Concealer: Keep Track of Passwords and Sensitive Files

Let’s face it, passwords are a hassle. Everyone advises against using the same ones over and over again, but it’s just so very convenient only having to memorize a couple of them. Recently, a lot of apps have come out that promise to get rid of this problem by helping you remember all of your passwords, but most of them aren’t very convenient to use.

The app that we are reviewing today, Concealer, isn’t very different from the competition, but it does add a few unique features. Check them out after the jump!

Getting Started

Concealer is a password manager app, but more specifically, it is an all-round security app. It can help you generate random passwords that will be stored in the app, which you can only access with a universal password; but that’s not all, it can also help you store folders, files and notes securely.

And the best of all: this is all done through a very Mac-friendly, simple and neatly arranged interface. You have the menu bar on top where you can add new accounts and notes as well as lock the app, and right below the menu bar you have filters that make the app easy to navigate. On the main frame you have your cards shown with various pieces of information.

Concealer has two versions: Lite and Commercial. The lite one is super-simple and it pretty much works as a trial mode for the app, even though it isn’t really advertised as a “trial”.

It will only give you availability for 5 accounts, 3 notes and 1 storage (we’ll get into what that means later). The paid version will give you unlimited number of any of those, and it sells for $19.99.

Setting Concealer Up

The first time you run Concealer, you’ll be shown a few videos that will help you learn your way around the app. These are a bit long, but they do a great job at getting you clued up with every feature in under 10 minutes. Right after the videos you’ll be asked to create your universal password, which you’ll use to access the app every time you open it.

As the videos warn you, you shouldn’t check the “Remember in Keychain” box, as this will defeat the purpose of the app by giving anyone logged into your account access to your stored passwords and files. So, when you create your password just leave the box unchecked.

Accounts & Notes

An account is basically a “card” where you can store information on any bank accounts, credit cards or memberships that you have. You can open a new one by clicking “Add Account” on the toolbar and a small window will pop up where you can enter all the information like the bank name, home page, ID, account number, and more.

You can also choose categories and sub-categories for each of your accounts, such as finance, internet, software, and more. These are useful for sorting and filtering.

All this information will be stored in a small card in the app where you can check it and copy it whenever you want to use it. One handy feature about this is that the app has its own password assistant that can help you create secure passwords.

The notes are pretty similar to the accounts, but in them you can input any information you’d like to without having the required fields that you have on the accounts.

File Storage

The storage feature is very interesting. It pretty much lets you create a password-locked folder on the app where you can keep files secure and away from anybody who shouldn’t be looking at them.

You can create a storage with the “Create File Storage” on the toolbar. You will then be shown a window where you can select the password for the storage, the encryption method and the size limit.

The size limit will make sure that your folder doesn’t exceed a certain amount of space. You can save files to this secure storage by opening the folder and dragging any file into the folder. Once you have your super secret files in the storage folder, you should delete the original copy.

How You Should Use It

Ideally, once you have set up all of your accounts and secret files, you should lock down the app by clicking on the lock icon on the left upper corner. This will bring you back to the main screen where you need to put in your password to access the app.

In order for Concealer to work, you should always lock down the app after you are done using it. If you leave it open, anyone will have access to your precious information and unimaginable disasters could occur!

So make sure you click on the lock button after you are done. Or, if you know you are going to forget locking it down, you can set an auto-lock clock in the app’s preferences.

Conclusion

I’d been looking for an app that had password-locked file storage for a while now, and Concealer sure seems like a keeper, especially because of that storage feature. I’ve been using the free Password Pad Lite for storing passwords, but Concealer seems like a better option as not only a password solution, but a complete security app.

Is it worth the $20 dollars, though? If you’ll use more than the offered features for the lite version, then of course it is. I might stick with the lite version for a while to see if it fits my needs.

What do you think? Would you put a price tag on your digital security?