iOS apps

We've stress the importance of keeping your passwords secure in our comparison of PC passwords. But it's just as important to secure the passwords that you use on your iPhone or iPad. iOS password managers work in much the same way, allowing you to use, but not have to remember, highly secure and different passwords for every account you log into. However, their interface and features vary significantly, and here we review three affordable or free iOS password managers to help you make your choice.

Based on the Password Safe open-source application, App77 pwSafe is very plain. It allows in-app syncing to Dropbox, but that’s US$2.49 extra. There’s no built-in browsing facility, unlike competing iOS clients. Each field (URL, Username and Password) can be tapped upon to automatically copy to the clipboard, but this is a one-at-a-time approach, so you’ve got to switch between the browser and pwSafe for each entry.

Callpod's Keeper Password & Data Vault includes a browser to give you quick access to password-protected sites, although we hit a few more problems with it than 1Password. One feature we liked was that by default, Keeper will auto-destruct the data vault on your phone after a few incorrect guesses; this way if your phone is lost, your data should be secure, even if you can’t remotely wipe it.

AgileBits 1Password Pro doesn’t lose much in the translation to iOS, although it’s confusing that there are two versions: a slightly cheaper one for iPhone and iPad, and a universal application. This elegant offering is a better option for Mac users who already use 1Password, as you can sync your password files with the Mac desktop client, something the PC version doesn’t support.

It works well as a standalone app, with an integrated yet slow inbuilt browser for single-tap access to your password-protected sites.

MetroView touts itself as the first iPad-native GPS application. Other iPhone GPS apps will run on the 3G-enabled iPad (the Wi-Fi-only model lacks GPS), but in screen-stretched mode. This begs the question: aside from maybe bus drivers, who’s piloting a vehicle with a large enough windscreen to accommodate an iPad and where did they get the screen mount from? It’s a universal application in any case, so it’ll also work on iPhones. The basic GPS experience with MetroView is simple and mostly non-fussy, which you’d expect from a navigation utility that costs a quarter of the competition.