What is RoboForm?

RoboForm is a browser, desktop and cellular password supervisor and computerized form-filling software. Although it nonetheless shops your passwords on-line, it’s strongly centered round its desktop app. Although it’s a succesful software, the styling and behavior of each desktop app and browser plugin look somewhat dated, though this has been improved in model 8, which just lately got here out of beta.

Related: Why you need a password manager and the best password managers to subscribe to

RoboForm – Features

The free model of RoboForm, as of the service’s newest model 8, works on a single cellular or desktop machine, however you’ll must improve to the paid model if you need your passwords to be synced throughout your units.

The paid-for RoboForm Everywhere, out there on an annual subscription of $19.95 (round £15), enables you to run the software program on as many units as you want. RoboForm Everywhere helps primary two-factor authentication, by which an one-time password is emailed to you everytime you add a brand new machine.

Perpetual, single-device licences are additionally out there, at $29.95 (round £23) for a person desktop PC or $39.95 (round £30) for a USB stick to a conveyable RoboForm set up on it. It’s price allowing for that the RoboForm2Go transportable model isn’t being up to date to the software program’s present model 8, nevertheless, and solely works on Windows PCs with Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Related: Best VPNs for Netflix and privacy

The RoboForm browser plugins allow you to seek for, browse and launch websites whose credentials you’ve saved. They can mechanically log you into websites and save each new and up to date passwords. They’ll additionally generate passwords to your required standards on demand, auto-fill varieties, save bookmarks, allow you to manually add login particulars and might create a customized browser begin web page to provide you quick access to your favorite websites.

However, to make use of RoboForm’s extra superior options, you’ll want the RoboForm Editor desktop app, which is out there for Windows and macOS, however not Linux – browser plugins work below Linux, nevertheless. The newest model 8 of the RoboForm Editor desktop utility consists of newly added options comparable to the power to securely share logins through electronic mail, a password energy evaluation software and sooner syncing occasions because of a brand new file construction.

Most importantly, the interface has been totally reskinned, making for a way more nice person expertise, though it nonetheless feels clumsy to make use of in locations.

RoboForm has separate sections for Logins, Bookmarks, desktop Applications, Identities – private data that you just want to retailer out of your National Insurance quantity to bank card particulars – Contacts and Safenotes. However, the identical set of folders is mirrored throughout all sections – we’d have most popular to have the ability to customise the folders in every part, as a Shopping or Entertainment class that’s helpful for bookmark or password sorting is of little use in terms of preserving monitor of notes or private data.

RoboForm is unfortunately somewhat unclear in terms of each built-in and on-line documentation,  though the service’s buyer assist workforce is useful and responsive. One of the worst examples of that is the directions for saving passwords for an area utility, which inform you to “open a save password form in an application” with out offering any data on how to do that.

However, as soon as we discovered that the method required us to first open the login display of the applying, then choose Show Toolbar from the right-click menu of RoboForm’s notification space icon, we discovered that it saved and auto-filled many, however not all, functions’ login particulars. We’d have most popular to have the ability to manually add utility passwords instantly through the RoboForm editor, relatively than having to undergo a number of clicks and a toolbar to have them saved.

We had been happy by the benefit with which we may import passwords from different password managers, and RoboForm’s good behavior of checking for duplicate entries in the course of the import course of. Although it could import bookmarks from browsers, it was unable to import passwords from Chrome.

RoboForm’s cellular functions for iOS and Android are before everything safe cellular browsers, just like these constructed into rivals LastPass and Dashlane. They’re effectively designed, and helpfully auto-suggest web sites for which you’ve gotten saved passwords whenever you begin typing into the URL bar, whereas a full listing of your logins is out there from a tab viewer on the browser’s dwelling display.

As with the desktop app, you may manually create notes, contacts and bookmarks, however can’t manually add login data – this must be saved instantly after you’ve logged right into a web site within the app for the primary time. You may configure the app to allow type and password filling in different apps in your cellular machine. As far as safety goes, you may go for a easy pin to unlock the app, relatively than having to enter your full password each time you want it, however keep in mind that this can be a considerably much less safe possibility.

Verdict

While RoboForm works completely effectively as a web-based and cellular password supervisor, its total person expertise isn’t as polished that of LastPass, our first selection for password administration, and it could’t rival KeePass and its prolonged household of user-controlled apps and plugins for the ultra-security acutely aware.

Okay.G. Orphanides is a author and developer whose areas of experience embrace web safety, VPNs, Linux for the desktop, small-scale recreation improvement, software program preservation and laptop audio techno…