Manage Passwords Simply with Mitto

Until a central user identification method is adopted universally, chances are you’ve got accounts with lots of different websites. The best practise for security is to also have a different password for each of these services. Both circumstances when coupled together create one hell of a problem when you’re forced to remember the password for a significant number of website accounts.

It’s for this reason that some geniuses came up with the idea of having an app to manage this for you. Mitto is one of these apps. Read on and I’ll show you just how to take full advantage of this promising password management tool and make losing written-down passwords on scrap pieces of paper a thing of the past.

Overview

Mitto is a web-based password management app that allows you to securely manage all of your passwords in one easy-to-use interface. It supports quite a few of the most popular websites and allows users to log into websites with a single click. Complete with a bookmarklet and sharing options to make the most tedious of tasks that extra bit easier, it can be a useful app to add to anyone’s online app toolbox.

Registration

To get started with using Mitto, you’re going to have to first register. Once you’ve entered your email address and have chosen a password, you’ll be asked to enter some security information. This is to ensure that your account is as secure as possible and despite there being quite a few bits of information to fill in before you’re even started, it can be assumed that this is to ensure you have the most secure experience whilst using the app.

The security phrase is something that will be added to emails sent by Mitto to let you know that the email is an actual email sent by them and not just an attempt at phishing. You’re then required to enter three individual security questions and answers that will allow you to obtain control of your account should you lose access.

Once you’ve confirmed your account, you’ll be able to get started.

Adding Accounts

Compared with other similar apps, Mitto is more based around website accounts as opposed to the general password approach taken by other apps. Though it does support standard usernames and passwords for accounts in general, it is more suited for use in everyday website browsing. When you first launch the app, you’ll be presented with a list of popular websites that you may have an account with and are able to begin immediately adding your external website credentials to your Mitto account.

To add a website, simply use their search tool to find the website that you want to add the account for and then enter the username/email and password. The directory is filled with some of the most popular websites from social networks to email and finance websites so chances are, the site you require will probably already be ready to use with Mitto. In this step, you’ll also be able to choose whether you’d like to stay logged into the website (only some websites support this) when you’ve finished which means that you’ll be able to ensure that should you be using a public computer, the website you’re logged into knows that you don’t want to stay logged in once you’re done.

Tags

If you use the app for all of your login needs, there’s a pretty good chance that it will be filled with website accounts and when you’re looking for the right one, you don’t want to have to browse through them all manually. Mitto also takes care of this. Like many other popular formats, it takes advantage of the concept of tagging accounts with an adjective to ensure that you can easily find the account you’re looking for based on the tag is has been assigned.

To add one, simply find the account you’d like to tag, then under the ‘Tags’ heading, choose to add a new tag. You can add more than one tag to an account and they’ll be displayed in a folder-like structure so you can easily browse through your categorised websites.

Bookmarklet

Because many of the websites go through significant design changes occasionally, it can be quite common for the Mitto auto-login feature to not support their new forms. Have no fear, the bookmarklet is here to solve this problem. It also allows you to add websites that aren’t currently supported natively by Mitto, meaning that you shouldn’t need to worry about the website not being compatible with the app.

To get started, simply install the bookmarklet as explained on the site and browse to a website you’d like to add login information for. Activating the bookmarklet shows an overlay with the various steps you can follow to use Mitto with that site. Should you already have an account added to Mitto for that site, you’ll be presented with a list of available logins which, when clicked, will automatically log you into the site.

The next option is to add the login details you already have. Because websites sometimes have multiple forms on them, you’re going to want Mitto to use the right one. To sort this, simply hover over the options until you find the login form and then you can add the site. If you’ve already entered the login details into the form but not submitted before adding the site, Mitto automatically takes these and adds them automatically. Otherwise, you’ll be then taken back to the main section of the app to add the account.

The bookmarklet also allows you to generate strong passwords so that having to think of a strong password on the spot needn’t be a mandatory task.

Sharing

One of the other more notable features of Mitto is the ability to securely share passwords with other trusted users that you define. Once you’ve selected the account you’d like to share, simply choose the option and enter the recipient’s email address. This will then allow them to either simply view or edit the password in the account. This is a feature that would not always be used by most people but it can be quite useful if you work in an organisation where an account is shared between different people and you want others to keep on top of this should it change.

Final Thoughts

I was quite impressed after having used Mitto for a while. I initially thought that it would just be the same as any other password manager but after having a good look at the app and its features, I realised that it’s quite a well-developed app. Though the interface feels like it’s lacking a bit visually, it still does its job extremely well. The bookmarklet in particular (and its various extensions) ensure that websites that aren’t natively-supported can be added just as easily and the fact that it lets you define the login form as opposed to wrongly-choosing it is also a bonus. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the app though I did feel that the fairly basic and slightly-outdated interface held it back a little bit. Even so, a job well done! Hats off to the developers.