Encrypter by SpiderOak… a very basic password manager

Last week a few of us got to see how Team Blab’s Bebo faired.  And while not the best, it is a promising start for them.  You can read that post here.  But this article isn’t about Bebo, is is about Encryptr.  SpiderOak’s answer to a password manager.

The beginning

So this all started when we were trying out Bebo.  I made a reference to how much easier it was to invite someone that it was in Semaphor.  So after a few minutes of banter and basically trashing Semaphor, I grab my faithful test guy CJ and off to Semaphor testing we went.  And no it hasn’t really changed.  But that is for another time.

But while I had to go read the article I wrote, which is here, in order to remember how to work the damned thing, I went to the SpiderOak website to download the latest Semaphor and lo and behold I see something about a new password manager called Encrypt.  So, I decided to see what it was all about.

Encryptr itself

So let’s start this off by saying this thing is a very basic password manager.  And when I mean basic, I mean basic.

According to their website, Encrypter is fully encrypted and also platform agnostic.

Well that is a good thing.  Because if you can’t utilize it on all your devices and computers, it’s just a waste. So if you want to read more on what they say, you can go here.

The Set-up

After I did the download and install thing, the set up was very easy.  And I mean super easy.  I will give SpiderOak credit.  It was ludicrously easy to get up and running.

It’s a pretty simple process. Just click on the New to Encryptr and you will go to where you make a username and password.

Once you choose your username and password, just ht the SIGN UP button and off you go.

Once you have done the SIGN UP thing, you are greeted with what is a Home page.  And I say that loosely.  Because it is the only place you go, unless you are looking at something specific.

There are only two things to look at here.  On the upper left is a settings cog.  And on the right, is where you add things.

Let’s start with the Settings.  And this is all you get.  Yup, that’s it.

Using Encryptr

So let’s carry on to the right hand side.  The all too familiar “Add” button.  Which is that big fat “+” sign at the top. So this is the only other button you have on this “Home” page.  I like that.  It’s simple and easy.  No real directions required to figure things out.

Hit the “+” sign and you get three choices; Card, Password and General.

Card

So let’s talk about each one.  You will be surprised how simple and easy this is.  First, let’s look at the Cards choice.

Once you click on the Cards button you are taken to this screen.  It’s pretty damn simple. You Label the card. For example, you might put “Business Card” or “Personal Card”.  Then you just fill in all the information. Once you have all the information in there, you just click on the check mark in the upper right hand corner to save the information.  And that’s it.  All done.

Password

The one that will get used the most is the Password button.  Once you hit this, you get a screen that is blank with the exception of the password.  Encryptr automatically put a new password in there.

Just as the Cards section was, this is pretty straight forward.  The one thing I don’t like about this, is that you have to put in the Site URL, where as other managers grab that information automatically.

Also, you can make the password anything you want, but I have not seen a password that has been generated by Encryptr be more than 12 characters long.  Nor is there an option to make a longer password or utilize different characters. You have the choice of using the password that Encryptr generated, or you can make your own. But still, if you want a super strong password, 12 characters isn’t enough.  

I like how 1Password does it.  If Encryptr gave you these options, then I think it would a much better password manager. But like I said, this is a very simple program.

General

This section is just as it says.  You put general stuff.  Miscellaneous things in this section that you might want to remember.  Say you want to put your Cell phone account number.  Or you want to put your electric company’s information.  Whatever you want.  It’s just general things that don’t fall into the first two categories.

If at anytime in the above things you wish to get out of it without saving you can just hit the back arrow button “<” and you will be taken back to the home page.  Encryptr does give you a chance to reconsider if you accidentally hit that back arrow button.

Final Thoughts

As I stated from the beginning, this is a very simple password manager.  If you are a person who only wants something to store your information in, then this is about as simple as things can get.  But, if you want something that does a lot more and actually brings a benefit to you, then I wouldn’t suggest it.

Encryptr does one thing very well.  And that is act as a storage house.  That’s it.  Nothing else makes me want this.  I get more functionality, ease of use and better password generation from 1Password.  I’m not saying that 1Password is the catch all for everyone.  But for me, Encryptr is just too simple.  It’s too easy.  While that is it’s plus, that’s also it’s biggest minus.