Secrets
p/secrets
Exceptional apps for Mac and iOS.
Paulo Andrade
Secrets 4 — Tasteful password manager for Mac and iOS
Featured
47
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.
Replies
Paulo Andrade
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!
TARIQ
Last year, I purchased a lifetime subscription to Secrets 3, with the expectation of significant updates over time. However, I've only received a single minor update since then, which doesn't seem to justify the lifetime fee that I paid. For the past seven years, you've maintained that no additional charges have been applied, but this seems irrelevant given the scarcity of upgrades. I believe a refund would be appropriate for users who haven't seen any substantial improvements or new features post-purchase. Moreover, I'm seeking clarity on the existence and purpose of both Secrets 3 and Secrets 4. Is there a plan to discontinue support for Secrets 3 while Secrets 4 is maintained? Or will both applications coexist indefinitely? Your prompt response to these inquiries would be highly appreciated.
Paulo Andrade
@tariq2305 hello Tariq, Secrets was released 7 years ago. This is the first paid upgrade ever. Secrets 3 will indeed be removed from sale soon (Apple actually demands this). But I'll still be supporting for some time (existing users will still get updates). New features will likely only be present on Secrets 4. There's also a 50% discount for existing users today. If you don't feel it's time to upgrade you'll still have a 20% discount in the future.
TARIQ
@pfandrade_ Since I had no choice but to upgrade, even though it was a forced, paid upgrade, I really didn't like the way you guys handled it, especially as I am a premium customer. My other concern is that the app is buggy. It feels like you rushed the production release instead of fixing bugs during the beta release. Consider other companies, even small startups like Mimestream; they spent three years in beta to ensure the app was not buggy. They only implemented a paid subscription once they reached the 1.0 milestone. I upgraded immediately. Returning to the subject of bugs, there are too many, and these are not acceptable for a password manager app: When I use face scan to open the app, it leaves me with a blank screen and a back button. Forced popup notifications block the UI. If I have already paid for a lifetime subscription, it's annoying that the popup keeps showing up every time and I can't dismiss it, which blocks the UI. This is particularly frustrating because it happens every time on launch, and the same goes for other notifications. Can't you simply add this to user defaults and remind only after 3 days, then 7 days, then 14 days? If already paid, you should add a user default and not show this popup again. There are many other UI bugs in the app which make it uncomfortable to use. I'm very disappointed that you guys rushed without doing extensive beta testing.
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
Abdullah Al-Zamel
@pfandrade_ will we see it soon?
Paulo Andrade
@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.
Richard Martin
Hey Paulo, the design is very clean and Secrets looks really good. Will Secrets support passkeys going forward? I'm a long time 1password user and passkeys are just so easy, knowing that they're all in on supporting them as they become more wide spread is a major reason I'm currently sticking with them!
Paulo Andrade
@richinapps this is definitely something I intend to work on! Honestly I'm hoping Apple announces a Passkeys API (similar to Password AutoFIll) at this WWDC. One issue with storing passkeys on a password manager without fully integrating with iOS/macOS is that there's no way to "copy paste" a passkey to login into an app. So, even more than Password AutoFill, a Passkeys integration would be very welcome.
Ruby Smith
Wow, looks awesome. Congrats!
Paulo Andrade
Ahmad Ali
The website looks great! Congrats on the launch
Paulo Andrade
@motiondock thank you ❤️!
Siyamthanda Janda
Wow, Congratulations on your team.
mashaba mm
Awesome! Good luck on your launch💜
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.
Alexander Griekspoor
@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.
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...
Alexander Griekspoor
@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.
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.
Alexander Griekspoor
@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.
David Laurent
I've just bought this new version. Disappointing. 1st use, with a safe synchronized via iCloud, impossible to share with the Iphone. The latter asks me to make an authorization request that my Mac does not receive... 2nd use, importing data from version 3, secrets 4 systematically crashes. So I can't import my data from version 3 to version 4... refund possible?
Paulo Andrade
@freeshare indeed I'm seeing some issues with imports and will fix as soon as possible. Here's how you can get a refund: https://support.apple.com/en-us/...
David Laurent
@pfandrade_ Thank you, sorry I asked for a refund, I can't accept to pay 50€ for a product that doesn't work and that will be corrected "as soon as possible".
Paulo Andrade
@freeshare sure. Hope to win back your business in the future.
Ray Mond
There's an odd issue here. Secrets 4 needs MacOS 13. That's Ventura. Ventura is still a mess. Many of us have not yet moved to Ventura. Offering a discount isn't enough incentive to join another MacOS permanent beta. Why in the world reduce your potential market by restricting installation on a typical new MacOS? The uninformed masses are not your market, they buy 1P. Secrets market is a somewhat more informed group and those are the types that either jump on a new MacOS immediately or wait until MacOS 14 is launched then install 13. I'm in the latter group. More than willing to pay for Secrets 4. But not at the cost of installing MacOS 13.
Paulo Andrade
@ray_mond3 because there's a nasty issue with the Keychain on macOS 12 that requires a restart every time your Mac goes to sleep to unlock Secrets: https://developer.apple.com/foru... Secrets 4 was always meant to be compatible with Monterey (and aside from that issue, it still is). I have an open TSI with Apple and I'm hoping they can fix it. If they do, I'll drop the deployment target to macOS 12 immediately.
Paulo Andrade
@ray_mond3 did you alter the Info.plist to run on 12? Let your Mac sleep for more than 15 minutes. I was able to reproduce this issue on at least three different Macs running Monterey (and also had a bunch of reports during the beta).
Ray Mond
@pfandrade_ Odd. I have no issues with sleep and MacOS 12. I just tried and waited a bit over 15 min. Secrets launched fine, logged in fine. Its been in sleep for hours, never had an issue. 12.6.6, M1 Air.
Ray Mond
@pfandrade_ No alterations to any plists. No alterations to default sleep mode. The Air is basically box stock and just runs without any hic ups other than what we have learned to expect from Apple and OS releases. Secrets has always been fine.
Paulo Andrade
@ray_mond3 the issue I'm talking about is with Secrets 4 and the way it uses the Keychain (it uses features Secrets 3 doesn't use). Secrets 3 works fine on Monterey.
Alex Cain
Hi there! I have bought the lifetime licence. But I can't use the Chromium (Arc) extension: it just doesn't fill the passwords, whereas I thought it would. Anything about it?
Paulo Andrade
@alex_cain reach me at secrets@outercorner.com and I'll help you out.
Chris Armstrong
Really disappointed in the "lifetime" purchase I made for Secrets 3, not really sure I trust another purchase to upgrade. A discount for previous purchases is all well and good, but it's only available on the top tier, I have no interest in a shared vault so not useful for me at all.
Chris Shaw
sadly very buggy. Works on my iPhone but crashes every single time I try to use it on my Macbook
Paulo Andrade
@chris_shaw9 I'm pushing an update to the App Store right now.
Walter Young
Hi Everyone, I am not sure this is the right place. But, I am having trouble figuring out how to share my Secrets 4 data between Mac/iPad/iPhone. Right now I have separate vaults for each and I am sure that is not right. 😀 If you could just point me in the right direction (a link to a website would be great!), I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
Paulo Andrade
@surfingwalt you have to click "Share" in the Vault's settings. But e-mail me at secrets@outercorner.com and I'll help you out.
Walter Young
Hi Everyone, I just upgraded from Secrets 3 to Secrets 4 a few days ago. There are some significant upgrades here and it took me a little while to figure out how to get everything properly synched up between all my devices (thanks Paulo for the support). I really like the new version and there is no looking back for me. Just last year I paid for the iOS and Mac versions of Secrets 3. So, I understand people who are reluctant to pay the price for the upgrade to Secrets 4. But, this is a tool I use almost everyday. And considering that it has become an integral part of my online security, I don't mind investing some money to make sure the the company continues improving and supporting the product. Looking forward to Passkeys!
Tamás Dinya
A huge dissappointment! I purchased the app only to find it being useless. Crashes constantly. After 3 updates which were supposedly fixed the crashing. NO! Please, please... don't touch, don't even think of Version 3 - at least it still works :(
Paulo Andrade
@tamas_dinya hello Tamás, the crashes you experienced should be fixed now. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Tamás Dinya
@pfandrade_ Nice try, but nothing changed :( Even 4.0.4 crashes immediately every time after importing a spef file from Secrets 3 :(
Paulo Andrade
@tamas_dinya I don’t have any open crashes related to import right now on 4.0.4. Send me the crash log you’re seeing to secrets@outercorner.com and I should be able to help.
Tamás Dinya
@pfandrade_ There should be at least one now. I installed the Mac version, imported Secrets 3 file, and it immediately crashed. Sent crash report to Apple. I dont know... something is very wrong. Crashes on IOS immediately, crashed on Macos immediately after import. Can it be maybe the Hungarian characters in the data? IOS, Macos are all up to date.
Paulo Andrade
@tamas_dinya surely not the Hungarian characters. I have users in Japan, China, Korea. Most likely an issue with the local storage introduced when running prior versions. Again, reach me at secrets@outercorner.com and I'm confident I'll be able to help.
Tamás Dinya
Hi Paulo. No, I am sorry to say that even version 4.0.4 still crashes immediately and every time I import a Secrets 3 spef file.