Productivity Recommendation: leaving Lastpass

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I’ve been a Lastpass fangirl for years. If you don’t know Lastpass, it’s a password manager and so much more. It keeps all your super-sensitive data securely at your finger tips at home and on the go. It remembers your log in information for the gazillion places you have to log in. It generates strong passwords so you don’t “password1234” it. It allows you to share info with others. I use it 756 times a day. The ways it makes my life easier are off the chart. But we’re breaking up and it’s them, not me.

“Beginning March 16, 2021, LastPass Free will include access on one device type of your choice. The first device you login with on or after March 16 will set your active device type. Beginning May 17, 2021, email support will remain available to Premium and Families customers only. As a Free user, you’ll have 24/7 access to the Support Center and the LastPass Community, where LastPass specialists actively monitor all questions and concerns.”

It’s the first part that gave me pause. I use Lastpass on alllll the devices — phone, tablet, laptop. If I could Lastpass my Dyson I would. I will say that $36 a year for the value I get is nothing and totally worth it. Especially as I sit here doing my taxes and seeing that I spent $150 on Zoom (virtual conferencing), $130 on Dropbox (storage), $22 on Google Storage (storage), $29 on Todoist  (to do list), $39 on Evernote (digital organization and note taking), $72 on Freshbooks (invoicing and expense tracking), $774 on Gusto (payroll and taxes), and $40 on Private Internet Access (security). Not to mention I’m all for paying people for their time and brain space, especially if they’re doing something I loathe and/or they make my life easier (or at least that’s what I’m telling myself as I see that I gave Eventbrite $2400 last year, which laugh-cry actually isn’t that much in comparison to other years as my biggest-ticket events were COVID cancelled; 2018 saw $6000 go to the ticket behemoth). So the $36 it would require to keep Lastpass on alllll the devices is doable, fair, and worth it. But.

When I’m asked to fork over more money, I take it as a nudge to reassess. Is this still giving me the value I want? Is it worth it? Are there better options? When it came to the latter, it turns out, yes. After some digging by Best Friend (hot tip: marry yourself someone who’ll go down the research rabbit holes and unearth all the best bestness like flying to Japan first class for $250), he discovered Bitwarden.

It’s open source (which in general can mean better security and specifically here, it has a better security track record than the other password managers). It’s free. The paid version is $10. It gives us most of the features we love with Lastpass plus a few we don’t have. A week into switching, while keeping Lastpass front and center just in case, we’ve both come to the conclusion that we’re now Bitwardeners and will be removing Lastpass from our lives.

A few of my Bitwarden loves thus far —

• the extension in your toolbar makes it so easy to fill in infomation (logins, credit cards, etc.)
• the extension autofill shortcut (macOS: Cmd + Shift + L; Windows: Ctrl + Shift + L) allowing you to bypass clicking on the extension and the annoying Lastpass scenario where the Lastpass icon covers where you need click
• ease of the app, including fingerprint access
• ease of sharing information (Best Friend and I have access to each other’s medical info, financial info, travel info, social security numbers, etc.)

So far, two things I miss that I can do in Lastpass free — add attachments like a copy of your driver’s license and passport and forcing certain info to request your password again. But you can get the attachment feature with paid Bitwarden and make your logout settings super secure which makes it like it’s a forced password request.

As always, a note of caution when talking this sexy talk — make your master password ridiculously hard and make sure you can remember it. Bitwarden cannot help you recover it if you forget it. Also, add two-factor as a security layer; if you have no clue what I’m talking about, give it a google. Also also, change your settings so that you’re auto-logged off on the regular. If you want more Saya productivity teachings, musings, and recommendations, the Life of Yes℠ Resources List on my Lists page has a Productivity tab, there’s a productivity and Evernote tutorial in the Mac & Cheese Store, and I do productivity consulting. The lists page is a great page to bookmark so you can easily reference it; I’m always updating, especially the Service Provider and the Productivity lists.

Just as I decided to use this change in my life tools to reevaluate my life tools, why don’t you use my reevaluation as an opportunity for your own “Hmmm….”? Adulting isn’t always the most fun but boy, if you put in the time and effort, you can set your life up to be pretty darn the best.