There are many OTP (One-Time Password) generators out there, both in the form of desktop utilities and online web apps.
There’s nothing particularly impressive about Keyring, a beautiful and simplistic, open-source and free OTP generator for Linux.
It’s purpose is to create time-based and HMAC-based one-time passwords directly from the comforts of most Linux distributions’ desktops, the type of passwords usually used by websites and services who rely on second factor authentications.
Not impressive, but a bit different
The thing that makes Keyring stand out is the attention to detail. More to the point, it has neumorphic design, it follows the system preferred theme out of the box (while still offering your the option to change between two Light and Dark modes), and it provides a bit more in terms of customization.
While this isn’t exactly groundbreaking, it should make the whole user-experience feel a bit more personal and polished, especially if you happen to rely on the app on a daily basis.
For instance, you can choose the max number of lines on display, and tweak various aspects regarding the global progress bars. The app is also capable of scanning QR codes, as well as sharing them if need be.
It features a plain-text backup system, where “secrets” are encrypted with an encryption key that is stored in the keystore.
Verdict
So, what are the reasons to use Keyring? There are a couple of good reasons, the main one being – privacy. Since it’s free and open-source, you can check out for yourself to ensure that the app doesn’t collect or share any sort of data with third parties, which is not something you can do with online apps.
Last but not least, as mentioned before, it looks good, even though it may not be the most eye catching app out there in terms of design.
