Android gains a secure way to move saved logins between password managers
Google has introduced a new on-device system for Android that lets users securely transfer their saved logins from one password manager app to another. The feature currently works with Google's own app, 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane.
Modern security practices demand longer, more complicated passwords, making it nearly impossible for people to memorize them without help. Password manager apps solve that problem, but switching from one to another used to mean manually retyping every saved credential. Google has now built a way to handle that transfer automatically on Android devices.
How the transfer works
The new migration process runs entirely on the phone itself, so both the source and destination apps need to be installed, with credentials already synced in each. To begin, users start the process from within the app they want to switch to, by locating its import option.
In Google Password Manager, which is built into Android, that import option sits near the top of the settings tab, and it connects directly to the new secure migration system. Export, by contrast, still simply generates an unencrypted CSV file of passwords that can be loaded into virtually any app. Other supported apps are expected to follow a similar pattern, so it matters which app the process is initiated from.
Which apps are supported
At launch, the secure migration feature works across Google's own password manager along with three widely used third-party options: 1Password, Bitwarden, and Dashlane.
