Master Password / Spectre: password manager that does not store passwords on devices or in the cloud

guest · Feb 3, 2023

By Martin Brinkmann - February 3, 2023

Master Password is a free password manager that does not store passwords on the devices it is run on or in the cloud. The password manager uses a different system when compared to traditional password management programs, such as Bitwarden or KeePass.
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Instead of saving user generated passwords in an encrypted database, it computes strong unique passwords using a single master password and the user's name. Passwords do not get saved on the device or in the cloud, but the system that Master Password uses still supports usage on multiple devices without syncing.

Master Password for Android is a port of the iOS application of the same name. The original developer of Master Password published a revised version, called Spectre, in 2021 that is backwards compatible.
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How Master Password works
Master Password computes all passwords on every start using the user's selected master password and name. The method offers several advantages over traditional password managers.

One advantage is that there is no encrypted password database that may fall into the wrong hands. Other password managers store passwords in an encrypted container, which may be copied by malicious actors.
Since there is no password database, there is no need for synchronization or a cloud connection.
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Closing Words
Master Password uses a completely different approach to passwords. It does not store passwords but computes them using a single master password and username, and a custom name specified by the user for the service in question. The custom name is stored on the device, and import / export options allow users to transfer that data between devices or for backup purposes.
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Master Password
Website
Get Master Password:
iOS
Android: https://www.masterpasswordapp.com/masterpassword-android.apk (Google Play Store)
Mac: https://www.masterpasswordapp.com/masterpassword-mac.zip
Desktop: https://www.masterpasswordapp.com/masterpassword-gui.jar
Terminal: https://www.masterpasswordapp.com/masterpassword-cli.tar.gz
Web

guest · Feb 3, 2023

Spectre, a revised version of Master Password:

Spectre
Website
iOS
Web (The web app brings the Spectre algorithm to the W3C's web platforms, accessible from any compatible browser.) (Source Code: Spectre Web)

Coming soon to these other platforms.
GitLab: Spectre Desktop / Spectre macOS / Spectre CLI / Spectre Android / Spectre API

Blog Entry (Oct 31, 2021): From Master Password to Spectre

In 2010, I began work on an algorithm for addressing my own personal password needs.

Frustrated with the constant demand for passwords from every new website and unsatisfied with the existing proposals for how to address this need by the market, I had the benefit of being a software engineer and a background in security applications development.
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Master Password first appeared in 2011 on iPhone, and has since garnered a large audience of users excited about no longer being dependent on the cloud, secure vaults, backups and personal storage systems for their secure online access controls.
Spectre
The next evolution of Master Password is now called Spectre.

Spectre is a new platform based on the algorithm that underpins Master Password. It is a fully rewritten and modernized software suite that will replace the old and enable all future capabilities. Spectre aims to grow beyond just passwords and offer a fully decentralized self-owned solution for privacy-first online identity management.
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Maintenance and development will now shift to Spectre and Master Password will no longer be actively maintained. We recommend that everyone shift their user profiles from their Master Password apps to the Spectre app. Both Master Password and Spectre have been coded specifically to make this migration as easy as possible for you: [...]
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reasonablePrivacy · Feb 4, 2023

It's interesting. Maybe I will use it when Android version becomes available.
Anyway I don't think it will replace password managers completely. First of all, password managers do contain field for i.e. debit card PIN etc. Some people use it.
Some other services do generate a password for you and do not allow to setup your own password etc

I don't know how/if Spectre/Master password handles multiple accounts on same site. It would be a no for people having i.e. two Gmail e-mail addresses. This somehow should be marked different from changing a password for a site to a new one.

Last but not least if Spectre's master password is eavesdropped I guess somebody may recreate a password for your accounts anyway. All your accounts that used Spectre-generated passwords.

Rasheed187 · Feb 5, 2023

reasonablePrivacy said: ↑

It's interesting. Maybe I will use it when Android version becomes available.
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To be honest, I still don't understand how it even works in the first place. Is this really an idea that can revolutionize how people login, and is it similar to Passkeys which will be launched by Google, MS and Apple?

XIII · Feb 5, 2023

As far as I understand this, it uses a technique (algorithm) which calculates a password for any site based on a single main password.

But what if a single site ever forces you to change its password? Since that password is calculated, based on that single main password, this means that you have to change your single main password and thus update the calculated password everywhere?

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