LastPass for Android now enters passwords for third party apps

Password synchronization service LastPass offers and Android app which lets you login to web sites quickly on a mobile device as long as your username and password are stored on the LastPass server. In other words, you can create a Twitter account on your PC and the LastPass plugin for Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome will automatically save your login information to the web. Then you can open the LastPass browser on your phone and login to Twitter without entering your password all over again.

Up until recently the LastPass mobile app only worked when you used the built-in browser to open web pages. But the latest build of LastPass for Android has an experimental feature that lets you login to some third party apps.

Basically, LastPass 1.73.1 now includes a keyboard utility. When you open the Twitter app, Facebook app, or other supported app and hit the login button, you can bring up the LsstPass keyboard for Android and tap the LastPass icon to automatically login. If you have multiple Twitter accounts (or accounts with other services), you’ll see a list of accounts to choose from.

In order to enable the new LastPass keyboard feature, download the latest version of LastPass, enter the preferences menu, and check the box next to “Enable LastPass Input Method.” You may then have to go to your phone’s settings menu, select “Language & Keyboard” and then check the box next to LastPass. Finally, when you go to actually enter text, your default keyboard may show up. You can press-and-hold the text box to select input method and choose LastPass from the list of available keyboards.

The LastPass keyboard is actually pretty attractive and features nice big buttons. Unfortunately it doesn’t work with all third party apps, and it doesn’t feature any sort of auto-correct or auto-suggest, so if you tend to make a lot of typos on software keyboards you may not want to use LastPass as your primary input method.

I tried the LastPass keyboard with Firefox Mobile to see if it would automatically enter passwords for web sites in that browser — but instead the keyboard tried looking for a Mozilla.org password, since it was looking at the app rather than the web site.

There’s also a LastPass plugin for Dolphin Browser HD though, if you’re looking for a way to login to web sites without using the LastPass browser.

LastPass is available as a free download from the Android Market. While the basic desktop browser plugin is available to use for free, you’ll need to sign up for a LastPass Premium account for $12 per year to use LastPass on a mobile device.

via reddit