Abine Blur Password Manager Review – Safety at a Cost

Abine Blur isn’t a perfect password manager. Its premium version has limited availability and, compared to similar apps, is significantly pricier. It’s also had a privacy breach in the past, which doesn’t inspire the most confidence.

Past the obvious issues, however, you’ll find a powerhouse of personal safety and privacy. The exhaustive set of Blur tools can help anyone secure their personal online browsing experience, so it’s definitely a tool we recommend — as long as it fits your budget.

Blur Review: In a Nutshell

Unfortunately, Abine Blur Premium is only available in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. If you want to enjoy all of its features, you’ll need a payment method from one of these countries.

Blur has other drawbacks. As of writing, there’s no business version available for Blur password manager. The current subscription models are not suited for professional use since you can’t share credentials with other people (like you can with NordPass or 1Password). To share passwords with someone, you’ll need to share your master password with them.

There’s also a dark stain on the company’s history: a data breach from 2018 makes some users distrust the password manager to this day. To its credit, Blur responded to the breach extremely well and has since taken steps to protect its users.

Of course, Blur isn’t all bad. The software doesn’t just have a strong password manager that can generate credentials for you on the fly, it also has effective tools to mask your entire identity online. These include masked email addresses, masked phone numbers, and even masked cards that let you pay anonymously (or at least protect your payment information if you don’t trust a particular site).

Blur provides an all-inclusive online protection suite, and we recommend it to anyone who has the ability to purchase the Premium version.

Blur Specifications

Safety: Is the Blur Password Manager Safe to Use?

Blur password manager is overall safe to use, earning it a scopre. While it does have a rocky history, more so than other password managers, its security at the moment is laudable. Not to mention, it has one of the most comprehensive toolsets for online privacy. Here’s a summary:

• Blur features AES-256 bit encryption. That’s military-grade encryption and the best in the market.
• All Blur accounts have two-factor authentication automatically set up.
• Accounts have a backup passphrase, as well as the option to enable Biometric backup for advanced and secure account recovery options.
• Blur doesn’t log or sell any personal data. It’s all encrypted, away from their eyes, and the backup passphrase is generated and stored locally.
• Premium versions of Blur can also mask phone numbers, email addresses, and credit cards.
• Blur comes with a tracker blocker, which stops companies from tracking your activity with cookies.
• Blur had a security breach in 2018. While it made strides to improve since then, it’s an important aspect to mention in a Blur password manager review.

Encryption and security techniques

Blur uses AES-256 bit encryption, the strongest encryption protocol there is. It’s commonly used, particularly by top VPNs and other cybersecurity services to encrypt and protect data.

On top of the basic encryption, Blur users can lock their accounts with a master password. This password is used to access their list of credentials like they would with any account.

These are all standard offerings from any good password manager, but Blur Password Manager goes a step further. For starters, it has two-factor authentication automatically set up, so hackers can’t compromise accounts even when they might guess a password.

Moreover, when a new Blur account is created, the system automatically generates a backup passphrase. That means users get a list of random strings that are generated and stored locally, so even if Blur servers are compromised, accounts should remain secure.

Users can also enable Biometric Backup on top of the passphrase. Like in a 2000s spy movie, this lets users secure their credentials vault with their face. Just make sure that you create a secure password when you sign-up. Blur takes care of the rest, but it can’t protect you from brute force attacks if your master password is “admin1234.”

Logging and audits

Blur clearly states that they can’t access user data. The system generates the backup phrase locally, so they never see your saved passwords, emails, phone numbers, and credit cards. This means that they can’t trade them, and they can’t even provide them when subpoenaed by the government.

This commitment is confirmed by further analysis of their privacy policy. The policy states that they don’t sell personal information of any kind and that data is only accessible on the client’s side.

Blur does work with affiliates, so they might temporarily store IP addresses or browser fingerprints to confirm that a sale came from one particular affiliate. But in most cases, that information is already collected through affiliate cookies or by Google anyway.

Moreover, the Blur password manager blocks sites from collecting data about you. They have a tracker blocking feature that stops companies from tracking you. You can also use Blur’s masked email addresses to help secure your information when signing up for new services.

Other security features

The Blur password manager offers many technologies to mask personal information that you’re used to sharing online.

For example, the Blur browser extension will generate a secure email address, just like they would generate passwords, whenever you sign up for a service. As such, you don’t have to share your own email address with any third party. Not to mention, any email you get on the generated address will be forwarded to an email address of your choice (the one you signed up with is used by default). In short, you get masked email addresses with just a few clicks.

You can also use the masked credit card feature when you shop online. This feature will create actual MasterCards, with a specified amount on them, for you to pay anonymously with. It works very similarly to a gift card. Note, however, that this feature is only part of the highest subscription tier, and it’s only available to US users.

Users of Blur can also generate a masked phone number. This phone number will forward any call or text message to your own personal number. So you can enjoy online privacy but still get important calls if you choose to.

Lastly, Blur Password Manager also has tracker blocking capabilities. They’re enabled by default when you install the browser extension. This software stops companies from using cookies to keep tabs on what you do, what your IP address is, and other personal information.

In just four hours since installing the Blur browser extension, this tracker stopped over 40 companies from tracking me:

All in all, the Blur password manager has a very rich toolset. It’s definitely a great option for an online privacy-minded individual, and its security is top-notch.

The Blur security breach

In 2018, a security breach compromised 2.4 million Blur accounts. Yes, this looks bad and is definitely a problem. But it’s not as bad as you might initially think.

For starters, no user passwords were compromised in the breach. In other words, the encryption for the “vaults” worked. Blur also responded extremely well to the breach. They took responsibility for what happened, contacted authorities immediately, and took additional security measures so that this never happens again.

Despite the company’s response, this is still a security breach. It compromised users’ personal information, like their names, parts of their IP addresses, and their master password for their Blur accounts. Anyone who feels wary about using Blur is valid in their thinking.

However, given that the company’s overall response was exemplary and that a breach never happened again, we still recommend Blur Password Manager. If this is a step too far for you, though there are other options on the market. If you want a different password management tool, don’t forget to check our top 5 password managers roundup.

Ease of Use: How User-Friendly is Blur?

Blur is complex software. So it was nice to find that it’s not hard to navigate or install. Even beginner users can get the gist of how Blur works in a matter of minutes. Here’s a summary of our findings:

• Blur users can’t share credentials with other users, which is a very big drawback.
• Blur is generally easy to use and intuitive.
• The Blur dashboard is filled with tons of features, but it never gets overwhelming.
• Blur’s browser extension is extremely helpful, and it streamlines all aspects of online accounts and payments.
• The mobile app for Android has some issues, especially on the update we’re reviewing. But the developers are hard at work to solve them.
• Abine Blur is on the pricey side of password managers.
• Customer support is decent, although live chat support is only available from 9 AM to 5 PM EST.

Website and installation

Blur’s main drawback is intuitive and easy to navigate. It’s the central location for anything you can do in the software, and it’s packed to the brim with helpful features.

Even with all of these features, it manages to stay accessible. You always know where to access a particular feature, and the interface doesn’t get crowded.

To install Blur Password Manager, all you need to do is:

1. Sign up for an account here.
2. Fill in your email.
3. Provide a master password.

And that’s it — you’re good to go. Upon first logging in, you will also be prompted with your backup passphrase and the option to set up biometric backup.

For complete access to all the Blur features, you’ll need to install the Blur browser extension. A download link is available in the main dashboard of Blur.

And that’s it. It takes less than 3 minutes to get everything set up. And users can even import their passwords from places like LastPass or other password management software.

Blur browser extensions

The browser extension of Blur is needed for the best user experience. It’s the only way to autofill credentials, card details, and the like. The extension is very easy to install, and it’s available on Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.

With the browser active, whenever you visit any login page, the software will automatically pop up to help you sign up or log in.

Compared to other password managers, the functionalities of the extension aren’t limited to login and password generation. The add-on can do anything the main software can, like generate masked emails, cards, or phone numbers on the fly.

What’s great is that the extension lets you know how many trackers a particular site has. This way, you can decide if a masked email is a good idea or if it’s safe to use your own email addresses.

Software and features

A big drawback of Abine Blur is that you can’t share credentials with other people unless you give them access to your entire account. Add to that the lack of a business version for the tool, and it’s not the best choice for people that use password managers professionally.

However, the password management tool is great for personal use. And that’s also in part thanks to its mobile apps for Android and iOS devices.

These apps have the same features as the main tool or the browser extensions. Users just need to open an app on the login page, and they’ll be prompted with Blur pop-ups.

The interface could be improved a little. It looks outdated. Syncing with the main platform can also take a while, though you can manually sync it at any given moment.

Unfortunately, the problems on mobile don’t end here. When we were writing this Blur password manager review, autofill didn’t work on any app on Android. Reviews on Google Play echoed our experience. It seems to be an issue with the latest update. However, developers responded to concerns and promised to get it fixed.

The platform seems to have worked in the past, and it works just fine on iOS.

Even with these issues, users can open Accounts & Passwords on their phone app and click on a credential to instantly copy it. This makes the app useful even without autofill functioning as it should.

Pricing, subscriptions, and payment options

Pricing is Blur’s biggest drawback. Users need to spend $14.99 for a monthly basic subscription. If you want to get it for cheaper, you can pay $39/year for a basic Blur premium subscription. Note that this option doesn’t cover masked cards — basic subscribers need to pay extra for that.

For an unlimited subscription, users pay $99/year. This comes down to $8.25 each month, which is not a bad price for the suite of tools you’re getting. But it is double or even triple the price of other competitors (for instance, you can get 1Password for $2.99/month).

Granted, Abine offers a free version — and it’s a very good choice for managing passwords. But it lacks all the extra tools that make Abine Blur a powerhouse of privacy and security.

And even if you decide to pay a little extra for all the services on offer, there’s still an issue with their premium subscriptions. The payment method you use needs to pass an Address Verification Service (AVS) check. At the moment, the only countries that support AVS checks are the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. If you’re outside of those regions, you won’t be able to pay for the Blur premium service.

If you live in these regions, and you can afford it, Blur Password Manager is a wonderful choice for personal safety.

Blur’s customer service

Customer support is easy to contact from the website or the mobile app. It’s accessible through the chat head in the bottom-right corner on both of these interfaces.

Unfortunately, live chat is not available all the time. A representative can respond to your query immediately — as long as you’re contacting them between 9 AM and 5 PM EST. Any ticket sent outside that time frame will get a response either in a few hours (if you’re a Blur premium member) or in one to three business days (if you’re a regular visitor).

Blur’s FAQ section could benefit from a visual update. It’s all bundled on a really long page. But the content itself is extremely helpful and is bound to answer any questions you might have on Blur Password Manager.

All in all, despite its disappointing customer service, hefty price tag, and data breach history, Blue Password Manager is still a top choice among password management software. Its tracker blocking, masking features, and other premium features mean that Blur is not just a password manager. It’s an all-in-one security suite.