PhoneWallet v2.0 Keeps Your Info Secure
With as many usernames, passwords, and various other numbers and identifications that we have nowadays, it’s no wonder we get confused sometimes. For some in the ‘older generation’, it’s easy to keep a small piece of paper or notecard hidden in your wallet, upon which is recorded, well, everything needed to swipe your identity. There has to be a safer, more secure way to keep track of the countless pieces of information that we need!
Good news – there is, and it’s called PhoneWallet v2.0, from SymbianGuru (not us, the other guys). Basically, PhoneWallet is a small application that securely organizes and stores your personal information on your mobile handset, so that you can use that brain of yours for more important things, such as learning a new language or something. Upon startup, the application asks you to setup a single password. This can be any combination of letters and numbers, and is only setup once.
Once inside the application, you’re greeted with this screen. Nearly any piece of secure information has a place, neatly organized into folders. No more sorting the information out off a smudged notecard, or trying to figure out which is your social security number or email password. There are a handful of preset folders, along with the option to create your own folder, so that you can store literally any piece of information you may need. You can also rearrange the contents of these folders, should you decide it belongs elsewhere.
Once inside the folder, there are a number of specific types of information, again clearly labeled so that you don’t need to hunt. For instance, in the ‘Travelling’ folder, you can easily store your Frequent Flyer numbers, hotel reservation information, and even your flight booking information – securely. Again, you can also add your own specific fields, should you need to store more information. You can fully customise the folders and records with their own labels and icons, as well, for a fully personalized organization.
An application like this doesn’t need many settings, though there is a few important features. Since S60 handsets are capable of multitasking, it’s highly likely that this application might sit in the background for some time. To ensure this doesn’t become a security breach, PhoneWallet v2.0 includes an autolock feature, with a user-configurable timer that re-locks the application after a set time, so that you must re-enter your password, even if you haven’t closed the application. You can also opt to have the password enabled as soon as the application gets pushed to the background.
The other potential inconvenience with this application is what should happen if you lose your handset, or lose your information for whatever reason. Again, PhoneWallet v2.0 has you covered with an included a Backup/Restore function, so that you can keep a copy of your information in a safe location. The file is exported as a .pwb file, and uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) for security.
There’s a free 10-day trial of PhoneWallet v2.0, or you can purchase the full version from the Symbian-Guru store.
Personally I prefer Handy Safe on the phone, if for no other reason than it has a Windows application which syncs and allows for big screen editing.
Other than that they are much the same.
[...] one that just popped up on my radar thanks to Symbian-Guru. It’s called PhoneWallet v2.0, and there’s a great review (with screenshots) here. Basically, PhoneWallet allows you to safely store all kinds of information on your phone, password [...]
I have tried this one and revert back to Handy Safe as I missed a convenient feature: the ability to open, read and scroll through records in a non-editable mode as in Handy Safe.
Other than that, it’s a good piece of software.
been using this for awhile. love using it as it has a very easy to use interface. tried handy safe but i find this phone wallet much easier to use and the fact that i can save phone wallet info as an encripted file on my memory card making it easy to restore after a firmware upgrade (which you couldn’t do in version 1.0, meaning you had to re-typre everything).
Pretty cool app, and the HandySafe mentioned above sounds good, but the lack of either of them having an off-phone client for me (running Linux, not Windows) kind of puts both out of the running.
I can only hope that Ovi Sync has something like this: a private and secured area on both the website and the phone for data such as this.
@Kevin – PhoneWallet doesn’t have a desktop client, but it does allow you to export the file, which you could save on any storage medium – under Linux, Windows, or otherwise. However, as I’m sure you meant, you’re still limited to entering the information on the mobile device.
All the applications mentioned are indeed very nice.
However I miss the integration with the webbrowser itself, on a pc that is.
In which RoboForm is the one I use.
They also have a Symbian client of their application which is free. However this doesn’t provide lots of viewing space if you have long notes. The Symbian app is still in beta so that’s not much to be expected from it.
The simple thing is that you can just take the whole RoboForm folder and copy it to any folder in your phone and the structure and all the contents are there.
PhoneWallet is also great, but does not support syncing which I think is something very handy.
Handy Safe offers a very good view of information and offers sync. (Trying that out now, but very much to type and transfer from RoboForm to this app).
Keep it up Guru with the nice applications tips. It’s good to try new apps and see if it’s better than others.
[...] reviewed PhoneWallet from SymbianGuru previously, but now our friends at SBSH, known for their Calendar application (formerly known as [...]