How to use a password manager on all your devices
If you use the same email address and password for every online account, you’re causing trouble. If just one of these accounts is hacked, all of your accounts are compromised.
For better security, you should use a different long password for each account. Of course, no one can remember hundreds of different combinations of passwords and email addresses, but that’s where a password manager comes in.
It is a web browser application or extension that securely stores all your passwords and enters them for you when you need to log in to a website. On your phone, a good password manager should also be able to enter credentials for apps that need them like Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon.
Even better, it will work on all your devices and all you need to remember is one password to access all your connections. You need to use a very strong password for this, but on most phones and some laptops you can use your fingerprint or a password to login to the manager after entering this password for the first time . Never forget it (and write it down somewhere), but you won’t have to remember it or type it in regularly.
Although iPhones and iPads log logins to websites, they don’t do the same for apps, and you can’t use Keychain on any of your non-Apple devices, which is another reason to use a manager. passwords instead.
We use Bitwarden as an example, but you can find alternatives in our roundup of the best password managers.
In general, password managers all work the same way. Once you’ve created an account, you can use the email address and password you signed up with to sign in to the app on your phone or the extension in a web browser such as Chromium.
Create an account
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The first thing to do is create an account with your chosen password manager. As we use Bitwarden, go to their website. click the Get Started Today button and enter your details. Be sure to use a unique master password that you have never used before. The form will tell you if the password is weak, good or strong. Since it protects all your passwords, we advise you to make it a strong password.
Install app and browser extension
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Once you have an account, it’s time to install the apps and web browser extension so you can start adding credentials, and the password manager can grab those login credentials for you. On a desktop computer, you’ll want to install the “extension” for the web browsers you use. It’s probably Chrome, and you can find the extension here. Just click on the Add to Chrome button.
To get the app for your phone, go to the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android) and search for Bitwarden.
Export existing passwords – from Chrome
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If you used a web browser – maybe Chrome – to save the passwords, you should be able to export them in a format that your new password manager can understand. This is usually a ‘CSV’ file, which puts your credentials into a plain text file.
To export Chrome passwords, click the three vertical dots in the top right corner of Chrome and click Settings.
Go to password manager
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Using the search bar at the top of the page, enter the password, then click Password Manager in the Autofill section
Export Chrome credentials
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Click the three vertical dots to the right of Saved Passwords, then click Export Passwords. You will see a warning that anyone with the resulting file will be able to read all of your passwords. Click Export Passwords (again) and enter your Windows password or PIN. A file explorer window should open and allow you to choose the folder where the file is saved.
Tip: Navigate to the downloaded file and double-click it. If you have Excel, it should open in a nice, easy-to-read format where you can review connections, delete ones you no longer use, and correct incorrect information. Some may have blank passwords, which means Chrome hasn’t saved a password for that site. Once tidied, proceed to the next step.
Import credentials into Bitwarden
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Now you can import them all into Bitwarden (and other password managers). Go to your vault on the Bitwarden website and enter the email address and master password you created in step 1.
Once logged in, click Tools in the top menu, then click Import Data in the left menu. Use the drop-down menu to select Chrome (csv), then click the Choose File button and select the file you just downloaded in the previous step. Click Import Data.
Check your safe
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If you now click on Vaults in the top menu, you should see a list of connections that have been imported.
Launch web browser extension
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Click the Bitwarden icon in Chrome as shown. If not, click the puzzle piece icon and click the pin icon next to Bitwarden in the list that appears. The extension will ask you to sign in with your email address and master password.
Enable autofill
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Click Settings at the bottom right of the Bitwarden extension window, then click Options.
Scroll down and check Autofill on page load. This will automatically fill in login information – if available – for any website you visit. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can click on the Bitwarden icon when you need to connect to a website and click on the corresponding connection in the list.
Tip: You can use a keyboard shortcut to enter the last used ID for a particular website. The default is Ctrl+Shift+L, but you can change it by going to chrome://extensions/shortcuts. Repeated use of the shortcut will cycle through the stored logins for that website.
Visit a website and use Bitwarden
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Go to the login page of a website for which you have a saved (or imported) login. The email address / username and password should be entered automatically. You can simply click on the Login or Login button.
Tip: If your login information isn’t auto-populated, look for the Bitwarden icon in the top right of your browser window. It may or may not display a number. If so, there is at least one matching connection. If there isn’t, the website address may not exactly match what Bitwarden has stored, so click the Bitwarden icon and use the search bar to search for that site. You should find a match, which you can simply click on to autofill the login information. If not, go to the next step.
Add a new connection
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If you log into a website for which Bitwarden does not yet have a saved login, you should see a pop-up message at the top of your web browser asking if you want Bitwarden to save this information. The same will happen if you enter a different password than the one already registered for this site, and you will see the option to update the details.
But you can add a new connection manually by clicking the Bitwarden icon in your browser, then clicking the + symbol to the right of the search bar.
Fill in the details: name (such as YouTube; the default is to copy the website URL), username (which can be an email address), and password. You can also scroll down and add notes for this site, such as additional login information that you might otherwise forget.
When you use a password manager on your phone, you need to allow your password manager to show up on other apps and websites, which means enabling the accessibility service. This should only be done for trustworthy apps such as Bitwarden.
Your passwords should be synced across all your devicesso when you install and login to Bitwarden on your phone, you will find all the logins you have imported or added.
Most password managers store your credentials securely (using encryption) in the cloud.
For each device or web browser, all you have to do is install the app or browser extension, sign in with that primary email address and password, and you have access to all your saved connections.
Most password managers, including Bitwarden, can also store other sensitive data such as your credit and debit card details and then enter them into the appropriate fields when paying for things on websites. .
Once you’ve added all your apps and websites, you’ll be able to connect to them securely and quickly without having to remember them and without compromising their security.
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