Password manager Dashlane is presenting a reconstructed version of its one-click password changer in beta, the company announced today. With the click of a button, the Dashlane password changer can update your passwords on supported websites without requiring you to visit the website and change your credentials.
This GIF shows how it works:
The new version of the password changer works on the device, which means that sites are less likely to flag an attempt to change the password as unauthorized. And if the new password changer runs on something like an input form for a two-factor authentication code, it can tell the user that he will have to do this step manually so that Dashlane can take care of the rest, as you can. see in the GIF below.
However, there is a big caveat: the new password changer still doesn’t work with all sites. Dashlane goal for the beta is that each customer will be able to change at least two passwords in their vault with the tool to get started, and the company says it works with approximately 100 sites at the moment, “including popular social media, streaming, shopping and news sites”.
Dashlane first introduced a one-click password changer in 2014, but it started to work less reliably over time, said Derek Snyder, product director for Dashlane, in an interview with The Verge. The older version of the password changer is managed through Dashlane servers, which is not only a potential privacy risk, but can also create problems with the actual password change process. For example, a website may see Dashlane attempting to change a user’s password as an unauthorized login, since the attempted change came from a different location than where the user was.
One benefit of a one-click password changer is that, in theory, it is easy to change a compromised login quickly. If Dashlane learns of a breach in a service used by a significant number of users, the company’s goal is to have a new one-click password recipe ready “in a matter of hours,” said Snyder. That way, people can ideally act on a password violation notification quickly, with just a few clicks. (Dashlane maintains a database of compromised websites that you can check here.)
And if a website changes the password flow in any way that breaks Dashlane’s one-click tool, the company’s engineers can remove the “recipe” for Dashlane’s password change so they can fix it, Snyder said. If you need to change your password in the meantime, you will have to change it the old way.
Dashlane is also introducing a new beta autocomplete mechanism that is powered by machine learning. The idea is that Dashlane’s machine learning algorithms can learn how to recognize fields to fill and fill more quickly and accurately the contents of your Dashlane vault on the page. Dashlane says that the new mechanism should work on all sites after it is implemented.
Both features will be available to users in the Dashlane beta program, which you can sign up for here. The password changer will be available to any user in beta today, and the company will implement it for non-beta users over time. The new autocomplete mechanism will be available to beta users in about a week and, over time, to more users.
Users of Dashlane’s paid and free tiers, which work with only one device and allow credentials to be saved for up to 50 accounts, will be able to use the new autofill mechanism “always and forever”, according to Snyder. The new one-click password changer will be available to free and paid users of Dashlane during the beta, but the company has not yet decided whether it will be a paid-only option when it is widely available, said Snyder. Both features are expected to come out of beta later this year.
Dashlane’s changes come just days before the popular LastPass password manager restricts its free users to access their passwords on just one device category, whether mobile or computer. If you’re looking for an alternative, perhaps the convenience of Dashlane’s updated one-click password changer and its new auto-complete mechanism might make it the choice for you. And if you want to check out other free alternatives to LastPass and Dashlane, check out our guide.