Software License Library

[Hergesheimer]

Dear all,

I want to get rid of 1Password, it‘s a good program but it‘s people behind it, became to greedy recently. Apples keychain does one part quite acceptable already. What I am missing is a program where I can store my software licenses (key and contract email) in. Do you know one? Many thanks for an idea.

Greetings from Europe,

Hergesheimer

 

[0128672]

Dear all,

I want to get rid of 1Password, it‘s a good program but it‘s people behind it, became to greedy recently. Apples keychain does one part quite acceptable already. What I am missing is a program where I can store my software licenses (key and contract email) in. Do you know one? Many thanks for an idea.

Greetings from Europe,

Hergesheimer

This is likely not the solution you're looking for, but I keep my license info in a Numbers file. I prefer customizing it exactly how I want it to look and behave, and not accept someone else's solution (or pay for it).

 

[Weaselboy]

I use a Secure Note in Keychain for that. No need for another app IMO.

 

[Hergesheimer]

Thanks both. I thought also about just putting them into an excel or numbers file. Just need to save the emails somewhere else. The keychain access looks also very promising. Will end up with using one of them for sure. Thanks again!

 

[0128672]

Thanks both. I thought also about just putting them into an excel or numbers file. Just need to save the emails somewhere else. The keychain access looks also very promising. Will end up with using one of them for sure. Thanks again!

I also use the Keychain Access Notes feature for things like security questions and answers, although more lately have been simply pasting those (from a temporary desktop sticky) into the keychain login entry comments field.

For saving login/licenses/important confirmation emails, I keep a Mac Mail subfolder for them, and export as PDF every couple of months to save (with a date in the filename) in a Mac folder. It's come in handy more than once for something I'd deleted from Mail thinking I wouldn't need it. I do the same for email receipts.

 

[NoBoMac]

^^^This.

I do something similar for this type of stuff (eg. recovery keys). I'll create PDFs, text files, etc and save them on the Mac. The drive is FileVault enabled, so safe doing that. Backups encrypted as well, so protected again.

I also create encrypted versions (26 random character key) of the files and copy those to my cloud accounts, so I'm not totally single point of failure with Apple/MacOS.

Another option is Notes app. Can create encrypted notes there that also will sync to iCloud, should your Mac go belly-up and need that info from some other device.

 

[Hergesheimer]

Great tips from all of you! Now I am confident to be able to abandon 1Password. The advice to encrypt everything and send it to the cloud is very helpful. Will start tonight switching over. Thanks so much.

 

[travoose]

Look at the Secrets app. They make it for MacOS & iOS. It was a one time purchase for 20 bucks. Syncs with iCloud to keep changes up-to-date across all your devices. Has username/password fields and also other options that may suit you.

 

[Hergesheimer]

Thanks travoose. But then I would end up with the same setup, having a password manager for the licenses and the keychain. Nevertheless I will check it out tonight. Cheers!

 

[travoose]

Thanks travoose. But then I would end up with the same setup, having a password manager for the licenses and the keychain. Nevertheless I will check it out tonight. Cheers!

Just use it for the license feature and not the password part. I added the password part in case you wanted to keep it all under one roof.

Best of luck in your venture.

 

[Hergesheimer]

Thanks. You are totally right. Checked it out yesterday. Will go with this app and the keychain and will decide after a month what I will keep. Thanks again all.

 

[fastmax]

Thanks. You are totally right. Checked it out yesterday. Will go with this app and the keychain and will decide after a month what I will keep. Thanks again all.

It looks like you have some great options for storing your software licenses. Notes seems particularly apt for this purpose for Keychain users as one can simply create a Licenses folder and add a note for each individual registration.

I recently investigated this challenge as well since I was looking for a free option to store both my passwords and licenses in one application that I could access from any device. For anyone else looking to do the same, I have been very impressed with Bitwarden. The nice thing about this option is you get increased security over iCloud Keychain with TNO End-To-End Encryption for your passwords and also a convenient place to keep License information nicely organized in the same place. The feature of Bitwarden that works particularly well for Licenses is Secure Notes, which can be customized with the correct field based on how each App developer sets up their Licensing format. You can then set each Secure Note License to be organized into a Software Licenses folder on the far left pane of the app for quick access.

It's a pretty elegant setup.