Safari extension no longer bundled?

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: How do collections work?.

gussic

I think the new client (1P8) looks very swish, congratulations team!

A few questions:
The extension that used to come bundled with the desktop application, is that no longer bundled with 1P8? It directs you to go and download 1Password for Safari which seems to be the fully fledged 1Password in a browser experience. This is great, but it is very slow to open, often takes a good 3-5 seconds after clicking on the icon for it to open. This did not use to happen with the old extension and 1P7...

Is the new App using Google's Electron framework? If yes, can I ask why? In my experience they always make macOS run slow, hot and generally use more energy - is there a reason why it couldn't use Apple's native frameworks?

MrRooni

@gussic Thanks for the compliment!

The extension that used to come bundled with the desktop application, is that no longer bundled with 1P8? It directs you to go and download 1Password for Safari which seems to be the fully fledged 1Password in a browser experience. This is great, but it is very slow to open, often takes a good 3-5 seconds after clicking on the icon for it to open. This did not use to happen with the old extension and 1P7...

That's correct, we're no longer bundling our extension with our app. We are definitely aware of the performance issues you're seeing. In our testing of upcoming versions of Safari these appear to be fixed, so at this point just sit tight and it will get better as updates come out.

Is the new App using Google's Electron framework? If yes, can I ask why? In my experience they always make macOS run slow, hot and generally use more energy - is there a reason why it couldn't use Apple's native frameworks?

Yes, 1Password 8 is using Electron to package the app. Because we were already using it for both Windows and Linux it made good sense to use it on macOS as well. Most of our app is not in the frontend runtime, though, which is typically where the performance issues lie with this approach. Instead we built a common library in Rust (a systems language with a focus on performance and security) that is essentially a "headless" 1Password app. This has allowed us to create a thin user interface layer on top of this headless 1Password. It's also what has allowed us to simultaneously develop our new 1Password app across multiple platforms using the frontend language and toolkit that makes the most sense for where we're deploying it. More on that in our next Early Access launch, though. ;)

We remain committed to creating an experience that looks and feels like 1Password but also feels at home on the OS where it's running. If we've fallen short of that mark in any regard please let us know so we can address it.

[Edited for clarity after a cup of coffee 🙂]

cortig

I wanted to add my +1 in this thread. I really miss having the safari extension bundled in the 1Password app itself. The present setup forces switching back and forth between the app and browser whenever you want to unlock or search for instance. Really tedious…
Is there a way to re-embed the extension in the app for better integration?? My guess is that it’s not possible, but it doesn’t hurt to ask ;-)

Corentin

ag_michaelc

@cortig, could you walk me through exactly what workflow is different for you and you're finding tedious?

Unknown

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cortig

@ag_michaelc It’s the back and forth between the browser and the app that’s mostly annoying for me. Too much mousing around…

• With the integration between the app and 1Password, when I need to unlock in Safari, it launches 1Password so that I unlock there, then I need to get back in Safari and reselect the field. The process is slower and requires a lot of back and forth. I guess it’s OK on Mac that have TouchID for instance, or when you can unlock through an AppleWatch, but that’s not my case, so I mouse around, click, type, mouse around some more, select fields, select the right entry when there is more than one…

• With the integration disabled, when I click in the field, a dialog tells me I need to unlock on the 1Password icon on the toolbar, so I still need to mouse around to select it, unlock, and then go back to the field I was trying to fill. Less mousing around, but still not ideal.

I had none of that with 1Password 7… The integration was smoother for sure. At this point with 1Password 8, using the keychain and its integration in Safari is tempting :->