I’ve always been fascinated with password managers, as without them, my life would be an utter mess. When trying different password managers for the Mac, I discovered that none of them were really perfect. Being a security freak, I frown upon security based applications that are riddled with private code and made from closed source. For those of you who don’t understand what that means, it means that only the company who creates the application can review and modify the code that the app is built on. This means, that the entire world outside of the developers for that company, are excluded from checking the app for security holes. Open source, is the exact opposite. Open source, allows the code for an app to be viewed transparently (as opposed to encrypted), by every software engineer or developer in the entire world. Often you will hear programmers screaming that open source is the most secure, and it is, because it effectively invites every programmer in the world to oversee the code and check it for bugs or security holes. There is a lot of strength when inviting the eyes of the world to check your work for errors, as opposed to only allowing the ten or fifteen people at your small company to check their code for errors. That being said, I wanted a cross platform open source password manager that stored my password database files locally or in my private cloud and had excellent encryption algorithms. After a lot of searching and sifting through apps on iOS, MacOS, windows, and ubuntu, I came to realize that the password manager of my desire didn’t actually exist.

I used to be an avid user of Datavault Password manager, which is a pretty decent app that is is with Mac OS and iOS. However, it has no compatibility with linux, and once again, is Closed source (untrustworthy). Same goes for the rest of the password managers for Mac and iOS. Well, except one, that technically, doesn’t exist for Mac (aside from closed source ports that aren’t compatible with keepass 2.4 databases). The app is an open source app made for windows called Keepass Password Safe, the most recent version being Keepass 2.4. It is full of great encryption features, security features, plugins, best of all, completely open source, and quite possibly, the most secure password manager in existence. Fortunately, it is also compatible with a great open source iOS app Called MiniKeePass, that is also a free for download. It’s compatible with Keepass 1 and Keepass 2 databases, meaning that you can sync your passwords from your iOS device to your Windows Keepass v2.4 app. This is AWESOME! But what about syncing it from iOS (or Windows for that matter) to your Mac? Well, until now, it wasn’t possible (at least not for the most up to date version of Keepass 2).But fortunately, Nerd-Tech has created a solution. We have used Wine for Mac, to port Keepass V2.40 to Mac OS, compatible with High Sierra. Furthermore, we have packaged it with the majority of plugins already installed. Our favorite, is the auto mount plugin for vera-crypt. Oh yes, Keepass 2 is compatible with Vera-crypt, one of the best if not the best, encryption solutions for private data, EVER!

If you are looking for the best cross platform password manager ever, look no further then our custom ported version of KeePass 2.43 for Mac OS! Download it and start tinkering. Shortly, we will post a much longer write up on how to sync all of your keepass apps in one single cloud database and auto update themselves across windows, Mac and iOS. Enjoy this free app, and feel free to post any questions!