Memorable password counted in words??

randtan

Today I needed to refresh my corporate password and one of their requirements is minimum 16 characters. Because there is at least one system that doesn't let me paste in a password I opt for memorable password. Today the pop-up seemed different and I'm not 100% sure if that's true but there are some usability issues I would like to suggest.

I recall the slider always being there to select the number of words to use in the memorable password. However, it's hazy to me whether there used to a calculation of the total characters of the memorable password. In the current format, just setting 3 words gets you a 9 char password, 14 char password, anywhere in between and beyond. It would be very helpful to either set the minimum number of characters within the number of words or at least display the character count of the currently suggested password.

Thanks.

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1Password Version: 7.7 (70700016)
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: OS X 10.15.7
Sync Type: 1Password

ag_ana

Hi @randtan! Welcome to the forum!

Are you doing this from the 1Password app, or from the browser extension? If it's the browser extension, what version are you using?

randtan

From the 1Password app (Mac).

ag_ana

@randtan:

Thank you for the confirmation. This is what I see when I try to generate a new password from the 1Password for Mac app:

So the slider to choose the number of words is definitely still there. I don't believe there ever was a character count in this window however. The only way I know of checking this is viewing the password with the Show in Large Type option, but you need to save the generated password first.

randtan

Hello ag_ana. Appreciate the screen cap and that's exactly what I see as well. What I was trying to convey is that password requirements commonly have minimum character limits. So I can dial in the number of words for my own memorization benfits, but I'm left counting by hand the number of characters. It would help to either display the total character count adjacent to the word number selection OR, even more helpful, would be to dial in the minimum number of characters in addition to word count.

My real world example: my employer requires minimum 15 characters and highly suggest the use of memorable phrases/words. When I try to generate I get some options that are 9 characters and some that are 17 characters. Each generation, I would need to count by hand to see when I reach the minimum of 15.

Hope that helps.

Ben

Thanks for the feedback, @randtan. A 4 - 5 word password is statistically going to be very likely to meet the minimum requirement of 15+ characters. Consider that with a 5-word passphrase even if each word were only 3 characters (very unlikely) you'd still exceed the minimum character count. In the odd case where multiple short words are chosen, it is probably quicker to try the password, have it be rejected, and generate a new one than to sit and count the characters in every password. 😁 That said I will certainly pass the suggestion along to the team for further consideration.

Ben