As promised on my Facebook page, today we are talking about one of my favorite phone apps for busy moms. Picking one to talk about today was pretty difficult because there are a ton of great apps to save time and help you be more efficient. I chose today's app because not only is it great for busy moms, it's great for everyone!! In fact, I'd say it's pretty much a must have for anyone living in this day and age. So, without further ado, we have 1Password.
If you are a busy mom like me, you pretty much do everything online. From paying bills, to shopping, to banking, it's all done from the convenience of your computer or smartphone. Doing this means you have about a million passwords to remember. If you are writing them down on a piece of paper, STOP. If you are making all of your passwords all the same, STOP. In this day and age of hacking and identity theft, you are opening yourself up to trouble. If someone finds your list, they have everything. If someone learns 1 of your passwords, they have them all.
1Password comes to the rescue!! Let's talk about the free version first. In the free version, 1 Password provides a clean and organized place to save your passwords on your phone. You can also save your credit card info and secure notes. For the sites you go to all the time you can identify them as your favorites so they are quickly accessible. All your entries are listed in alphabetical order in your little cabinet so they are easily found. But wait there's more. These password are encrypted on your phone with a 256 bit encryption. It's not saved in some database somewhere that can be hacked, but right on your phone. As the name states, you just need 1 password to get into to the app and you are all set.
Another awesome feature is the little globe symbol. Let's say you want to pay your credit card bill on your phone. You don't have to keep switching between this app and your browser. Just click the globe and as long as you included the web address in your password entry, it will take you to the site. Then when you get to the login page, you just click the little key symbol on the bottom of your screen and the app will automatically fill in your username and password!! The same thing can be done with your credit card purchases so you don't have to type in your credit card info. Another great feature, is that if you are connecting to the websites from the app, it ensures that you are accessing the secure version of the site.
With the paid version, it gets even better!! The paid version is only $9.99 for life. It's not some annual subscription, it's one payment of ten bucks. This version allows you to make filling cabinets and share passwords with other people. So you can make 1 personal cabinet for your own personal passwords and make another one with other passwords that say your husband also uses, like the family bills. You can make a third cabinet for passwords your kids need like say the wifi password or the netflix account. It's all encrypted and protected.
Also, remember the ten dollar fee, it's one per family! So you don't have to pay to put it on each person's device, it's a family license. You can also link it to your iPad and your desktop computer. Paying bills will be a breeze. And as if you needed anything else, here's one more thing, you can also save documents from you computer in 1Password. Need a copy of a contract in a safe place, maybe your lease agreement, maybe even some pictures, there a place in the app to save those as well!!
This app is amazing!! If you have ever experienced identity theft or know someone that has, you know how valuable an app like this can be. So go get it, right now!! FYI, I am not a paid advertiser, I don't get any compensation for posting this, I just really like this app!
One more thing about security. When setting up your security info on a site, I highly recommend lying for your security questions. These are the questions people get in case they forget their login info. In this day and age where everything we do is online, answering honestly can really bite you in the bottom. Anyone can just go on Facebook to get your mom's maiden name, or the name of your pet, or the name of your high school. The best thing to do is lie, make something up. It doesn't even have to be a real word. Since you are saving all of your login info on 1Password, you can save your security question answers there too in the notes section. That way they are safe and secure and unguessable.
I hope you enjoyed this little love fest for 1Password - Password Manager and Secure Wallet - AgileBits Inc., but I truly think it is one of the most important apps on my phone. Not only does it save me time paying bills on my phone, but it also saves me from the horror of identity theft! So go get it. Now. What are you waiting for??
