There are slight differences in the user interface between iOS and Android, but these do not affect how the app is used. For the “Getting Started” section, screenshots from either iOS or Android are shown interchangeably. Differences are only addressed when they are actually relevant due to the operating system.
After the Phrase-Lock app is launched for the first time, the available languages are initialized and the first three credentials are created. These credentials are provided solely as examples and can be customized or replaced by you later on.
Please note:
Before proceeding, you must have Phrase-Lock Port installed on your computer.
iOS & Android
The Phrase-Lock app is a tab-based application. The left tab contains the setup, the middle tab contains the home screen, and the right tab contains the Collections. In the Collections, credentials can be organized into groups by topic.
Use the “+” icon to add new credentials. Use the list icon to sort the entries—unless alphabetical sorting has already been selected in the setup.
The button with the two separate plugs establishes a connection between your smartphone and your computer so that login credentials can be transferred and entered. In the text fields next to it, you can see the current connection status—in this case, “offline”.
Overview
Now we come to the most exciting part: connecting your smartphone to your computer. To do this, go to the Setup. At the very top, you’ll find the Connections group.
Make sure that “Use connection services” is enabled as shown. This is the default setting for a new installation, but may not be the case for an upgrade.
If everything looks as shown, please tap “Installed connections”.
Setup
You can now see that there is already an entry here—labeled “Without connection” or “Ohne Verbindung”, depending on which language you selected. This is a placeholder connection, to which the first three login credentials from the start screen are also assigned.
We will now add a real connection to your computer to this placeholder connection.
To do this, tap the “+” icon.Please note:
When you perform this step for the first time, different system dialogs will appear—depending on whether you’re using iOS or Android—which you must confirm. Without these confirmations, the process cannot continue.
Connections
The scanner in your Phrase-Lock app will now open, and you’ll need to scan the QR code from the PC installation. If the QR code—and thus the license—is valid, a new entry will appear in your list of connections.
Please note:
We do not offer support for free licenses. If, despite your best efforts, you encounter unexpected difficulties, click on “Help and Support” in the upper-left corner of your PC installation. There, you can send us an email and describe your problem.
New Connection
The connection between your smartphone and your computer is almost complete. Tap the new entry, and the last settings screen will open.
A dialog box will appear immediately. Please read the message carefully, confirm it, and wait a moment to see what happens…
Connection List
Congratulations!
If you see this screen after 1–2 seconds, the installation is complete on both your computer and your smartphone. You can start experimenting with the first three login credentials right away.If you’d like, you can tap the blue button “License information” to view your license details. All other menu items are irrelevant to you at this time.
If necessary, you can also change the name of the connection to something more suitable for you.Now exit this screen—you should see a screen very similar to the one in the next step.
Connection Details
You’ve now finished the setup and can transfer and enter login credentials from your smartphone to your computer.
You now have a secure connection between your smartphone and your computer—and you’ll never have to type in passwords manually again. From now on, Phrase-Lock will handle that for you.
Phrase-Lock is a tool that keeps all your login credentials ready for you—so you always have them with you. You retain control over your data at all times: it exists exclusively on your smartphone. You can create backups and store them securely. With Phrase-Lock, you no longer have to rely on third-party services.
Your digital sovereignty is our priority.
Please tap the Start tab now.
Exit Setup
Back on the home screen, the connection to your computer should now be visible. If necessary, you may need to reactivate the connection if it was lost in the meantime.
The two previously disconnected plug icons are now connected, and to the left of them you’ll see the name of your connection.
You must now choose between Windows or Mac, as both systems handle character input differently. Phrase-Lock cannot detect which system it is currently running on—therefore, you must set this option manually.
If everything looks as shown here, tap one of the three entries.
One more note:
When a connection is established, the names of the records are followed by “Without connection” in parentheses. This refers exclusively to which connection these three login records were originally assigned to.
This is completely irrelevant to you at the moment—you can simply ignore this information.
Start
You’ve reached your destination!
Open a text editor of your choice, place the cursor in the document, and tap “Enter now” in the Phrase-Lock app. As if by magic, your username and password will be entered automatically.
You can also have a link entered using Enter link or experiment with the various icons at the top.
The first menu item again displays the closed plug—it symbolizes the existing connection. If the connection is ever lost, you can restore it using this option.
The two menu items to the right of it take you to different operating modes. This allows you, for example, to enter your username and password separately.
Experiment with it a little. Phrase-Lock is a tool that you can easily customize to suit your needs.
The “Tab” and “Enter” buttons are also available—their functions are self-explanatory.
Input
To edit your login details, simply press and hold your finger on the desired entry for a few seconds. A menu will then open, allowing you to make your selection.
With “Clone”, you can duplicate an entry so you have less to edit—for example, if the email address remains the same for the next entry.
“Edit” is self-explanatory.
With “Details”, you can view the individual elements of the record and start editing from there as well.
The same applies here: It’s worth experimenting a little. Phrase-Lock can be easily customized to meet your individual needs.
Edit 1
You have reached the final step of the “Getting Started” guide and are now seeing the edit screen.
There are three fields available for you to define login credentials. The first field usually contains an email address, the second a password, and the third either an additional element or a new password, if you need to set one.
Once you’re done editing, you can use the switches to specify which of these elements should currently be used.
Additionally, you can store a link or enter a one-time password (OTP) if this is required for a login.
You can also specify whether the entries should be confirmed with Enter or not. This depends on how the respective login process is structured—you can configure everything appropriately here.
In the middle of this screen (where the yellow Passkey icon is visible), you have the option to generate a Passkey token from this login record.
To do this, simply define a PIN code of your choice, finish editing, and then activate the Passkey using the switch on the right-hand side.
This allows you to save Passkeys directly in your Phrase-Lock app and use the most modern and secure login method—provided the respective service supports it.
Please note:
With Phrase-Lock, you can use full-featured Passkey or FIDO tokens (both terms are synonymous). You no longer need a hardware token for this.You can try out Passkey here: webauthn.io.