1Password, the popular password security app on iOS an OS X, has arrived on Android and is free until August. The developers of 1Password, Agile Bits, revealed they would be making an Android app sometime in the near future, to push their app onto the two biggest mobile platforms.
The free till August promotion will not allow users who downloaded the app for free to continue using it after August. 1Password will close its doors and unless the user pays the fee for the app, it will be a read-only service and not provide the user with any security on their passwords until they pay up, all buyers after August will be prompted to pay.
On iOS and OS X, the 1Password app became popular for storing all passwords in a secure vault with 256-bit AES “military grade” encryption, meaning even if a hacker or thief gets the user’s phone, all passwords will be safe behind the app and it has its own set of security protocols, making it near impossible to breach.
1Password has some neat features, it allows users to organise passwords for different services and even generates stronger passwords when the app feels the user’s passwords are too easy for hackers. The functionality is one of the best offered for password apps but this comes at a pretty price, $17.99 for the full suite.
Android users are commonly known for not spending money on applications compared to iOS and OS X. The lower-end of the market hardly ever buy applications and it is part of the reason why iOS continues to generate more revenue per user than Android, moving developers onto the iOS platform if they intend to make money.
This is part of the reason why it has took 1Password so long to port to Android, first they didn’t expect many sales and secondly the whole framework of Android is different, 1Password needs to understand the open source Android phone can fall to shoddy applications and other problems.
