On March 1, 2022, the Myki company announced that it had been bought and that all Myki software will stop working on April 10, 2022.
Obviously, we can no longer recommend Myki as a password manager. We hope that Myki’s new owner, JumpCloud, continues to use Myki’s intriguing approach to password management and considers making a consumer version.
Myki offers password management for free — completely free for personal use. It does all the basics, including unlimited syncing across devices, without making you choose between a no-cost and a premium tier. There’s no family plan, though, so Myki only really works for individual users.
Myki’s approach to security is different from that of the other best password managers, as all of your data is stored locally on your devices rather than on the company’s servers.
Your password vault syncs between the desktop and mobile apps with only a temporary relay through the cloud. That means that while there is a browser extension, Myki has no web vault that you can access from anywhere.
Some of Myki’s features were a bit buggy in our testing, and it didn’t provide the smoothest overall user experience. As free password managers go, Bitwarden‘s no-cost tier is a better choice for most people.
But Myki is a solid option for the security-conscious user who doesn’t want personal information stored online, and we’re eager to see Myki develop further.
Read on for the rest of our Myki review.
Costs and what’s covered
Myki is completely free for consumers. There’s only one plan, with no premium or family upgrades. This is unique among commercial password managers — even those, like Bitwarden, that offer full-featured, no-cost accounts also have paid tiers.
Myki does offer a few small customizations like custom tags that users can purchase separately ($2.99 each) or as a $9.99 package, but none add important functions.
Myki’s consumer plan comes with basic features like the storage and syncing of unlimited passwords, identities, and payments across devices; autofill; secure sharing; and two-factor authentication. There’s also a basic security dashboard, which lets you know if your logins are weak or compromised.
There aren’t any bells and whistles with Myki, but again, it’s free. The greatest value may be in Myki’s approach to security, which we’ll get into more below.
Myki supports Windows 8 and up and macOS 10.12 and up. Linux installers come in the .deb, .appimage, Snap, and Pacman formats, supporting Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Arch Linux, and many other distributions.
Browser extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari (packaged with the macOS app), Opera, and Edge. Mobile apps support iOS 10.0 and higher and Android 5 and up.
I tested Myki on a 2020 MacBook Air running macOS 10.15.7 Catalina, an iPhone XR, and Google Chrome.
Setup
To set up Myki, you’ll need to download the desktop app. There is no web vault because of Myki’s offline security model. As with many password managers, you can also create your account in the mobile app, but you’ll need the browser extension on your computer to import credentials from another service or browser.
You’ll enter your phone number, which is used for verification, followed by a six-digit PIN code. Unlike every other password manager we know of, there’s no master password with Myki.
Before you enter your vault, you’ll be prompted to install the browser extension — you can skip this step initially, but the extension is the only way to batch-import passwords from other services — and then select an import option.
Desktop
You need both the desktop app and the browser extension to maximize Myki’s features, as there are certain functions that are allowed only in one or the other. As noted, there is no web-only vault because data is stored locally on your devices.
The Myki desktop app is basic, with a left-justified menu bar where you can navigate between your vault items: passwords, payment cards, notes, two-factor authentication, ID cards (documents), and identities (names and addresses). This menu also has paired devices and settings.
To add an item, simply tap the plus button at the top next to the search bar. Each item type has pre-populated forms, although you can add custom fields as a paid upgrade.
Interestingly, while you can view and copy items in the Myki desktop app, you can’t launch a website directly, so you’ll likely spend more of your time in the browser extension. The extension also has a left-justified menu bar with options to view your vault, the password generator, your settings, and additional features (importing, etc.).
Mobile apps
Myki’s mobile apps are arguably more full-featured than the desktop and browser-extension combination, as the mobile apps include the security dashboard and sharing functionality.
The bottom navigation toolbar has options for recently viewed items, item categories, your connected device list, and additional settings. There’s also a centered plus button for adding items from any screen.
Tap the Categories icon to select the vault section you want to view. There’s also a search function on the main categories page. To add an item, tap the plus sign and select the category.
Security
Myki’s security setup is unique among similar password management tools, as vaults are stored completely offline on your local devices rather than on company servers. This means that if central servers were compromised in any way, there’s no data for hackers to steal.
Information is end-to-end encrypted using AES-256 when synching between your mobile devices and the browser extension on a desktop. If a device is offline, your encrypted data will be held briefly on Myki’s server while waiting for a connection and wiped quickly if the target device isn’t reached.
Read More: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/myki
