Password Boss review: Managing your passwords with authority

True to its name, Password Boss manages your login credentials with authority. The app, which provides a seamless experience across Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android, allows you to corral all your passwords, keep them strong and safe, and share them securely.

Note: This review is part of our best password managers roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them.

Once you install Password Boss, it prompts you through a thorough on-boarding process. You’re asked to create a master password of at least eight characters using upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters; enter your name and address for form-filling purposes; and download and install the browser extension. The app also provides explanations of and tips on its various features.

Similar to LastPass and Keeper, Password Boss’s interface includes a navigation rail to the left of a larger main display pane. Selecting Passwords from the rail presents your various site login credentials as tiles, though you can toggle them to a list view. Digital Wallet holds your credit card and other financial account info. Personal Info stores any identities you create, including the name, address, and email you entered when you set up the app. Secure Notes stores any information you deem important enough to keep in Password Boss, such as insurance policy or travel program information. Identities lets you link personal details and payment information together for quick form filling. Share Center lets you securely share passwords with people you trust, and Emergency enables you to set up family/friend access to your passwords in the case of an emergency.

Password Boss

When you log in to a new site, Password Boss asks if you want to save the username and password, which can be nested in one or more folders. You can also enter credentials for any site directly in the app or browser extension by clicking the plus sign and following the prompts. Importing credentials from other password managers isn’t quite as simple. Password Boss doesn’t support direct import, so you’re subject to whatever export method the password manager your exporting from uses, some of which are pretty arduous.

When you return to a site, Password Boss enters your credentials either by autofilling them or following your manual prompts, depending of which preference you set.

The app’s password generator supports up to 40-character passwords, with a 20-character default. Password Boss also supports two-factor authentication via most Time-Based, One-Time Password (TOTP) applications, including Google Authenticator, Duo Mobile, and Authy.

Like LastPass and Keeper, Password Boss monitors and rates the strength of your passwords. The Security Dashboard, accessible from the navigation rail, shows you your overall security score as well as a breakdown of compromised, duplicate, weak, and old passwords so you can take steps to update them. You can perform a Dark Web scan to see if your passwords or personal information have been stolen, though the app just runs the data through Have I Been Pwned, which you can also access directly. Any compromised passwords have to be changed manually, though; there is no automated update option.

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

The Premium Edition of Password Boss costs $30 a year for a single user. A reduced-feature free edition includes 30 days access to Premium Edition features, though, so that’s a logical place for most users to start. A five-license Family Edition is available for $48 per year.

Bottom line

Password Boss is an impressive password manager with excellent security features. It’s lack of a web interface and automated password changing omit some of the convenience we look to password managers to provide, but the trade-off you get for securing your data is certainly worth it. If you can’t do without those features, check out our top pick, LastPass, which includes both.