Enpass to bring its desktop app to Windows Store, along with the new Edge Extension

Abhishek Baxi

Enpass is my password manager of choice, especially because of their first-rate support for Windows 10 (I use it on my Android smartphone as well). The Enpass app for Windows 10 Mobile is one of the best designed UWP apps on the Windows Store, and because of that, Enpass is quite popular amongst Windows users.

Except that the company’s browser extension for Microsoft Edge browser has been in the works since quite a while. Enpass already has browser extensions for all major browsers that users can use for quick autofilling of login details, credit card information, and more – all from within the browser.

Few months ago, the company had shared that it was working with the Edge team at Microsoft to enable that, and the Edge team confirmed the same. Due to the limitations of Edge APIs, it was difficult for the offline password manager to work with the browser. That is last what we heard from them.

However, that is changing now, and looks like the Edge extension is ready, and would be coming to the Windows Store in a couple of days. I did get a sneak peek of the same, and it works as expected.

To enable the Edge extension and to chart their new way forward, Enpass is also making a few changes to its Windows apps, and we’ve got all the inside information about it.

As of now, Enpass has two apps – a traditional Win32 desktop app as well as a UWP app available on Windows Store. While the latter, also available on Windows 10 Mobile, offers native Windows 10 experience with Cortana and Windows Hello integration, the browser extensions (and other advanced features) only work with the former because of limited capability of UWP.

Enpass is now bringing the desktop app to Windows Store via Microsoft’s Desktop Bridge technology. The Win32 app is now ported to the Windows Store, and will be available as a free download. The app will work with Windows 10 Creators Update and later versions.

While the existing UWP app on the store will stay in its current form, it is likely to be orphaned or rolled back at a later time once the desktop app upgrades to modern design and integrates signature Windows 10 experiences like Cortana or dark mode, for example. The company’s next major release will establish the new Enpass Password Manger app as the primary app. While the UWP app in its current form will go away, it will be available in its refreshed form for Windows 10 Mobile users. Pretty awesome of Enpass folks to continue support for Windows 10 Mobile!

Essentially, from now – when the new bridged app is available – to the next major release, there would a transition phase for Enpass users, but looks like it would be better for us in the long run since it would mean a unified, feature-complete free app for PCs with a handy app on the mobile.