LastPass weakens its free tier by limiting it to a single device, removing email support

LastPass on Mac (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

LastPass Free is now severely limited with the removal of email support and more.
The LastPass Premium and Families tiers are unaffected.

Password management company LastPass is causing a stir today after it announced the decision to alter the features available to those on its free tier. As of March 16, users of LastPass Free will no longer be able to use multiple devices and will instead need to choose one device to use the app on.

LastPass made the announcement via a blog post earlier today.

We're making changes to how Free users access LastPass across device types. LastPass offers access across two device types – computers (including all browsers running on desktops and laptops) or mobile devices (including mobile phones, smart watches, and tablets). Starting March 16th, 2021, LastPass Free will only include access on unlimited devices of one type.

The post continues with the news that LastPass Free users will also lose email support as of May 17, leaving them to make do with forum-based customer support instead.

In addition to this change, as of May 17th, 2021, email support will only be available for Premium and Families customers. LastPass Free users will always have access to our Support Center which has a robust library of self-help resources available 24/7 plus access to our LastPass Community, which is actively monitored by LastPass specialists.

All of this is obviously designed to get users to switch to LastPass Premium or LastPass Families, both paid services that offer additional benefits starting at $3 per month.

To my mind, passwords and the apps we use to manage them should be a paid solution because, really, who wants to trust that kind of thing to something that's free? I'm a fully paid-up customer of a LastPass competitor – if you're a LastPass Free customer I'd strongly suggest upgrading rather than ditching the app altogether!

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.