Manage passwords with Bitwarden

Gertjan Groen

If you make more active use of the internet, the number of accounts will grow almost as fast. You can no longer remember all those passwords yourself. Using the same password everywhere is practical, but not secure. And requesting a new password every time is very cumbersome. A password manager can help you. You store all your login details safely in a digital safe, which can be opened via one master password. You can often also store other data in the safe, such as notes or credit card details. And most applications can generate extra strong passwords for you. Well-known password managers include LastPass, 1Password, Roboform, and Dashlane. Here we take a look at Bitwarden, which is rapidly growing in popularity. It’s available for many platforms and browsers, and its key features are free, including syncing all data between different devices. More importantly, the password manager is very user-friendly, as we show here.

Bitwarden is a well-known free password manager

CREATE AN ACCOUNT
We start by creating a free personal account through the Bitwarden website (bitwarden.com) with the option Get Started. Enter your email address, name and a master password to access the digital safe. Choose a strong password and optionally enter a hint as a reminder. Don’t forget or lose your master password: no one will be able to help you recover your login details. However, you don’t have to memorize it, because as you will read later in the workshop, you can also lock the safe with a PIN code. Log in directly via the browser after creating the account. This so-called Web Vault is one of the ways to manage your vault. First choose top right, bottom Verify Email Address, the option to receive a verification link by email. After you have followed this, you can use all possibilities after logging in again.

ONLINE SAFE
In the Web Vault you can: My safe manage the contents of your digital vault, divided into categories with login details (Login), creditcard information (Card), personal information (Identity) and notes (Safe Notes). For the most part, you’ll handle adding and editing such data through the extension in your browser, which we’ll install in the next step. Are you currently using a different password manager? Then you can export the data from there and then, in the section Tools, import to Bitwarden. There you will also find short instructions for exporting. You could also use the old and new password manager side by side for a while, so that after some time the most important accounts are in Bitwarden. That also clears up a bit.

You can conveniently import data from other password managers to Bitwarden

INSTALL EXTENSION
Bitwarden is available for a large number of platforms and browsers. An overview can be found at bitwarden.com/download. For example, there are desktop applications for Windows, macOS and Linux, extensions for all relevant browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Edge, and great apps for Android and iOS. With this you can also use Bitwarden on smartphones and tablets, for logging in to websites, but also for apps that work with an account. Here we take the extension for Chrome as an example. Follow the link on the download page and add the extension to Chrome. Then log in via the icon. If you open Bitwarden via the icon, you will see a series of tabs at the bottom. below tab you will see accounts for the current browser window and here you can manually add an account. below My safe manage all the data in your vault. below Generator you will find a password generator for extra strong passwords. Through Institutions change various options and also manage, for example, your folders for neatly subdividing safe data. Through the new part send securely exchange files (up to 100 MB) or texts.

	You can enable PIN unlocking via the extension’s settings

IUNLOCK SETTINGS
Would you rather not log in with your master password? On the tab Institutions can you have the option Unlock with PIN to turn on. When you turn it on, enter the PIN code to unlock the safe. Uncheck the box if necessary Lock with master password with browser restart if you also want to unlock with this PIN after restarting the browser. Then, if desired, adjust the time-out from the safe. This determines when the vault is locked, such as after a certain fixed time, after restarting the browser or never at all. It is better not to use the latter option, or at most on a device that others do not have access to.

You can manually add login information for a site if needed

AUTOMATIC LOGIN
If you log in to a website that does not yet have an account in Bitwarden, a bar at the top will automatically offer to save the login details in the safe. You can also conveniently import data from other password managers to Bitwarden with account registration. Via the settings of the extension you can unlock with PIN code, change an account, Bitwarden will offer to add (or update) data. Occasionally the recognition does not work and the question is omitted. Fortunately, you can always edit your login details manually and also manually add them to the vault. If you want to log in to the site in question next time, Bitwarden will recognize the account and you can have the login details entered. You can have multiple accounts on the same site, a number next to the icon of the extension indicates how many matches there are.

EVERYTHING IN THE SAFE
As mentioned, in Bitwarden you don’t have to limit yourself to login details. Make under My safe identities in the Web Vault or the extension, for example, so that forms with, among other things, address details can be automatically filled in from an identity. And add secure notes to your vault, for example, such as software license keys, passwords for your WiFi network or all kinds of subscription information. With login details you still have the option to add extra notes or even some custom fields. You can also share certain vault details, including login details, with others such as your family: useful for the login details of a bank or internet provider. With the free package, this is possible with a maximum of two people.

SMARTPHONE AND TABLET
The Bitwarden apps for smartphones and tablets ensure that you can also log in to websites or into accounts of apps on those devices. The safe is automatically updated via notifications. If you add an account on another device, it will also be on your device a short time later. Some additional settings may be required for automatic login credentials. With Android, for example, depending on the version of the operating system, you have to turn on accessibility features. The app helps you with that Institutions and then Autofill. On an iPhone and iPad, go through the general settings to Passwords and then Fill in automatically. Put a check mark next to Bitwarden in the list and confirm with your account and master password. While browsing, you can now easily log in, possibly with a pin code or fingerprint if you have set that up.

iPhone and iPad also have a facility for automatic login via Bitwarden

HOST BITWARDEN YOURSELF?
Most will just use Bitwarden through the company’s reliable servers. That is also safe: the contents of the vault are stored in encrypted form and only you can make that content readable. If you have experience hosting applications yourself, you can also install Bitwarden on your own server. Check the system requirements at Bitwarden. On a lighter server, consider Bitwarden_rs, an alternative developed by third parties. It requires less system resources, but offers almost all functions and supports all standard Bitwarden applications, such as the mentioned browser extensions and apps. Plus some extras that you normally have to pay for.

PAID VERSION
In addition to the free version of Bitwarden, there is also a paid version. The biggest difference is that you then have 1GB of file storage, so you can add attachments to items in the vault. You can also generate access codes for accounts that are protected with two-step verification. Although it is usually recommended to use something other than your password manager for two-step verification. After all: the login details and everything needed to generate access codes are in the same place. You can find the costs at bitwarden.com/pricing.