This is the 5th launch from Secrets. View more

Secrets 4

Tasteful password manager for Mac and iOS

This is the latest and greatest version of the loved password manager for Mac and iOS. The inner workings have been rewritten to support a new major feature: Shared Vaults. The UI has been refreshed but still feel undeniably like Secrets: elegant and friendly.

Free Options

Launch tags:

Productivity•Apple•Security

Launch Team

Paulo Andrade

Secrets

Maker

📌

Hello 👋, maker here. This update was a long time in the making, and I'm excited to finally release it. A major refactor the entire storage and sync system was needed to make way for the Secrets' 4 major feature: Shared Vaults. Along the way many other improvements were added: • Flexible unlocking methods. Want to use just Face ID? Sure. Want to use a passphrase or Touch ID? Yep. Want to use Face ID and a passphrase? You can do that too! You can even have different unlock methods on each device and have them all syncing with iCloud. • Support for even more browsers via our browser extension. • Search improvements The original version of Secrets was release 7 years ago. Secrets 4 is the first paid upgrade to it. Rest assured, we're not moving to a subscription, but if you prefer one, are options for you too. Better yet, we're offering 3 months for the price of 1 to the first 500 hunters that use the code HUNT3FOR1 in the App Store (must be redeemed on an iOS device running iOS 14 and later). If you haven't tried out Secrets before. Give it a spin and let me know what you think in the comments. If you're already a Secrets's user, thank you!

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2yr ago

Mailia

Extremely misleading marketing. The developer has been selling Secrets 3 while promising a "major update" since last year. Unfortunately that "major update" has now vanished into thin air, and in place we've received a "paid upgrade", which is a completely separate application all together. I bought Secrets 3 in March. Two months later, I have received a single update on the macOS side, with a single line of patch notes detailing "Fixed a couple of issues", and zero updates on the iOS side. This does not strike me as a "major update", so I'm definitely not getting what was advertised. And now, according to the developer, I can expect support for "the near future". I have absolutely no idea how long that is, as that question was quickly deflected. I cannot recommend anyone buy the full version of Secrets 4, at least if you expect updates. If you go with the monthly subscription, you at least understand that you will never get anything past the month you've paid for.

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2yr ago

Alexander Griekspoor

Findings

@mailia keep in mind that Paulo is a single developer, I'd say it's super impressive what he pulls off as a one-man band, and given that Secrets 4 _is_ a major update adding non trivial features like Shared Vaults it's no more than logical IMHO that there was a slowdown in terms of updates. I'm sure you can expect the regular flow of updates to resume again now that this huge update is out. Personally I think Secret 4 is definitely worth the money, not only for the features but also for supporting an independent developer who is dedicated to creating a safe and awesome password manager you can trust and know is not encumbered with pressure from big Co's or VC's. As a disclaimer I'm a small indie developer myself and know Paulo well personally, but that does mean I can see how motivated he is and how he cares.

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2yr ago

Mailia

@alexandergriekspoor I'm not seeing the part where Secrets 4 is worth the money, considering that I am asked to pay 70€ on top of the 40€ that I spent on Secrets just two months ago. And that amount of money doesn't even give me the "non-trivial features like Shared Vaults", since the ask for shared vaults is 140€. That's what, about three years worth of 1Password, which is also not cheap? I'm also not convinced that Paulo is "dedicated to creating a safe and awsome password manager". He's been selling Secrets 3 while knowing that he's not going to support any more. And when asked about how long he's gonna support it, he refused to give any kind of an answer. And naturally, no refunds were offered either. I'm certainly not seeing anything that even remotely resembles "dedication". I wrote about my thoughts on the product in more detail here: https://burakku.com/blog/secrets...

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2yr ago

Alexander Griekspoor

Findings

@mailia To be honest I think a lot of what you feel is unfair comes from the fact that you happened to buy the previous version of Secrets only two months before a new version came out. I definitely see how that's super frustrating, at the same time that's the downside of the major update business model, just like how it can be very painful to buy say a new Macbook now and Apple releasing a new model two months later, that's not great of course :-( At the same time, a small developer can also not just say "well let's stop selling the current app for the next two months". And neither does Apple with its Macbooks, nor do they offer refunds. In general, I'm sure Paulo will still support you and Secrets 3, even if you decide not to buy Secrets 4, but again as he's a single developer, when you do have a major release coming out it's usually pretty overwhelming for a few weeks, so I'm not surprised that he has taken longer to reply than normal. I'm sure he'll get back to you. Also, in the end of the day, if a small developer doesn't continue shipping updates and keep on developing new versions there's no business at all, which means no support either. So in that sense I'd argue that the arrival of Secrets 4 is also good news for Secrets 3 users as it will allow Paulo to continue to be there for all Secrets users, whether on the new or old version. And as a final note, this all is one of the reasons why developers are switching to subscriptions, because it removes the need to group things in major updates and move towards a continuous model without the kind of break you have experienced. But that's a whole different story on itself.

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2yr ago

Mailia

@alexandergriekspoor It wasn't that I just coincidentally happened to buy Secrets just before a new update, I expected it. Except that the update, which was being continuously advertised online, was not an update. It was a paid upgrade. A completely different software. And everyone who bought Secrets waiting for that update were left stranded. The MacBook comparison is poor because Apple does not advertise new MacBook updates that they then rugpull from users that expected them. Also, I wish Secrets 3 had been a subscription, because then I could've just cancelled my subscription and moved onto a different piece of software after this. It certainly would've been cheaper than the 20€/month I paid now.

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2yr ago

Alexander Griekspoor

Findings

@mailia fair enough, I do think in a way you were also caught in the transition from the more classic major update model to a subscription model, and maybe there's something that could have been more clearly communicated indeed. As traditionally Secrets followed to then-common major update model from the beginning, a jump from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, etc would always imply a paid upgrade. Nowadays with subscriptions this has become almost the exception to the rule, so indeed a kind blame you for having not realised this. Still, zooming out, I think Secrets remains a product worth paying for, if only because I know Paulo will take this on board in a way most larger companies will never do.

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2yr ago

Abdullah Al-Zamel

I just switched from 1Password (I have used it since its first release in 2006). Secrets gives me the same experience without the annoying $39 subscription. The only missing thing is the password auto-save from login pages which is one of the most essential and intuitive features! I would love to see this feature added soon

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2yr ago

Abdullah Al-Zamel

@pfandrade_ will we see it soon?

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2yr ago

Paulo Andrade

Secrets

Maker

@e2na Indeed that feature does not exist. I've played with it before but found it would cause more frustration than good. Websites can be very creative in how they implement their sign-up forms leading to both false positives and negatives. Creating the item manually also gives you an opportunity to fill-in all the fields, add tags, custom icon, etc. I'll count your +1 to reconsider this in the future.

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2yr ago

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