What eWallet Needs to Do to Stay on Our Devices

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Judie and I were huge fans of eWallet from its earliest days, back when we used Palms; we synced the info on our Palms to the eWallet program on our desktop PCs. Later on we used eWallet on our Pocket PCs. Once the app became available for iOS, we loaded it onto our iPhones and eventually also on our Macs.

Bear in mind that each app or program for each device was a separate purchase, but it was one that we were happy to pay because one of the huge selling points for eWallet on whatever platform we used was that when you purchased it for one platform it would sync perfectly with our mobile device. These days, that is no longer the case.

ewallet Judie: I no longer just use an iPhone or iPad with my Mac; nowadays I might be on a Windows Phone or an Android device, but I have learned the hard way that I can no longer use eWallet and sync it easily to anything but an Apple device … which would be fine if eWallet advertised itself as only catering to Windows PC or Mac users who used iPhones, but that is not the case.

While Ilium sells apps specifically for Mac, Windows PCs, Windows RT, iOS, Windows Phone, Android, and even BlackBerry, unless you are using the combo of iOS with Mac, iOs to iOS, iOS to Windows, Windows PC to Mac (through Dropbox), or Android to Windows, you will not be able to sync between a computer to your devices. This may not be that big of a deal to someone who doesn’t have a lot of passwords to store or who only uses devices on the same platform, but it’s a huge pain for someone (like me) who has invested themselves in the eWallet system with multiple product purchases for software that stores all of their passwords.

I recognize the importance of unique and hard to crack passwords, and I have relied upon eWallet as my portable password protection for so long that I don’t want to have to find a new solution, but it’s become abundantly clear to me that I am going to have to.

ewallet

Carly: eWallet has synced quite nicely between my iPhone and my iPad, and I loved the interface for generating and saving personal passwords and information. Unfortunately, since I switched to Windows Phone and then to Android, I’ve been repeatedly let down by eWallet, which in turn has destroyed my faith in Ilium Software. First, their eWallet GO! app for Windows Phone is a standalone product, with no syncing capabilities at all.

When I switched from iOS to Windows Phone,  I saw there was an eWallet app, and I (naturally) assumed that using it would be an easy transition; it was a rude and disappointing awakening to discover my iOS data was trapped, and exporting it wouldn’t help get the information to my Windows Phone.

Judie: To be clear, there is an option on the Mac desktop to export your eWallet data, but it will not export into a file format that is easy to import into any other wallet app– including Ilium’s own other iterations! Sure, you can save your data as a text file, but in my case — when I have over 300 different unique passwords saved — re-entering that data into a new app or the eWallet app on another platform is a daunting task. I just want to continue using eWallet. I’ve invested in this app, I like this app, and now I have hit a brick wall; it’s ridiculous!

ewallet

Carly: Now that I am on Android, I could pay $9.99 for eWallet for Android, but I would need to spend another $19.99 for the program to get my data out of iOS, to a Windows PC, and onto my HTC One. Effectively, I would have to invest $40 ($9.99 for iOS, $9.99 for the Android version and another $19.99 for the desktop app) just to keep app continuity among my devices. And remember, that’s leaving out my Windows Surface RT, which handily runs eWallet for Windows 8, BUT that version of eWallet is yet another dead-end app … no syncing with anything else if you want Windows 8!

Judie: I have invested in the Mac version of eWallet ($19.99 at the time, now $9.99), the Windows PC version ($19.99), the iOS version ($9.99), the Windows Phone version ($9.99), and the Android version ($9.99). If you include the $9.99 I likely spent on the Palm OS version and the Windows Phone versions each, I’ve invested about $90 in this app, because there have been times when they introduced upgrades that required a new license.

Evidently other software manufacturers are able to find a way to sync across multiple platforms without issue, but for some reason ilium hasn’t worked out the process. May I offer a suggestion?

My Windows PC and my Mac both use the same eWallet file that I keep in Dropbox. Why can’t their mobile apps do the same? eWallet certainly wouldn’t be the first app to use Dropbox (or some other similar service) as a common dumping ground, and if mobile devices could all read the same eWallet file formats across the board, there would be no issue.

The question is, why hasn’t eWallet bothered to do this?

Carly: The only obstacle I can see is of their own making-Ilium’s various apps all use different file extensions (.wlt, .swlt, .swltx, are all extensions used by the eWallet apps). It’s both likely and disappointing that they simply don’t care to unify their platform or their services. Whether it is because they are disorganized, disinterested, greedy, or incompetent does not matter to those of us who have invested in the company by buying their apps; we just want one of our favorite apps to work properly on each platform they claim they support!

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About the Author

Zek
Zek has been a gadget fiend for a long time, going back to their first PDA (a Palm M100). They quickly went from researching what PDA to buy to following tech news closely and keeping up with the latest and greatest stuff. They love writing about ebooks because they combine their two favorite activities; reading anything and everything, and talking about fun new tech toys. What could be better?

6 Comments on "What eWallet Needs to Do to Stay on Our Devices"

  1. I switched to eWallet GO! http://www.iliumsoft.com/ewalletgo years ago from ewallet.

    It took a little adjusting as there are some minor differences between the two. You can use the conversion utility http://www.iliumsoft.com/support/article/AA-01781/0/INFO%3A-eWallet-GO-Conversion-Utility to change your ewallet over to ewallet go relatively painlessly.

    Ewallet Go! backs up to drop box and google docs (I do both backups so always have another backup… yes I am a type A person :p)

    I have access to ewallet go on all my devices (W8 laptop, ipad, and W8 phone). I missed the other ewallet for a little while but I adjusted to the slightly different format quickly. Hope this helps 🙂

  2. I actually considered eWallet Go, but switching to it would mean that ilium would get another $4.99 from me for EACH platform that I use it on …

    NO. Enough is enough.

    After spending ~$90 on their premier app, I feel that eWallet/ilium should fix the issue without charging me any more money.

  3. Rodney St. John | July 6, 2014 at 5:47 pm |

    I too, was a long time eWallet user. Keyword WAS. A few years ago when it became difficult to sync my eWallet with my iphone, Mac and PC, I gave up and switched to 1Password. And I’m so happy that I did. The PC version of 1Password was a little lagging, but it is now catching up. I love the browser extension on my Mac to capture and fill my passwords. And it looks like Agile Bits is going to capitalize on the new ios 8 extensions….
    http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/30/hands-on-1password-beta-shows-off-ios-8s-touch-id-extensions-apis-video/
    I’m very excited for ios 8 and 1Password. My advice. Switch. It would be expensive up front, but worth it in the long run. 1Password is improving at a way after rate than Illium.

  4. Rodney, I tried 1Password, but my problem with switching to it is that I have hundreds of passwords that need to be transcribed over, and there is no easy way to export or import the info into it so that it formats correctly. Call me lazy, but I just don’t want to take the time to do it. That doesn’t mean I won’t eventually break down and move my info to a new encrypted wallet solution (possibly 1Password), but the cloud syncing solution seem like such a simple fix for eWallet to do. What is the hold up?

    Side note: spending $69.99 for the Mac & Windows 1Password bundle, then an additional 17.99 for the iOS app, plus whatever it would cost for the Windows Phone and Android versions would be a huge non-starter for many. I actually already have it for Mac, iOS, and Android, but there’s that export import issue holding me back from digging in and really using it.

    • Rodney St. John | July 6, 2014 at 7:16 pm |

      I just kept both wallet files and I used both for the first year or two. Now all my important stuff is in 1password and I have some old stuff in my ewallet. Yes, it is expensive. But it seems there is always a sale 3-5 times a year. It works great. Take the jump. There will be growing pains at first. But eventually, I sat down on a PC and compared the ewallet with the 1pass and added any missing ones or decided they weren’t that important to add to my 1password file…and it wasn’t much. The browser extension for Mac is awesome.

      1pass seems to be rooted in logins and fantastic at handling logins. And ewallet is rooted in wallet items and is not the greatest at logins. So my wallet items are a little dis-conjointed in my 1password file, but it works.

      Take the plunge. And it hurts to say that, because I was a long time user and beta tester of ewallet. But 1password seems to work better.

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