The more accounts I use, the less I have to think’: A Longitudinal Study on the Usability of Password Managers for Novice Users

Despite the security benefits of password managers (PM), many users refrain from adopting them, usability being a major friction point. In this work, we go beyond prior research that captures usability issues as isolated snapshots. Instead, we provided n=37 novice participants with a 3-month license for a commercial password manager and captured their experiences in weekly questionnaires over the first month and at the end of the trial period. Our findings highlight the strong impact of first-impression usability, with initial hurdles in managing primary passwords making adoption cumbersome. While trust in the password manager improves over time, perceived usability stays unchanged. Users tend to ignore credential audit flags, potentially undermining the security benefits the password manager provides. Based on these insights, we provide recommendations to enhance password manager adoption and usability so users can benefit from the full functionality and protections password managers provide.