How do I share passwords with family safely?
Use the sharing built into a password manager, and never send credentials by message or email.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Use a password manager's shared vault. Sending passwords by message or email leaves them in two message histories permanently, and those are the accounts most likely to be compromised.
Households genuinely need shared credentials — streaming, utilities, the router. The problem is that the convenient methods all leave a permanent copy somewhere insecure.
Step by step
- Use a password manager with family sharing.Most offer a shared vault alongside private ones. The password is shared without ever being sent as text, and it updates for everyone when changed.
- Separate shared from personal.Household accounts in the shared vault; personal accounts private. Sharing everything creates problems later, particularly if circumstances change.
- Never send passwords by message or email.They stay in both people's history indefinitely, get backed up, and are readable by anyone who gets into either account. This is the habit to break.
- Use each service's own sharing where it exists.Family plans for streaming and storage give each person their own login. Better than sharing one account and usually the same price.
- Set up emergency access.Most password managers let you nominate someone who can request access after a delay you can decline. It solves the genuine problem of someone needing access if you cannot provide it.
- If you must send one, do it out of band.Say it aloud or by phone, and never with the account name or website in the same message. Do not send the username and password by the same channel.
- Change shared passwords when circumstances change.A flatmate moves out, a relationship ends, a device is lost. Shared credentials linger long after they should.
- Keep two-factor personal where you can.Shared password with individual second factors is a reasonable arrangement. Sharing the second factor as well removes most of the protection.
Tips
- Writing the wifi password on a card by the router is fine. It is a low-value credential and physical access is already required.
- A shared vault also solves the household problem of one person knowing all the logins and being unavailable when needed.
- Check what family sharing your existing subscriptions include. Many people pay for two accounts where a family plan exists.
Questions people ask
How should I share a password with family?
Through a password manager's shared vault. It shares access without ever sending the password as text, and updates for everyone when it changes.
Is it safe to text a password?
No. It remains in both message histories indefinitely and is backed up. If you must, say it aloud or by phone, separately from the account details.