"QR code Detection Failed" message attempting to scan QR

geekneck

In 1Password app, I am trying to enable MFA for a site

I select the "Scan QR Code" button and I get this message

Note that I have allowed screen recording permissions

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1Password Version: 1Password for Mac 8.9.8 (80908009)
Extension Version: 2.4.1
OS Version: macOS Monterey 12.6.1
Browser:_ Safari

the_actual_jlamoree

I am very interested to know if this feature is functional under any circumstance. I haven't found a way to make it work as expected. My suspicion is that the mechanism expects the QR code to be an image within a web browser that has the 1Password extension enabled. If that's the case, I don't understand why permission for screen recording is required. I guess I could spend a few more hours troubleshooting this defect.

Dave_1P

Hello @geekneck and @the_actual_jlamoree! 👋

I'm sorry that the QR code scanning feature isn't working on your Macs. I'd like to ask you both to create a diagnostics report from your Macs:

Sending Diagnostics Reports (Mac)

Attach the diagnostics to an email message addressed to support+forum@1password.com.

With your email please include:

• A link to this thread: https://1password.community/discussion/135726/qr-code-detection-failed-message-attempting-to-scan-qr
• Your forum username: Username
• Please do not post your diagnostic report to the forum. This is for your privacy and security.

The report will be in zip format. Please send the entire file.

You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number. Please post that number here. Thanks very much!

-Dave

the_actual_jlamoree

Thank you @Dave_1P. The support identifier #MUG-32856-752.

ag_tommy

Thanks @the_actual_jlamoree

I appreciate you sending that report in. One of my colleagues will get back to you as soon as possible.

ref: MUG-32856-752

geekneck

@Dave_1P I sent the email as instructed, but got no response back :-(

Dave_1P

@geekneck

Hmm did you use the same email address that you used to register for the community forum? I'm not seeing anything on our end yet. Can you try to send another email to support+forum@1password.com but this time without any attachments? Once I receive this email I can send you an alternate way to send the diagnostics report.

-Dave

geekneck

@Dave_1P I sent another email without the attachment and still no response. Maybe because my email address has dots in the username?

andrew.l_1P

Thanks @geekneck, I can confirm we've received your email. Apologies on behalf of Bitbot 😅

We'll take a look at the diagnostic report you attached and reply to you there as soon as possible!

ref: CYR-51199-537

the_actual_jlamoree

I received a response from 1Password Support via email after I sent the diagnostics information, which is weird, because I suspect most 1Password.Community members don't have access to my email. It offered a tip about adjusting my screen brightness, which suggests that I need to provide more context.

For background, I have been using OTP Auth for several years. It is good, but limited. I have, until recently, resisted adding TOTP secrets to 1Password because it violated my conception of separate factors. I have since given up this position, since my emergency recovery codes are already in 1Password, so the TOTP authorizer app isn't necessary when performing an attack. If somebody gets into my 1Password vault, the game is over.

To enjoy the significant benefits that come from having TOTP in 1Password, I want to transfer all 72 secrets. I have tried multiple exfiltration methods. One method is to copy the secret in Base32 out of OTP Auth for Mac. Unfortunately, the Catalyst app is buggy as hell and the context menu fails to activate and present the copy option. This is not 1Password's fault, but it does mean that I can't use the least error-prone method.

The other method for extracting secrets is to have OTP Auth for Mac show the QR code as an image. I assumed that 1Password for Mac would be able to tap into the displayed pixels and grab the currently visible image inside OTP Auth for Mac. These are the things I have tried:

• Display QR code in OTP Auth Catalyst app, then click the "Scan QR code from clipboard or screen" button in 1Password. Result: "QR code detection failed"
• Thinking that perhaps the issue was with an OS secure overlay feature, I grabbed the QR code image content and saved it as a file to display in Preview. Also fail.
• I attempted to copy the image data into the clipboard from Preview. I inspected the clipboard with Keyboard Maestro to verify the content existed. Still, no import to 1Password.
• I opened the saved QR code image in Google® Chrome® with the 1Password extension activated, thinking that perhaps the expected customer use case is to import an image from some web page leveraging the extension's ability to inspect the DOM and media. Nope.
• I opened the target website and injected an image tag into the page to load my saved QR code, thinking that perhaps 1Password would perform a document.location.origin match on the record being edited in 1Password, because, let's be honest, that's the sort of over-engineering I would subject my customers to. Still nope.

The application log is splattered with lines like this:

WARN  2023-02-03T08:08:45.492 op_executor:invocation_loop(ThreadId(17)) [1P:op-app/src/app/backend.rs:220] operation blocking event loop invoke Invocation(External(ProcessQrCode(<QrCodeProcessRequest>))) took more than 50 ms (70 ms)

I'm running macOS 13.1 22C65 on a Mac Studio. The 1Password for Mac 8.9.15 (80915001) application has been granted Privacy & Security permission for the following:

• Location Services
• Camera
• Accessibility
• Screen Recording

I will note that running 1Password on iOS and aiming my phone's camera at my ridiculous Apple Studio Display to import what OTP Auth for Mac is showing works flawlessly. It's just not the procedure I was hoping to use.

I'm on the production release channel. I am willing to switch to beta, but haven't yet.

Dave_1P

@the_actual_jlamoree

Thank you for the reply. Please continue the conversation over email as I don't have access to your diagnostics report here on the public forums. My colleagues over on the email support team will be able to investigate further in the email thread open for the issue that you're running into. 🙂

-Dave

the_actual_jlamoree

@Dave_1P I came to the forums to resolve this product issue so that others may benefit. I'm not super interested in having secret email correspondence. The diagnostics output was not necessary in order to tell me whether this product feature is claimed to function currently or not.

Dave_1P

@the_actual_jlamoree

That's fair enough, the diagnostics report would help narrow down on the issue that's occurring on your Mac but I can still investigate as far as possible here on the forums. To answer your initial question:

I am very interested to know if this feature is functional under any circumstance.

Yes, this feature should be working. I just took a screenshot of the 2FA QR code for my ProtonMail account and opened it on my Mac using the Preview app. 1Password 8 for Mac was then able to detect and save the one-time password from the QR code.

Our developers do have an internal work item open that might be relevant to the issue. Can you tell me if you've tried to use 1Password 8 for Mac to save the one-time password for an account by displaying the original QR code on that website in the browser and not by displaying the extracted QR code from OTP Auth (or by opening the QR code that you extracted from OTP Auth in the browser)?

-Dave

ref: dev/core/core#19783

the_actual_jlamoree

@Dave_1P Yes, adding TOTP to 1Password when the QR code is presented in the browser window works properly, for the single test case I performed using hover.com. When the QR code image from Hover was displayed in a browser page modal, I clicked the QR code import button on the record being edited in the 1Password for Mac application. That all worked as expected.

However, having OTP Auth show that same QR code baffled 1Password. The actual code content in these two situations was different. For the one in the browser that 1Password "saw" the content was otpauth://totp/Hover:jlamoree?secret=sdm2lnkgly6e5nux75pmnn5fhi&issuer=Hover but when OTP Auth generated the QR code, the content was otpauth://totp/Hover:jlamoree?secret=SDM2LNKGLY6E5NUX75PMNN5FHI======&issuer=Hover&digits=6&period=30&algorithm=SHA1.

It's my belief that 1Password for Mac has no problem seeing QR codes on the screen, but rather that the parser does not like the content that it saw. Perhaps 1Password is angry because the secret is padded or that config fluff was added to the query string.

I suspect the mechanism for parsing the text content of the QR code differs when 1Password is running in iOS vs. macOS, since 1Password for iOS doesn't have a problem importing QR codes from OTP Auth when I aim my iPhone's camera at the desktop display.

the_actual_jlamoree

In order to complete this transition from OTP Auth to 1Password, I created a utility that would look for QR codes and show the content: https://github.com/jlamoree/qr

The Apple Shortcut feeds a screenshot into a Python script in a Docker container and shows the decoded content of any QR codes found. Using it, I completed the data transfer without too much pain. None of the visible OTP Auth QR codes were importable directly by 1Password using the "Scan QR code from clipboard or screen" button. The issue is not secret padding as previously suggested.

ElijahLynn

I'm seeing this issue too. I just migrated from Chrome to Brave browser and getting this error too. Works fine with Chrome, but not Brave. I tried toggling 1Password off/on in the Mac Privacy and Security "Screen Recording" section.

It is something to do with Brave.

Brave 1.52.126 Chromium: 114.0.5735.133 (Official Build) (arm64)
Revision fbfa2ce68d01b2201d8c667c2e73f648a61c4f4a-refs/branch-heads/5735@{#1270}
OS macOS Version 13.4.1 (Build 22F82)
JavaScript V8 11.4.183.23

ElijahLynn

Got it working per https://1password.community/discussion/comment/646827/#Comment_646827

If i zoomed in on the QR page once ( just ⌘+) the "Scan QR" from the 1Password Desktop App worked

I didn't think it would but tried it by reverse-pinching the trackpad and centering it and then 1Password grabbed it.

Dave_1P

@ElijahLynn

I'm happy that you were able to find a workaround for the issue. Are you able to provide the website address or app name where the issue is occurring in your case? I can pass that along to our development team so that they can investigate further.

-Dave

timheilman

I also cannot add OTP to 1Password 8 on Mac OS desktop, for https://expo.dev . It gives the same errors as described in this thread, originated 9 months ago. Is there a bug status page where I can track the status of this bug? I provided a report as described, but no response.

-Tim

Dave_1P

@timheilman

Thank you for sending in the diagnostics report. I can confirm that the team has received it and that you'll receive another reply via email as soon as possible.

Is there a bug status page where I can track the status of this bug? I provided a report as described, but no response.

When, and if, the issue is resolved you'll see the bug fix noted in our release notes: 1Password Releases

For the time being the best workaround, if you're unable to use the desktop app to scan the QR code on a particular website, is to use the browser extension instead: Use 1Password as an authenticator for sites with two-factor authentication

-Dave

ref: LDX-94585-796

MacSupport

It seems that ElijahLynn's recommendation of Zooming in once, will allow 1Password to see the QR code. Just tested it on a few sites that previously did not work. Must be a resolution based issue.

Dave_1P

@MacSupport

Thank you for adding your experience and I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I've passed along your comments to the team.

-Dave

Olliecampbell

Thought I would add that this work around still works on 1Password for PC too.
Needed for the Sony Entertainment website.

Dave_1P

@Olliecampbell

I'm sorry that you ran into the issue as well, thanks for confirming that the workaround also helps on a Windows PC.

I've added your report regarding the Sony website to our internal work item for the issue.

-Dave

ref: dev/core/core#19783

Zuano

Hello, the app cannot find the QR code for two-factor authentication on my screen.
I have also tried taking a screenshot of the code and zooming in. Without success.

I am trying to import the QR code from my Synology router
Kind regards,
Zuano

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1Password Version: 1Password for Mac 8.10.30 (81030032)
Extension Version: 2.22.1
OS Version: macOS 17.4.1
Browser: Safari

ag_tommy

@Zuano

If the code is dense, you may need to increase its size. When this happens, I typically increase it twice. Can you try increasing the size of the QR code? You can do this by pressing the Command key (Control on Windows) and "+" while viewing the code in the browser. I typically have great success with this option. There are others you can try below.

• To return to the standard view size in the browser, press the Command key (Control on Windows) and 0.

Potential other options:

1. You can also try copying the code from the screen optionally. 1Password is able to see the code on the clipboard. I'm not sure if the code is copyable, but you might also give that a try. Right-click and use the copy image action.

2. Try scanning the code using 1Password in the browser by using the three vertical dots (more actions). Then select scan code.

   3. Lastly, ensure that you've restarted 1Password after granting any needed permissions. If not, you may be unable to scan.

• Look for our helper in the menu bar near the WiFi indicator and the clock. Right-click (Option-click) on the helper and select Quit. Wait a few seconds and then open 1Password from the Dock or the Applications folder.

Unknown

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cterry

I am also having this problem. It fails to scan via 1Password from Mac but I can use 1Password on my iPhone to scan the exact same QR code (from MacOS screen) without issue. QR code scanning used to work for me on MacOS but no longer works. If it helps, the broken QR code was for Streamlabs MFA.

WalterMusings

May 19th, 2024, and the macOS 1Password client is having issues with this feature. 🥺

Dave_1P

I'm sorry for the continued frustration. The team is currently testing a fix in the latest beta version of 1Password for Mac. If you're willing to help us test the fix, you can switch the beta by following this guide:

• Use 1Password beta releases

Once updated, try to reproduce the issue again. If you do see the same issue then let me know what website you're seeing the issue on and whether scanning the QR code using the browser extension instead works.

-Dave

ref: dev/core/core#19783

oschrenk

Same issue for https://app.hellosign.com using

1Password for Mac 8.10.33 (81033001)

Using the browser extension finally solved the issue.