A while back I switched to using strongbox as my password manager on IOS as it was the only well known keepass client on IOS. I saw it was recommended on privacyguides and techlore. I have been using it but recently it was bought by applause and now the recommendation is removed from the site. Also some people here were telling me they were suspicious of it and to uninstall it. According to techlore and privacyguides, the app is open source, but there is some drama on github about the app having proprietary snippets of code or something. My main question is if I used it offline only, is it still safe and recommended?
Strongbox is no longer recommended and was removed here:
Removing Strongbox was discussed for a long time since they pretended to be open source to benefit their business. Ultimately the decision to remove Strongbox came when they were acquired.
Your passwords are unlikely to be at any immediate risk but I nonetheless recommend moving to a different option sooner rather than later.
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For now, this seems to be the case, though we do advise that you pick another password manager , start migrating at your own pace.
Looking at The Best Password Managers to Protect Your Privacy and Security - Privacy Guides I donāt see any KeePass app recommended that is also available on the iPhone App Store. The ones I see on the App Store are: Keepassium, Keepass, Keepass Touch, Strongbox, MiniKeePassReloaded, and KyPass. There are āproā versions of a couple of these too.
Any opinions on them? I am more inclined towards those that publish their source code but that still leaves several choices. What other criteria should be used?
Weāre still looking at alternatives. Keepassium has a thread here on the forum though:
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Now that strongbox is no longer recommended, when I switch to bitwarden, are my passwords on strongbox still safe enough to keep using?
Like others said, I donāt think thereās a reason to believe Strongbox is currently compromised, but if you want to be extra safe you can use a different master password and change any important passwords such as email and bank passwords.
If youāre a KeePass user, I think KeePassium is looking like the runner-up. Itās already widely recommended including by KeePassXC and Techlore, so you might prefer them over Bitwarden.
Ironically, KeepassXC recommends Strongbox too.
Iām researching trying to decide between Strongbox and KeePassium. When I read the above comment, I thought it was saying that KeePassXC recommends Strongbox over other IOS KeePass apps. To be clear, as of writing my comment, the KeePassXC docs say:
Edit: My bad - I see now that TheDoc comment said KeePassXC recommends KeePassium and then clockwork comment was clarifying that KeePassXC also recommends Strongbox. I misunderstood clockwork comment and my clarification was unnecessary.
Thatās a long standing recommendation and itās possible they havenāt re-evaluated it after the sale. Even Privacy Guides only recently removed the StrongBox recommendation.