What Is a Password Typer?

A password typer is a small USB stick that stores your passwords and types them for you. You plug it in, click the box the password goes in, pick the login on the stick's little screen, and it types. To your computer it looks exactly like someone typing on a keyboard, because as far as the computer knows, someone is.

It really is that literal, and that's on purpose. It is a thumb drive that types your passwords.

Why "password typer" and not "password manager"

When cars were new, nobody knew what an automobile was, and nobody spends serious money on something unfamiliar. The car companies that succeeded sold "horseless carriages," because everyone already knew what a carriage was, and taking away the horse let people understand the product before the salesman finished his sentence.

"Password manager" has the opposite problem. Most people have heard the phrase and filed it under something for tech people, involving apps, browser extensions, accounts, subscriptions, and syncing, and that pile of requirements is exactly what keeps them from starting.

A password typer is a thumb drive that types your passwords, and since you already know what a thumb drive is, you already understand the product. That's the whole pitch, and it's not a trick, because the name is a complete and honest description of the device.

What using one is like

• Plug it into a USB port.
• Unlock it with your PIN.
• Click the box on your screen where the password goes.
• Scroll to the login you want on the stick's screen and click.
• It types the password, and you're logged in.

There is no software to install first and no account to create, because the computer sees an ordinary keyboard and some very fast typing.

The questions everyone asks next

When we hand one to a normal human, the same questions come back every time, so here are the real ones with the real answers.

How does it know what website I'm on?

It doesn't. It can't see your screen and it can't read your browser. You tell it what to type by picking a login on its screen, and you tell it where by clicking the box first, and it types wherever your cursor is, which is the entire extent of its awareness.

That sounds like a limitation until you see what it buys you, because a device that can't see what you're doing can never record what you're doing, and can never be made to. We call it dumb by design.

Is it copying and pasting my password?

No, it isn't. Copy and paste goes through your computer's clipboard, and other programs on your computer can read the clipboard. A password typer skips all of that and presses keys the same way your fingers would, just faster and without typos.

So my passwords aren't saved on my computer anymore?

Right, they live on the stick, encrypted, with nothing saved in your browser, no list in a file on your desktop, and nothing left behind on the machine. Pull the stick out of the port and your passwords leave with you.

Does it need an app?

There is no app, no account, and no download, which is also why it works on nearly anything with a USB port, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebooks, most phones, and machines you're not allowed to install software on, like a locked-down work computer.

If somebody hacks my computer, do they get my passwords?

The honest answer is that malware on your computer can capture a password at the moment it's typed, no matter what typed it or where it was stored. That's true of every password manager ever made, hardware or software, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. What malware can't do is reach into the stick and take the rest of the vault, because there's no app to attack and, on ours, no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to attack over. Everything is hackable. It's just a matter of time. All we can do is extend that time.

What if I lose it?

Losing one should end in a shrug, because a locked password typer worth the name is a dead end for whoever finds it. Without your PIN the vault stays sealed, and after a handful of wrong guesses ours destroys the key permanently, so you restore your backup onto a new stick and get on with your day. The long version is at Lose It and Shrug.

The one we make

We're NuLenke, a two-person hardware company in Minnesota, and our password typer is called Lomenett. It's an aluminum stick with a small screen and thumbwheel, USB-A on one end and USB-C on the other, room for up to 1,000 logins, and no radios of any kind, and it's launching soon.

If you're wondering how a password typer stacks up against the software kind, we wrote the honest version, including where the apps beat us, at Password Typer vs. Password Manager. And if you're thinking it sounds like a YubiKey, it's a different tool, and the difference matters: Lomenett vs. YubiKey.