All the while, KeePassDroid has been the go-to app to manage our password database in Android. However, it is only compatible only with keepass 1.x database (beta support for keepass 2.x database) and the lack of integration with the mobile browser prevented it from becoming the perfect app. Keepass2Android is based on KeePassDroid and it comes with full read/write support for keepass 2.x database as well as username/password auto-fill for most mobile browsers for Android.
There are two version of Keepass2Android in the Play store. One is the full version with support for local storage as well as various cloud storage services. The other is a lightweight version that only comes with local storage support. This is suitable for those who don’t need the cloud storage access.
Once you have installed Keepass2Android, open it up and connect to your keepass 2.x database. You can choose to select the database file from the local storage, or any of your cloud storage account. It currently supports Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, FTP and WebDav.
Once you have unlocked the database and selected an entry, the username and password will be available in the notification bar for you to copy to the clipboard. This is similar to how KeePassDroid works.
AutoFill Password in Browser
For it to be able to auto fill password in Android browsers, you will have to enable the Keepass2Android keyboard and set it as the default. Go to “Settings -> Language & Input” and place a check beside “Keepass2Android”
Set the “keepass2Android” keyboard as the default. Open your mobile browser and navigate to a site that requires login (and one that you have the login credential saved in the password database). Click the “Share” button and select “Keepass2Android”.
It will prompt you to unlock your database (if you have already opened, you just have to enter the last 3 characters of your password to unlock the database), after which the password entry will show up for you to select. Lastly, tap on the Droid button (at the bottom left corner of the keyboard) to bring up the auto-fill entry.
You can then select “username” or “password”, which will then be inserted into the respective field.
More features of Keepass2Android
Other than the auto-fill password feature, Keepass2Android also comes with a “Quick Unlock” feature that allows you to quickly unlock opened database without having to enter the full password again. The Quick Unlock feature will kick in when you switch application. To unlock the database, you just have to enter the last 3 characters of your database password. The number of characters can be changed in the Keepass2Android settings.
Another feature of Keepass2Android is the ability to search with regular expression. If you have a big database with thousands of (complicated) entries, you can search your database with regular expression. In Keepass2Android, go to the Settings menu and access “Advanced Search”. Check the box beside “regular expression” and perform your search.
Conclusion
KeePassDroid has always been my go-to app to access my password in Android. However, I do miss the auto-fill feature found in the Keepass 2 desktop app. With Keepass2Android, it fills the gap and I am now able to access my password database as well as getting it to auto-fill password in my Android browser. The best thing is, it is free and you don’t have to pay any subscription (looking at you, LastPass) to have your passwords available in mobile devices. What do you think? Is this something useful for you? Image credit: Login with email and password on computer screen by BigStockPhoto
