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This app just made it super-easy for Android users to keep their passwords secure

Published Mar 28th, 2014 4:10PM EDT
Best Android Security Apps LastPass

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As we’ve mentioned in the past, passwords are an enormous pain, especially since keeping them secure these days often means switching them up every couple of months and making them so complex that they’re all but impossible to remember. However, ZDNet directs our attention to a recently released update from password management app LastPass that has just made it much easier for Android users to safely keep all their passwords secure across multiple different applications.

LastPass announced this week that its Android app now has the ability to autofill logins for users’ mobile apps and any webpages accessed through Android’s Chrome mobile browser. LastPass says this capability “brings the same LastPass experience you’re used to on the desktop to all of your mobile apps and Chrome” by being able to “detect that a username and password field are shown, and hover with a prompt for you to select a matching login.”

LastPass essentially generates secure passwords for you and stores them in a vault that it lets you access on multiple devices and platforms. So if you’ve stored your Netflix password in the vault through your PC, you should be able to get LastPass to enter it into your smartphone when you first install the Netflix mobile app. LastPass now has the ability to detect which mobile apps are associated with websites whose passwords you’ve stored in the vault, which means that you won’t have to search around for your password on every new app you’re trying to log into.

You’ll need a device that runs Android 4.1 or higher for LastPass to be compatible with your apps and you’ll need a device that runs Android 4.3 or higher for LastPass to be compatible with Chrome. You’ll also need to subscribe to LastPass’s premium service to take advantage of these new features, although it only costs $12 a year. You can find LastPass on the Google Play store by clicking here.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.