14 DAY TRIAL // It's not a secret that one should not use the same password for multiple accounts since it would be much easier for someone to hack into them. Because of this, many users prefer long and unique passwords for each account and keeping up with them eventually turns into a difficult task.
In addition, account registration / login forms are usually irritating to fill in, not to mention time consuming. RoboForm is a well-known solution for storing account credentials and to automatically log you into websites and fill out forms.
It's made available for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS as well as Android and it depends on its browser extensions that can be installed on Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.
The application comes in two different versions. The first is the “Desktop” version that offers you online storage and syncing on a single computer for $29.95. The second is called “Everywhere” and features unlimited data storage and syncing between multiple devices for a yearly fee of $9.95.
We've installed a free 30-day trial that you can turn into either the “Desktop” version or “Everywhere.” Our choice was “Everywhere,” the recommended one.
No problems were encountered during the installation, which consisted of copying the application to our hard drive. As for the resource consumption, it occupied 64.5 MB of our HDD space and 50 MB of our Mac's real memory.
The Looks
RoboForm features a standard OS X user interface which includes an upper toolbar with basic functionality, a navigation panel and a main content area.
It also provides a handy status bar item with quick access to your Logins, to the RoboForm and Preferences windows and more. Additionally, both the main window and the menu bar item incorporate a search box. We've noticed that the search results are displayed very quickly, so we definitely recommend using it.
Aside from being readily accessible, the status bar panel can also be invoked via a predefined keyboard shortcut. We've managed to assign one from the General preferences and put it to good use.
We also liked the fact that the favicons of each website are displayed in both interfaces, making each login entry more distinguishable.
The browser add-ons install a toolbar with basic actions such as filling out a form or logging into websites. The toolbar’s visual appeal is not impressive at all and could use a little more polishing. Moreover, we felt that the buttons were disorganized and difficult to work with.
The Works
Before being able to do anything in RoboForm, you will need to specify a master password that protects all your information.
Make sure you never forget this password because, if you do, you will lose all the data you've stored in order to unlock RoboForm. The master password is not saved on any server and you are the only one who knows it. You'll have to uninstall the app and delete all your User data (with the Uninstaller in the DMG disk), then gather data all over again.
Nevertheless, the master password can be changed – only if you know the previous one – by accessing the “Change Master Password…” option from the RoboForm menu.
The RoboForm desktop app is designed for creating and managing Contacts, Identities and “Safenotes,” but also for editing Logins and Bookmarks which can only be saved via the browser extensions.
Creating a new Login is a simple procedure: the add-ons will ask you if you want to save your account credentials after filling them in. You can also create Logins manually by clicking on the Save button on the add-on toolbar.
In our tests, we could add over 10 login entries without any hassle. Each time we logged into a new website, the add-on asked us if we wanted to save our login info, as expected. Also, when a new Login is created, it immediately gets synchronized with the desktop app.
Furthermore, after syncing data between the extensions and RoboForm’s cloud storage, we can confirm that our data was synced smoothly and very quickly.
On the downside, RoboForm does not provide any options for customizing the cloud sync feature; your data is automatically synced with RoboForm Everywhere as soon as you finish adding or editing it in the add-ons or the desktop app. With this in mind, the application could use an option to allow you to change the sync interval.
Identities enable you to store a wealth of personal information about your business, owned vehicles, credit card, etc. We could fill all this information in various registration forms with just a click on the extension's toolbar button. However, not all forms were filled since many registration pages are designed differently.
As for the Bookmarks and Safenotes features, we didn't quite appreciate them as much as the features mentioned above. Bookmarks are, as one might deduce, website URLs that can be saved via the browser add-ons. Safenotes are basic notepads designed to store and protect any sensitive information.
Nonetheless, since you can synchronize them with other devices, these features might be of more use to you if you have an Everywhere account.
RoboForm provides other ways of securing your data by automatically logging off after a specified period, if you choose so. You'll need to enter your master password to log in again.
Additionally, the application can also automatically log you off on screensaver start, on screen lock or when switching users. All these options worked as intended in our tests.
The Good
Every bit of information you can add and edit is neatly organized in the desktop application's main window. Also, the menu bar item and its global hotkey helped us work even faster and the synchronization was seamless.
The Bad
In addition, we understand that the idea behind having a master password is that nobody, but you, should know it. However, you should be able to change / retrieve it – when you don't remember it – without losing the data you've stored.
The Truth
To sum it all up, if you think you waste too much time re-entering account credentials or when registering to websites, don't hesitate to take a closer look at RoboForm.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
