How to share a password securely
The safest way to share a password is not to send the password at all. Send a link that is encrypted before it leaves your device, that expires on its own and that can work for one view only. Then send whatever tells someone what the password is for, like the username or the site, by a different route.
U2 Secured Password Vault makes that link for you, free on every plan. The person you send it to needs no account, and you can see and revoke every link you have made.
Checked against the product on
You need a U2 Secured account to create a link, and the free plan is enough. The person who opens it does not need one.
The short answer, in five steps
This works whatever you use to send it: email, Outlook, Teams, Slack or a text message.
- 1
Put the password in a link, not in the message
Create an encrypted share link instead of typing the password into an email or chat. A message keeps the password in every inbox, sent folder and backup for as long as they are kept. A spent link opens nothing.
- 2
Give it the shortest expiry that works
If the person will read it today, a few hours is plenty. U2 Secured offers 1 hour, 6 hours, 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days or 30 days.
- 3
Make it work once, and add a passphrase
Turn on Delete after first view so the link stops opening once it has been read. Add a passphrase when the link travels somewhere you would rather not trust on its own.
- 4
Send the link one way and the rest another
Send the link by email or chat, and the passphrase, the username or the name of the site by a text message, a phone call or in person. Anyone who reads one channel then holds only half of what they need.
- 5
Revoke it, or let it expire
Check that the link was opened and revoke it if it is no longer needed. If the password protects something that matters, change it once the other person is done with it.
How U2 Secured does it
Share links are part of U2 Secured Password Vault, the zero-knowledge password manager. The same rule holds for them as for the vault: we store ciphertext we cannot read.
Encrypted in your browser
The secret is sealed with AES-256-GCM on your device, under a key made from a random 256-bit value. That value sits in the link after the # sign, and browsers never send that part of a link to a server, so it never reaches us.
An optional passphrase
Tick Require passphrase and the link alone is not enough: the passphrase is mixed into the key, so the secret cannot be decrypted without it. It is never sent to us either.
Expires on its own
Choose 1 hour, 6 hours, 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days or 30 days. After that the link opens nothing, whether or not anyone used it.
One view, and link previews do not use it up
With Delete after first view on, the link opens once. A chat or email preview that only downloads the page cannot spend it, because the page asks for the secret with its own script after it loads. Someone who opens it without being signed in is asked before it is shown, so they can sign in and keep it first.
See and revoke what you shared
The Share page lists every link with its status (active, expired, revoked or burned) and how many times it has been opened. Revoke an active link and it stops opening at once.
Straight from your vault
Pick From my vault to send a login you already keep, choosing which fields go. Pick Compose new for a one-off secret that is never saved to your vault. Each link holds up to 256 KB.
Nothing for the recipient to install
They open the link in any browser. If they use U2 Secured too, they can save what you sent straight into their own vault.
On the web, in the extension and on your phone
Create links in the web vault, in the Chrome extension, or in the U2 Secured Password Vault app for iPhone and Android.
Step by step: send a contractor the login to a server
A worked example in the web vault, with the labels you will see on screen. The browser extension and the phone app ask for the same things.
- 1
Open Share and press + New share
Share is in the vault's sidebar. It also shows how many links you have used this month and when the count resets.
- 2
Pick the login with From my vault
Search your vault for the server login. Under Include, switch off anything the contractor does not need, such as your notes. The link carries only the fields left on, and the contractor is told which ones you left out.
- 3
Set the limits
Set Expires to 24 hours, tick Delete after first view, then tick Require passphrase and type the passphrase into Passphrase and Repeat passphrase.
- 4
Press Create, then Copy link
The link is shown this once. The key that opens it is part of the link and was never sent to us, so if you lose the link nobody can show it to you again: make a new one.
- 5
Send it in two parts
Paste the link into your email to the contractor. Send the passphrase, and the name of the server, by text message or say them on a call.
- 6
Check it, then revoke it
Back on Share, the link's row shows its status and its Views. When the work is done, press Revoke, or let the 24 hours run out. Then change the server's password if the contractor no longer needs it.
What the person you send it to sees
The contractor opens the link in any browser. There is nothing to install and no account to create.
- If you set a passphrase, the page asks them to "Enter the passphrase you received separately" before anything is decrypted.
- A one-view link warns them first: "This link can only be opened once". They can sign in to U2 Secured to save it into their own vault as they read it, or open it straight away.
- Each field has its own copy button, and the password stays hidden until they press Reveal.
- Fields you switched off are named, after "Not included by the sender", so nobody wonders whether something went missing.
- A link that has expired, been opened or been revoked shows "This link is no longer available" and asks them to request a new one from you.
Sharing a password by email, Outlook or Teams
The advice is the same in every one of them: send the link, not the password. In Outlook, Gmail or any other mail app, paste the link into the message. In Teams, Slack or WhatsApp, paste it into the chat.
Then send the passphrase, or the username and the site it belongs to, somewhere else: a text message, a call, or a different app. Avoid putting all of it in one message. A link, a username and a site name together are a complete login for whoever reads that message.
Mail and chat systems often open links themselves, to build a preview or to check them for malware. A preview that only downloads the page does not use up a one-view link. A scanner that runs the page's script does: the link then stays open for 5 to 10 minutes and stops. If you know the recipient's mail is scanned that way, turn Delete after first view off and use a short expiry and a passphrase instead.
Sharing API keys and other credentials
The same link carries more than a password. Compose new has item types for an API key, an SSH key, a database or server login and a Wi-Fi network, as well as plain notes, and you choose which fields to include. Up to 256 KB fits, enough for a long private key or a config file.
For a key a machine uses, set a short expiry and one view, and send the name of the system it unlocks separately. A link hands over a copy: if the key changes later, the copy does not, so rotate a key that more people saw than needed to.
Ways to send a password, side by side
What each way of sending leaves behind once the other person has the password.
| How it is sent | Copies left behind | Stops working on its own | Can you take it back? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pasted into an email | In both mailboxes, sent folders and backups, readable by the mail providers unless the email is end-to-end encrypted | No | Rarely: removing your copy leaves theirs |
| Pasted into a chat | In the chat history, often searchable by anyone in the conversation for as long as it is kept | Only where the app has disappearing messages turned on | Some apps remove a message for everyone, but it may already have been copied |
| Text message | On both phones and in their backups | No | No |
| Read out on a call | None | Nothing to stop | Nothing to take back |
| U2 Secured one-time link | Only ciphertext we cannot read. The message still holds the link, but a spent link opens nothing | Yes: after 1 hour to 30 days, or after one view | Yes: Revoke on the Share page stops it opening at once |
A call leaves nothing behind, but a long random password is easy to mishear, and you both need to be free at the same time. The link suits a password that is long, or that someone needs later.
Free on every plan
Every plan, free included, comes with a monthly allowance of share links, with expiry, one view and a passphrase available on every link. The allowance is per workspace and resets on the first of each month (UTC).
| Plan | Price | Share links |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 60 links a month |
| Basic | $5/mo per 5 users | 700 links a month |
| Premium | $9/mo per 5 users | 7,000 links a month |
Paid plans are billed per block of five users. The pricing page has the full breakdown. See pricing
Questions people ask about sharing passwords
- What is the safest way to share a password?
- An encrypted link that expires and works once, with the username or the site sent by a different channel. A password pasted into email or chat stays in every copy of the message. An expired or used link opens nothing, wherever copies of the message end up.
- How do I share a password securely by email?
- Do not put the password in the email. Create a one-time link, paste the link into the email, and send the passphrase or the username by text message or a call. It works the same way in Outlook, Gmail or any other mail app.
- Is there a free way to share a password with a one-time link?
- Yes. Every U2 Secured plan, including free, comes with share links: 60 a month on free, with expiry, Delete after first view and a passphrase on every one. You need a free U2 Secured account to create links. The person you send one to needs nothing.
- What is a self-destructing password link?
- A link that stops working after one view, or after a set time. In U2 Secured, Delete after first view stops the link opening once the secret has been shown, and every link expires after the time you pick, from 1 hour to 30 days.
- What if a link preview or a mail scanner opens the link first?
- A preview that only downloads the page cannot use it up: the page asks for the secret with its own script, and the key that decrypts it is never sent to us. A scanner that runs the script does reach it, and a one-view link then stays open for 5 to 10 minutes before it stops. Where you expect that, use a short expiry and a passphrase rather than one view.
- Does the person I send it to need an account?
- No. They open the link in a browser and see the secret, after typing the passphrase if you set one. If they use U2 Secured too, they can save it straight into their own vault.
- Can I share a password with a colleague or a contractor?
- Yes. A share link hands one copy of one secret to one person, which is what giving a colleague or a contractor a login needs. The copy does not update if you change the password later, so send a new link when it changes.
Share your next password with a link
Create a free account, then make a link from Share in the vault, the browser extension or the phone app.
You need a U2 Secured account to create a link, and the free plan is enough. The person who opens it does not need one.