Dropbox Passwords is shutting down. Do this before it’s too late

It’s been a bad year for password managers. First, Microsoft announced earlier this summer that its popular Microsoft Authenticator app would be discontinuing its password manager feature and would revert to being an app that focused solely on multifactor authentication codes.

Now, Dropbox has announced that it is killing its password manager, Dropbox Passwords, entirely. And its death is happening in three phases, the first of which begins this coming Thursday. By the end, all your passwords will be permanently deleted. If you currently use Dropbox Passwords, here’s what you need to do before the app goes goodbye for good.

Choose a Dropbox Passwords alternative

Most of us have dozens, if not hundreds, of internet logins to various websites, from banks to social media sites. It is a poor idea to use the same password for each because, if your login details for one of your sites are leaked, hackers will try those same login details at other sites, allowing them to access your information across the web.

Of course, remembering dozens of passwords in our heads just isn’t mentally feasible for most people. That’s where password managers come in. These apps suggest and remember unique saved passwords for every website we visit, and autofill them for us when we want to log in.

But one of the more popular password managers, Dropbox Passwords, is being shut down soon. The company says that it is doing this “to focus on enhancing other features in our core product”—its cloud storage platform.

So, if you’re a Dropbox Passwords user, you’ll need to choose an alternative password manager, just as Microsoft Authenticator users had to do in July. Thankfully, there are several to choose from. Some of the top password managers include:

Each has its strengths, but they all do the essential thing that any good password manager does: store your myriad passwords and autofill them when you log into a website. If you’re a Dropbox Passwords user, the important thing to do now is choose an alternative password manager and install it on your devices.

Export your Dropbox Passwords passwords

Once you’ve chosen a Dropbox Passwords alternative and have it installed on your devices, you’re going to need to transfer your passwords that are currently saved in your Dropbox Passwords app to your new password manager app.

This is a two-step process. The first step is to export your passwords from Dropbox Passwords as a CSV file. To do that, do the following in the Dropbox Passwords app:

1. Open the Dropbox Passwords app on your smartphone.
2. Tap the Settings button (it looks like a cog wheel).
3. Tap Export.
4. Tap Export again to confirm your password export.

If you prefer to use the Dropbox Passwords browser extension on your computer to export, you can do that as well. Dropbox has instructions for how to do that here.

The second step is to import the exported passwords CSV file into your new password manager of choice. The process will vary slightly depending on which password manager you choose to use. Your new password manager will offer online instructions for how to import passwords into it. For example, 1Password, which Dropbox recommends that Dropbox Passwords users switch to, has its password import instructions here.

Do everything by October 28—or say goodbye to your passwords forever

If you are a Dropbox Passwords user, it’s crucial to export your passwords from the service as soon as possible. Dropbox is beginning the discontinuation of Dropbox Passwords this week, on Thursday, August 28. That day marks the first part of a three-phase shutdown of Dropbox Passwords that concludes in October, with all passwords in Dropbox Passwords being deleted for good.

Here’s how the phases of the shutdown work:

• August 28: Passwords in Dropbox Passwords will become view-only. This means you won’t be able to use the app or extension to autofill your passwords on websites. You also won’t be able to add new passwords after this date.
• September 11: The Dropbox Passwords app will stop working on all smartphones. This means that from this date on, you’ll no longer be able to use the mobile app to view your saved passwords. Instead, you’ll need to resort to the Dropbox Passwords extension in your web browser to see any saved passwords.
• October 28: Dropbox Passwords will be shut down for good. All passwords contained in the service will be securely deleted and become unrecoverable. If you have not exported your passwords by this date, you’ll lose access to them forever.

With Microsoft Authenticator ditching password manager support and now Dropbox Passwords shutting down its service entirely, you may be wondering how much longer the replacement you’ve chosen will stick around. Unfortunately, that’s impossible to predict. 

But password manager support added next to nothing to Microsoft’s or Dropbox’s bottom lines—unlike many of the alternative password managers mentioned above. Most of those companies rely heavily on their password manager offerings for a significant portion of their revenue, suggesting that it’s reasonable to assume that their password managers aren’t going to go anywhere soon.