McAfee True Key 2024: Is It Basic at Best?

From the makers of the popular antivirus, McAfee True Key is an easy-to-use password manager but it's not a comprehensive service. There's no way to securely share passwords, no password strength report, and no option to set up emergency access. 

McAfee True Key is primarily free, but it only allows up to 15. To save unlimited passwords, you'll need to subscribe to a McAfee+ plan. 

We tested and reviewed McAfee True Key so you can determine if it's worth the download. 

At a glance

Price	Free
Free version	Yes
Number of users	1
Compatibility	Android, iOS
Browser extensions	Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
Import/export tool	Yes
Password sharing	No
Encryption	AES-256
Password generator	Yes
Password strength report	Yes
Autofill	Yes
Digital legacy	No
Cloud storage	Yes
Learn more	Get McAfee True Key

We last tested McAfee True Key on November 12, 2024.

Our experience

We tested McAfee True Key on our laptop with the Google Chrome extension. It was largely easy to use, but some features didn't work as expected. 

As part of its tutorial, we were prompted to add our first login. There were no step-by-step instructions, we were just prompted to log in to one of our accounts. Once logged in, McAfee True Key let us know that our credentials are saved in our vault. 

We tried to import passwords from a Roboform CSV file, but True Key only listed LastPass and Dashlane as other password managers you could import from. This is an extremely limited selection, since it excludes Roboform, 1Password, Bitwarden, and several others. 

No matter which import option we tried, McAfee True Key didn't detect any items from our CSV file. This was frustrating, as it meant we had to manually enter all of our logins. 

On the other hand, McAfee True Key's autofill worked well, filling in our saved credentials and suggesting strong passwords as we created accounts. It seems to work only for usernames and passwords, as it didn't fill in our name or home address after saving that info in the vault.

Overall, McAfee True Key is clunkier than we would want and allows very limited password storage. We'd only recommend using it if it comes using it if you have access to McAfee True Key Premium. 

How much does McAfee True Key cost?

The standalone McAfee True Key is completely free. You can opt for the free version or purchase a McAfee+ subscription to get True Key Premium. 

Note that the only difference between the two plans is how many passwords you can store.

Plan	Free	Premium
Price	Free	Included with McAfee plans starting at $49.99/first yr
Number of users	1	Up to Unlimited
Number of passwords	Up to 15	Unlimited
Password vault
Autofill
Password generator
Two-factor authentication
Data breach alerts
Digital legacy
Details	View Plan	View Plan

When it comes to pricing, it can be a little confusing to understand how to obtain True Key if you want a paid subscription. On some webpages, it says you just need to select the Freemium option in the profile to upgrade (we tried this but nothing happens). On others, you’ll see that True Key Premium comes with McAfee Essential and up and that you can no longer get True Key as a standalone product. 

After reaching out to customer support, we were able to confirm that True Key can only be purchased with all plans McAfee Essential and up.

McAfee True Key features

McAfee True Key is not what you’d call a feature-rich password manager. It comes with the basics you’d expect, like strong encryption and autofill, so you don’t have to remember so many logins. 

True Key also comes with a password generator, so you can create a secure password with the complexity needed to guard your data. Now you don’t have to think of multiple combinations to keep your information secure.

What you won’t get with True Key is the ability to share passwords, as it doesn’t seem to offer that as of this writing. We didn’t see where the software has a digital legacy option either. Many people want that to give their loved ones an easy way to access data in an emergency. We cover these features and the lack of them in greater detail below.

Importing and exporting passwords

McAfee True Key has a limited selection when it comes to importing passwords. As we went to import a test vault, it only had LastPass and Dashlane listed as other password managers and it only had Chrome and Edge as other browsers to import from.

We tried to upload a CSV file from Roboform, even thought that wasn't a specific option. No matter which way we tried, True Key didn't detect any items from our file to upload. We were left to manually upload our logins. 

You can also export your vault by going to App Settings and selecting the Export Data button. You'll be prompted to enter your master password to receive the CSV file. 

Password sharing

McAfee True Key doesn’t offer password sharing, which can be crucial in emergent situations. The only options for what we could do with our entries were edit, copy, and favorite. 

What if you have an unexpected illness and family members need access to certain accounts? That can be considered more of a digital legacy issue, but True Key doesn’t offer that, either.

Families sometimes want to share passwords for convenience. You may have bank accounts or other online accounts that are shared. If your password manager doesn’t support this function, it could be a deal breaker.

Password generator

True Key includes a password generator to create strong login credentials. We were surprised there wasn't a tab for the password generator on our dashboard, only a symbol next to new login, which may be unclear for new password manager users. 

The password generator is easy to use and it has a decent amount of options for customization. However, it didn't tell us if our password is strong or weak or anything in between. This plus the lack of a password strength report makes True Key less proactive about our security than we would like.  

We did like that the password generator shows up when we went to create an account, at least. 

Autofill

With autofill, True Key can fill out your usernames and passwords for any saved entries. To test this feature, we opened our Google login page. True Key popped up to fill out our information and log us in instantly. 

We also saved some information in our vault under the wallet section to try out form filling. We liked that True Key offers lots of templates for information to save, like your Social Security number, passport, membership information, and more. 

The only fields that populated consistently were the username and password fields, so we're not convinced that True Key is capable of form filling. 

Digital legacy

We were a little surprised to find that McAfee has a password manager that doesn’t support digital legacy. We think McAfee antivirus is a great program, but we would like to see True Key get a little more enhanced. 

Digital legacy can be beneficial for your family members in the event of a sudden illness where they need immediate access to your accounts. If that’s the case, you simply won’t get that with this password manager.

McAfee True Key privacy policy

We didn’t find a privacy policy specifically for True Key, only for all McAfee products. McAfee collects personal information during account creation, purchases, communications with their support team, surveys, interactive features, and lots of other circumstances. 

Although we didn't find a direct mention of McAfee selling data, there's an option to opt of our targeted advertising that's phrased as, "I would like to Opt Out of McAfee selling or sharing my Personal Information." Selling your information should be a no-go from the start, even though they provide an option to opt out of this. 

McAfee True Key third-party audits

Unfortunately, McAfee True Key doesn’t use third-party audits for security or data testing. This was another issue we had with this password manager. Third-party audits can be crucial when looking for a password manager because it confirms how well the software works to keep your information safe. 

Third-party testing also illustrates any vulnerabilities a product has that could result in a data breach. The fact that True Key doesn’t use this is concerning because we can’t verify the security of the product.

Is McAfee True Key safe to use?

Although we weren’t impressed with the lack of third-party audits, we do believe True Key is safe to use. First, it is a McAfee product, which has been a leading name in antivirus software for many years. 

Second, it uses AES-256 encryption, which is military-grade data security. Third, it has a zero-knowledge policy, which means no one else can access your saved data. All of these reasons combined lead us to believe that True Key is safe to use.

Two-factor authentication

McAfee does offer 2FA to better secure your True Key account. You can also use passwordless authentication, where you avoid entering a password at all.

Passwordless authentication is a great option for those who are more concerned with security. Face ID, email confirmation, Touch ID, and other methods can be used to safely access your account without using potentially weak passwords or losing those passwords in a breach. You can add extra methods or devices under your profile, so you can set up multiple ways to sign into your account.

McAfee True Key customer service

True Key has a couple of customer support options. You can also chat with a representative who can answer questions. To do some troubleshooting on your own, you can review articles from the knowledge center or ask questions in the community. 

In addition, True Key has videos that can show you how to install the product or fix simple installation issues.

McAfee True Key compatibility

If you use some of the most popular devices and browsers, you won’t have any problems implementing this password manager. You can use the True Key mobile app or browser extension.

The following operating systems and browsers are compatible with True Key:

• Android
• iOS
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari

Top alternatives

The freemium True Key offers some password manager features, but it still lacks essentials like password sharing and digital legacy. However, our favorite password managers offer competitive pricing while still being comprehensive. Learn more about these options below:  

McAfee True Key FAQs

Bottom line: Is McAfee True Key good?

McAfee True Key is a no-frills password manager but it's lacking too much for us to recommend. The autofill is limited to usernames and passwords, you can't check your password strength, and the import options are severely limited. 

If you want more robust software, you can read our list of the best password managers to see which products have more features and customization with proven data security.