data, and it also means that there's no recurring subscription to use 1Password. You can pay a one-time $7.99 in-app purchase (after a 30-day free trial) to unlock premium features to give you better editing and creation of passwords, but it isn't necessary to keep 1Password functional.

 If you have yet to create a LastPass account, do it on the web before downloading the app. While the application is very good at the setup process, it is still faster to type and navigate through this introductory phase from the desktop. LastPass will require some ominous-sounding permissions, but agree to them, as this empowers the app to sign in to your accounts on Chrome and  Android apps. LastPass will ask you to create one master password (this may be the one you actually want to write down and keep somewhere safe). Then it will run in the background of your browser and ask for permission to save passwords when signing in to online accounts.

LastPass solves what is a typical headache when downloading an app: remembering the password connected to the service. When launching a new app, a LastPass dialog box will launch that offers to log you in. Just sign in with your master password and LastPass will then connect you to the app. No need to remember your 12-digit ESPN account created nine months ago if it has been saved in LastPass.

Cost: Free to download and use, but to back up your information to the cloud, you'll need to get a subscription for $9.99/year. Keeper has a clean interface for navigating through your many log-ins. When you go to a website you have already entered the log-in information for, it puts buttons at the top of the interface letting you touch to enter your name, then touch again to enter your password.

Keeper uses 256-bit AES encryption and adds two-factor authentication. You can also share information safely (for example, sending a bank account number to a loved one), with Keeper's Vault to Vault sharing features.

RoboForm isn't going to win any awards for a stunning GUI, but it has gathered accolades for ease of use and tight integration with popular web browsers. You can set RoboForm to not only automatically log you into existing services but quickly fill out forms to register for new ones with automatic fill in of names and email addresses. RoboForm included encrypted notes, random password generation, and the ability to print hard copy backups of your password lists for storage in a fire safe or other secure location.

mSecure is used by almost a million users worldwide, providing the best time-tested, trusted, convenient and secure solution for storing and syncing your important information. mSecure uses ultra-secure 256bit blowfish encryption to protect personal information such as account numbers, usernames, passwords and more. mSecure supports private wireless networks and the Dropbox cloud to synchronize your data between your mobile devices and desktop/laptop computers over a standard Internet connection.

If you’re looking for a more lightweight option, or don’t want to spend money on a password manager, aWallet might be the solution for you. aWallet is absolutely free in the Play Store, and has just enough features to keep you happy, and to keep your information secure. Once again, the app encrypts data using AES and Blowfish algorithms with key sizes of 256, 192 and 128 bits. It also supports Triple DES with key sizes of 168 and 112 bits— you’ll have nothing to worry about with this one.

If you do want to pay some money, however, you can upgrade to the pro version in the app, which adds a password generator and CSV import. When you get into the app, it’s pretty easy to navigate your way around. There are four main modules, including Favorite Category, Categories, Lock, and Category Editor. Favorite Category allows you to designate certain passwords as “favorites” so you don’t have to waste time searching through a big list for just one password.

Categories lets you search through all of your categories of passwords, which store every password you enter into the application. Lock lets you set/reset your master password, which will allow you to initially access the application. If you leave the app at any time and go back to it, you will always have to enter your master password as a security measure. Category Editor lets you set custom categories for your passwords if you find that you need them. The presets include: Computer Logins, Credit Cards, e-Banking, e-Shops, Email Accounts, and Web Accounts.

aWallet certainly presents a nice, free, and lightweight option for those not looking to fork over cash to keep their data organized and secure. Although it may not include many of the nifty features that some others have, it still gets the job done, and gets it done well.

Dashlane Password Manager is a cross-platform password service that really checks all of the boxes. It offers industry-standard AES-256 bit encryption of your passwords, as well as secure cross-device syncing (Windows, Mac, iOS and Android) and on-device password generation. It's also able to store other sensitive non-password data such as IDs, credit card info, addresses and secure notes.

Dashlane comes with its own browser that will auto-fill all of your accounts and passwords as you visit websites, but you can also elect to use its keyboard to easily insert passwords into other apps as well. Even if you just want to manually look at your passwords, Dashlane makes it easy to copy and paste them into any app or website. The app itself blocks screenshots, which is nice, and offers several security measures to keep the app safe from unwanted users.

The service is free to use for life with the most basic features, but if you want cross-device syncing and cloud backup you'll be paying $29 per year for a premium account. The subscription is worth it if you're going to go all-in with Dashlane, but its quite a bit more expensive than other options.