LastPass Premium Password Manager (for Android)

It's hard to believe something as utilitarian as a password manager has such diehard fans, but LastPass, our Editors' Choice winner for both free and premium ($1/month, direct) desktop-based password managers, has a cult following. Converts swear by this tool?a Web service that securely stores passwords and login information, decrypts them locally, and automatically fills them in for you as you browse on your PC or Mac.

LastPass Password Manager Premium (free for Premium subscribers) lets you access your vault of saved logins and other login data on the go. It performs much better thanks to a recent update, but still takes too much work to auto-complete fields. Yes, it beats other mobile password managers like Dashlane (for iPhone) (free, 3.5 stars) and Keeper 5.0 for Android (free, 3 stars), but I'm reserving Editors' Choice judgment for when Dashlane releases its Android app this July. Dashlane currently shares the Editors' Choice award for desktop-based password managers, with LastPass.

Get Started?Through Your Desktop
I like apps that are easy to use the minute I download them. LastPass is not one of these. When I first launched the app, I saw a blank screen and couldn't figure out what to do?it turns out I was staring at an empty Vault, or a list of saved login information and other data. This is fine if you've already set up a LastPass account through the desktop client, but definitely not if the app is your first experience with LastPass.

Upon the advice of a LastPass spokesperson I started entering passwords for storage through my desktop browser. As you browse on your desktop, you?re prompted to save new login information and personal details commonly used to fill out generic forms (called Form Fill profiles). You can organize these into folders, like you would with bookmarks. Because this is a cloud-based service, LastPass quickly syncs your account information across PC, Mac, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, and a Dolphin HD browser plug-in.

Managing your Vault through the app itself is difficult. There are no auto-prompts when you create new accounts, and auto-filling is tedious to use unless you launch saved sites in LastPass?s slow, mediocre built-in browser. Forget about Flash or geolocation support there.

Some mobile sites, like banking sites, don't even let you auto-fill information, though this is due to the way banks code their mobile websites. The safest workaround is to download your bank's app and use LastPass to log in.

One neat feature is the ability to use LastPass to log into your apps. Simply tap and hold a login field and select Input Method/LastPass to find and fill in your login information.

Got a dirty secret to record on the fly? LastPass also lets you enter unclassifiable jibberish into a Secure Note; you can attach photos, PDFs, and voice memos as well. Your subscription comes with 50 MB of free encrypted storage. Pretty neat.

Improved Input Method
My biggest complaint about the previous version was its lousy input method when using other browsers. It didn't always work for me; now it does. When you encounter a form field you'll find a LastPass asterisk (*) on your keyboard, though at the moment it only supports the stock Android keyboard. Tap this to open your LastPass vault within the browser and select which login information to auto-fill. If you don't want to use the built-in browser, LastPass has a couple weak alternatives. You can install bookmarklets-- a tiny Java script contained in a bookmark ? that work with Opera, Chrome, and IE. When you reach a site in your browser that requires a log-in, launching the bookmark will switch to LastPass and log in to that site. If you prefer to stay in Safari, you can install bookmarklets that will automatically fill forms and passwords. The process isn't quite as simple as adding bookmarklets on a PC, so LastPass recommends installing them on a desktop browser and syncing them over. LastPass also offers free plugins to use with third-party browsers like Dolphin HD and Firefox Mobile, although they're as tedious to use as the browser.

Better, But Lags Behind Desktop Experience
LastPass for Android is a solid app for securely storing passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive information. However, without automated actions and prompts, it?s not nearly as useable as the Editors? Choice-winning desktop application. Furthermore it doesn?t support alternative keyboards, and I don?t think it?s far-fetched to say most of us would rather eschew LastPass than our favorite keyboard.

The app is faster and better performing than ever, but its built-in browser has a lot of work to do. LastPass (for Android) is the best of the password managers for Android that I've reviewed so far, but I'm reserving Editors' Choice judgment until I see Dashlane on Android, which is expected to come out this July.

For more Android Software, see:
??? LastPass Premium Password Manager (for Android)
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