LastPass Free will soon cover your phones or your PCs, but not both

What you need to know

• LastPass Free will no longer support both phones and computers.
• The free version of LastPass will let people use the service on phones or computers for free, but not both.
• Free users can choose if they want to use the service on phones or computers for free.

A change to LastPass Free will require people to pay for a premium plan if they want to use the password manager on both phones and computers. Starting on March 16, 2021, people will be able to use LastPass Free on phones or computers without paying but cannot use the free plan on both types of devices. People can choose to use LastPass Free on just phones or just computers or upgrade to LastPass Premium to cover both types of devices.

LastPass announced the change in a blog post. In terms of the change to LastPass Free, "computers" refers to LastPass on computers and on all browsers running on laptops and desktops. "Mobile devices" refers to mobile phones, smart watches, and tablets.

If the price increase has you considering other options, make sure to check out our guide on the best Windows 10 password managers.

LastPass shares a couple of examples to help explain the change:

• Sarah is a Free user with Computers as her active device type. She can use LastPass on her laptop, desktop and her dad's laptop (anyone's computer!), but she can't use LastPass on her phone, tablet, or smart watch unless she upgrades to LastPass Premium, which has unlimited device type access.
• Steve is a Free user with Mobile Devices as his active device type. He can use LastPass on his iPhone, Android work phone, tablet, and smart watch, but he can't use LastPass on his desktop or laptop unless he upgrades to LastPass Premium, which has unlimited device type access.

Your first login on or after March 16 will set the device category that you will use with LastPass Free. You'll have three chances to change the device category, so you don't have to worry if you accidentally log in once on a phone but want to use it on just computers.

In addition to requiring a premium plan to use LastPass across all devices, starting on March 17, email support will only be available for LastPass Premium and Families customers. LastPass Free users will have to use the service's support center and the LastPass Community.

LastPass Free users can upgrade to LastPass Premium for $2.25 per month for a limited time (billed annually). That price change is not available for current LastPass Premium customers, which normally pay $3 per month for the service.