Monday, Aug. 11, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

I have been using PageOnce for a good while now, test driving it through all kinds of hairpin turns before declaring my love or hate for it.

Good news is that I love it ... I have some things I don't love about it, but overall, I love it.

First off, what is PageOnce? I'm glad you asked. It's a personal assistant that allows you to store just about account you have -- from wireless to credit cards to car rental to frequent flier to Starbucks and just about everything else.

You enter your account information -- username and password in most cases -- either online or on your iPhone/touch or both -- and voila! Instant access to your accounts and information. For example, my account with Opentable.com -- the dining reservation service -- shows that I have 300 points to spend. (BTW, 300 points gets you nothing).

So you have questions, I'm sure. I did. To start with, I was not initially on board with entering all of this private data into one Web site. I mean, all my passwords? All my usernames? Good news is that it's secure and security is something that PageOnce really appears to take very seriously. Of course, nothing in the world is 100 percent safe, but I feel confident that this is a company that realizes the importance of security and they make it a point to explain that.

More on that later.

Here's some information from the Web site that may help clear things up:

-- No need to remember multiple usernames and passwords
-- See what has changed in your accounts
-- Tired of looking for the support number? Call directly from Pageonce

And get this ... if I select my wireless account and hit the login icon, PageOnce logs into my account for me.

Why is this important? Well, I'll tell you why ... I don't have to enter my username and password when PageOnce takes care of it for me ... that means less chances of being affected by phishing, less needing to remember and more security.

And because data protection is priority one, it stands to reason that my identity is even better protected. I can see all my accounts and a page of updates every day ... normally, I wouldn't log into most of this stuff until I needed to pay a bill. This way, I'd know right away because everything is right there before my eyes.

Pageonce employs military level security - the highest standards in internet security. It says its independent, multiple security layers include 256 bit data encryption, 128 bit data encrypted SSL systems and multiple firewalls.

And, financial accounts are a read-only service. Pageonce's system cannot manipulate any of the information in your financial accounts. Pageonce is designed so that you are the only one who can access your account. You can delete any or all of your accounts at any time and Pageonce erases it from the system. In the settings you can disable mobile access if you'd like as well or toggle mobile access on and off.

Overall, I'm happy with the service.

A few things I don't love ... of course ... that's par for the course.

Example1: Under Twitter updates, it always tells me that I have 20 messages. Well, that's what Twitter always returns. So it's not really 20 messages. I'm just seeing the last 20 tweets. That's minor in general.

Example2: When I'm looking at my transactions in my checking account, PageOnce only include the transactions that have cleared. That means pending charges are ignored. To me, that makes it useless. If I have $2,000 in my account after my pending charges and PageOnce shows I have $2,500 because I can't see the pending charges, well, that's a big oversight.

Example3: While there's plenty of accessing of accounts going on, it's not particularly fast. Over 3G, it takes a while to access what I'd like to access. I mean, it's not as slow as trying to scroll through contacts in the 2.0 software, but it could stand to be faster.

Example4: When I add an account on the Web site, it seems as though I need to quit the app on the iPhone and go back into it to see the refresh on the accounts page. That could stand to be better.

Of all of the above examples, 2 is the most bothersome. However, for banks, PageOnce remembers some really good stuff ... like the ability to make a particular bank account inactive if you don't use a credit card or some particular aspect of the account.

Overall, PageOnce is an application that I really, really enjoy using. I'm quite impressed by what it offers and the dedication to security is impressive as well.

Here's a direct link to the page in the App Store. You can also check out the online component at pageonce.com.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for calling.

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Hey, I think you logged into my account. I have 300 OpenTable points!!

I registered at PageOnce and entered a few account numbers, but I think I might cancel it... I already use yodlee.com and they have a mobile site (though not optimized for iPhone). I'll have to see if this offers anything over them. (they also do bill payments)

SCOTT'S REPLY: Hmmm. Not familiar with yodlee.com.

So we both have 300 opentable points. What do they do?? They are just like those Hallmark points I get when I buy a card. I don't know what the points do!!!

Hi, checked this out at the store, and whilst seemingly a great idea/app, have decided against it. The reviews seems a tad scary on the store and as a UK (potential) user I feel this is too risky. Will keep an eye and see if 1password (great app) grows into something like this or if someone brings out an app which uses 1P as the 'secure storage' bit and bolts on this functionality.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I can understand your concern. I don't, personally anyway, find those other apps to be any more secure. I think they all come with that same inherent risk.

Scott- eventually when we earn enough, we'll get "dining cheques" which I guess are like restaurant gift cards, but all fancy-like. BTW, OT has a mobile site finally!

Also it looks like they updated the PageOnce app so you have the option of logging in each time.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Interesting!

It looks like a sweet application, I just wonder hoe Pageonce, Inc. is making money?

SCOTT'S REPLY: I'm not sure, but I think that might not be the focus at this time on their end, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

I downloaded this app and really enjoy it. However, at the bottom, I don't have the "feeds" option that I see in the photo you posted. Weird.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Same here. I believe feeds was replaced with updates in this new version that was just released yesterday.

Scott

Thanks for passing this review along. I did download and do like it. However the one thing that makes me nervous (and I think it should for other people as well) is if you download programs like this on your iPhone and load personal info on it....what do you do if your iPhone is stolen or if you lose it? Having financial/credit card info (with passwords already stored) on your iphone and can be accessed by anyone is downright scary. Does that concern you at all? I would be curious by your thoughts as well as others. Thanks

Jim

SCOTT'S REPLY: It absolutely concerns me, Jim ... greatly, in fact. I am so careful with my personal stuff and I thought long and hard about it before even reviewing it.

There is one aspect that's most helpful. There's a desktop app that coincides with the iPhone app. When you update one, the other updates.

Here is how Pageonce describes it:

What happens if I lost my iPhone or iPod Touch?

You disable mobile connection in the settings area of your Pageonce account.

And once you click on it, the information is no longer accessible on your iPhone or iPod touch. So that in itself is needed. Honestly, Jim, without that feature, I would have written about the dangers. Sure, you always run a risk, but this helps to put my mind at ease a little more.

But believe me ... and I'm sure the developers see this too ... there are going to be people who just never trust this kind of information to anyone and I can certainly understand that concern.

I will get around to taking a look at the app sometime. Right now, I want an app that uses the bustracker info in a way that it can be useful on an iPhone. The bustracker mobile site, which does work with the iPhone only allows you to view one route at a time. On the other hand the map version of the tracker allows for you to view up to five routes. The problem with the web version on the iPhone, at least mine is that the slider never appears which limits (greatly) your abliity to choose bus routes (anything below the window is not accessable).

It would seem reasonable that since the CTA uses Google maps, which was always an iPhone app, that there would be a relatively short distance between seeing real time bus locations on your iPhone based on location services.

I see that other cities do have transit info available (how real time, I do not know) but I wishe it were available for Chicago as well.

SCOTT's REPLY: There's so much the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority, for those of you outside the city) needs to do ... so much ... if they have the knowledge to create something for the iPhone, more power to them ... but they have other problems.

That said, I'd like exactly what you said here.

Who knows ... there's a new app for Metra (the rail service that serves Chicago and surrounding area) ... maybe they'll create one that covers the CTA as well.

Scott,

Have you discovered yet How Pageonce benefits from allowing others to utilize their servers and services without having us pay them anything?

I am still very skeptical about putting all my info in. I need to know how they benefit.

Thanks,

SCOTT'S REPLY: They don't say there is a benefit -- just an easy way to manage passwords. I gotta be honest, Denise ... I downloaded it. I tried it. I liked it. And then I found myself not really using it much.

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