Why is the master password no longer called master password, instead it is just called password?

Mattis

Happy New Year all together!

I noticed something. Under 1Password.com it is no longer called “Master-Password”, but only “Password”.

Is there a reason why it was named differently, or was this renamed at all purposely?

I would be interested to know. That's why this post is coming to the Lounge, since it's nothing that significant.

Thanks for Reading!

Mattis

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1Password Version: 1Password 7
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS Monterey

Ben

Hi @Mattis

Fair question. The change is in part due to the difference in the way 1Password 8 handles unlocking compared with 1Password 7. In 1Password 7 a single password always unlocked all vaults/accounts, regardless of if any of those vaults/accounts had explicitly set different passwords. This made it such that it was impossible to unlock just a subset of data. With 1Password 8 each account must be unlocked with its password, if unique. If the same password is set for all accounts (recommended), then functionally it will work the same as 1Password 7 did.

The reason it is okay to use the same password for multiple accounts, if desired, is because of the Secret Key. But there are cases where folks intentionally want to only unlock one account and not others, and that will be possible now too.

With this we're now using the terminology "account password" in place of "Master Password."

Ben

Mattis

Hi @Ben

I appreciate your answer :) and can understand this decision.

For me, as a 1Password customer, it takes some getting used to because it has always been called “master password”. It is also a brand label of 1Password.

On Twitter, I wrote about what things used to look better - I noticed that the design has changed.

Mattis

Mattis

I think the “Master Password” sounds significantly nicer than “account password”.

In the same way, 1Password 7 looks better than 1Password 8. I have to say.

[Deleted User]

@Mattis Lots of technology companies have moved away from the word master because of its association with slavery. I don't know the extent to which this played into 1Password's decision, but their stand on various issues makes me think it was a factor.

Mattis

Thank you for your reply. @rootzero :)

Of course, this may be a factor, however, I cannot understand it. We are destroying our language. Do not get me wrong. I am in no way supporting slavery if it comes over that way, but do people really think of slavery when they see the typing field when starting a password manager?

Mattis

Jack.P_1P

Hey @Mattis:

As Ben mentioned above, this change was due to it being a more accurate representation of what the password is capable of unlocking. Since there's not much more to discuss on the renaming, I'm going to go ahead and close this thread. Feel free to get in touch if you have any further questions! :smile:

Jack