Password Age and Rotation¶
The longer a password stands, the more chances it has had to leak. Private Passwords notices when a password has stood longer than you'd like, marks it, and counts it in Credential Health.
Each Type has a Password Age¶
Every Type has a Password Age: the number of days a password of that Type may stand before it's shown as old, to be changed.
| Unless you change it | 250 days |
| Range | 0 to 999 days |
| 0 | Off: no password of that Type is checked |
To change it, open Types on the Info page, under Metadata Configuration, and use the Password Age stepper beside the Type. It's a setting of the Type, so it's the same on every device your items sync to. See Types and the Default Type.
[Screenshot: Types with the Password Age stepper beside each Type]
When a password counts as old¶
A password's age counts from the day it was set. Changing it, in Edit or with Change Password, starts the count again.
Where the app wasn't told when a password was set, it counts from when the item's previous password was replaced, or else from when the item was made. An imported item keeps the dates your old app gave it.
| The password's age | What you see |
|---|---|
| Within its Password Age | Nothing |
| Past its Password Age | An orange hourglass on its row |
| Half as old again, or more | A red hourglass |
With 250 days, a password turns orange on day 251 and red on day 375.
An old password also adds to its login's points in Credential Health: the further past its Password Age, the more it adds, up to five times as much. To find these items, use the hourglass pill on Recent, or Past their age on the Credential Health page.
Defer Password Rotation¶
Sometimes changing a password isn't up to you: a login shared with others, or a site that limits what its passwords may be. Defer Password Rotation leaves a login out of Credential Health for a while, or for good.
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| Never | Not deferred: the login counts as usual |
| 1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months | Deferred until that many months from today |
| Forever | Deferred for good |
Each choice counts from today, every time you make it, never from a date already set.
Despite its name, it leaves out the whole login, not just its age. While a login is deferred it has no points, the box on Recent and Tags never puts it up, and the warning pills on Recent don't list it. Its screen says so, for example "Rotation deferred until 14 Jan 2027". Once that date comes, the login counts again.
You can choose it:
- on the login's screen, under Sign-in Protection;
- in Edit;
- in the box on Recent and Tags, with Defer, which offers every choice but Never;
- after an import, on its Credential Health page.
To stop deferring a login, choose Never.
[Screenshot: Sign-in Protection on a login, with Defer Password Rotation]
Continue to Merging Duplicates.