Personal for iPhone – How I’m Using Our Newest Mobile App


It’s here. Today marks the official launch of our iPhone app, which, along with our Android, web and mobile web apps, allows you to store, access and safely share your important information anytime, anywhere. As a co-founder at Personal, I thought you might enjoy learning about some of the ways I’m using Personal’s mobile apps every day at home and at the office.

While we all have ways to manage sensitive info like passwords and account numbers (Excel spreadsheets, password apps, Google Docs, sticky notes, emailing yourself, etc.), few are very secure and none allow for convenient yet safe sharing. Here are some of my favorite examples of how Personal comes in handy for this:

Co-managing logins & passwords

Nothing is less secure than emailing or texting a password, yet we do it all the time for accounts we manage with others. With Personal, my husband and I easily manage different accounts we both need. For example, I can grant access to our bank accounts, investment accounts and utilities online, while he manages our insurance, Amazon and Netflix accounts. Either of us can change a password for any of our more than 50 accounts and the other gets updated automatically. It works great for managing logins with co-workers as well, like those for the company Twitter or LinkedIn accounts or the constantly changing demo sites to which we all need access. Not surprisingly, the Logins & Passwords Gem is the most used Gem in Personal.

Finding and sharing the elusive Wi-Fi info

I don’t ever have to waste time chasing down the Wi-Fi login info for houseguests, friends who drop by or visitors to the office. Sharing the Wi-Fi Gem makes it easy for them and me. Best of all, I don’t have to worry about updating them if I ever change the router or my password once I’ve given them access. And it only takes a couple clicks to turn off access if I don’t want them to have it any more.

Keeping track of loyalty programs

Rental car, airline and hotel rewards program numbers are easy to find and share. My husband no longer has to call for my frequent flyer or hotel rewards program numbers when booking our travel, and booking travel at the office has never been easier, even for groups.

(Click to enlarge)

Another thing I really like about our mobile apps is the ability to access and modify data without a live network connection. Whether in the subway, on an airplane, travelling internationally or in a place with bad reception, this feature comes in handy.

If you’re an iPhone user, we hope you’re as excited as we are to experience the magic of on-the-go access to your personal data. Download Personal for iOS today and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below – or better yet, a review in the App Store.

You can also download the Android app from Google Play.

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Jennifer

By Jennifer O'Keefe in Product

Managing Your Online Identity


Do you present yourself differently on LinkedIn than you do on Facebook? How about on Amazon and when you walk into a store at the mall? What you reveal of yourself changes constantly depending on your context and who you are interacting with. We call that identity management.

Identity GemAs we launch Personal in open beta, we’ve taken a hard and long look at how to give our owners more control of their online identity. With your private, personal network, you have the ability to decide which parts of yourself to reveal when connecting with others. Currently, we don’t even allow people to search for you on Personal. Just connecting with another person in our system requires that you know his or her email address in advance.

Identity management starts with four basic features, and we’ll be adding many more regularly:

Username

Username will be how you are known in the system. Pick an anonymous username as you have many other chances to share your true identity if you choose. When connecting with others, only your username, along with your avatar if you add one, will be automatically revealed.

Personal Me Gem

This gem contains contains your actual name. If you decide to share it with someone in your network, you will be known to them personally (by name)!

Social Me Gem

Want to share your username and an alternative or anonymous picture?  This gem allows you to outside of Personal, or when publishing community gems.

Anonymous

We believe strongly in your right to remain anonymous when you choose. At present, we only support remaining anonymous when publishing community gems, but will be rolling out new anonymity features in the very near future.

We’re excited to hear what you think about these features when you get to try them out.  Feel free to send thoughts or questions to support@personal.com.

Jennifer

By Jennifer O'Keefe in Product

Closed Beta Launch


This is a very exciting time for everyone at Personal – we recently began sending out the next round of invites to our closed beta.  Up until this point, only our close friends and family have been able to use the service. But now, we’re inviting the more than 10,000 people who signed up on our waitlist.Get Invited Envelope

Our CEO, Shane Green, recently wrote a blog post with his thoughts on the closed beta invitation and feedback process.  Like Shane, I cannot wait to hear from our new users. There is always room for improvement. We are committed to providing a service that is useful and fun – your feedback is key!

Comment on this post or send an email to feedback[at]personal.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Jennifer

By Jennifer O'Keefe in Product