RememBear is shutting down in July 2023. The password manager service was launched by TunnelBear Inc., in 2017.
The VPN provider was acquired by McAfee in 2018.
What happened to RememBear?
An article published on the company’s blog explains what went wrong. It reveals that the password manager never really took off, primarily due to competition from rival services. RememBear says that people who were already using a different provider were unwilling to switch to a new service. This applies to any password manager, especially ones that have a premium subscription.
The company realized that it wasn’t attracting enough users after a period of 5+ years, and instead of merely halting the development of the software putting its users at risk, decided to cease its services. This could have been a business decision by its parent company, McAfee, but that’s purely speculative.
RememBear has already stopped selling premium subscriptions, and users with an active subscription will no longer be charged automatically. It has also confirmed that it will not add any new features to its apps, but has reassured that it will provide bug fixes and patch security issues until July 2023.
All free user accounts will be upgraded to Premium automatically at no extra charge. Existing subscribers will get a prorated refund within 5-10 business days. Please refer to the official announcement for more details.
How to export your passwords from RememBear
1. You will need to use the RememBear Windows app or the macOS app to export your usernames and passwords. The mobile apps do not allow you to export the database.
2. Open the app on your computer, and click on the gear icon in the bottom left corner of the window.
3. Switch to the Account tab.
4. Select the Export option, and follow the on-screen prompts.
The app will save your password database in a .CSV file. You can use this to migrate your data to a different password manager of your choice. If you’re looking for an alternative, I’d suggest switching to BitWarden, as it is completely free to use. It is a cloud-based service, and has open source clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. BitWarden also has official browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Safari, etc., which allows you to use autofill, auto-type, Windows Hello, TouchID, and other features.
Or, if you’d prefer to have more control over the data, you may switch to an offline password manager, the best choices for which are KeePass and KeePassXC.
You cannot export two-step verification codes directly from RememBear, so you’ll need to access the services that you have set up 2FA for, and set up a different authenticator app to manage your TOTPs. I recommend moving to Aegis Authenticator for Android, and Raivo OTP for iOS, both apps are free and open source.
Users are advised to delete their RememBear account after exporting their passwords. The desktop apps will be available for download until July 18, 2023. Existing users can log in to the app to access and manage their data, but new users can no longer sign up for an account.
Were you using RememBear?
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