Feature Request: 1Password should natively import Bitwarden Vaults (love MrC's work, but…)
Obvious notes:
- Yes, we can use CSV import. But for some Bitwarden Vaults, it's far too tedious.
- Yes, we have MrC's suite. But for many people, it's a bridge too far.
Now, I successfully applied MrC's Converter Suite to my Bitwarden Vault. Thanks to MrC, and MrC alone, I can actually use 1Password. Without MrC's hard work and free support, I wouldn't have made a 1Password Community account to make this very post.
But some of my friends, no matter how slowly and repeatedly I might explain it, will ever feel prepared enough (or motivated enough) to learn the Converter Suite, especially for their most personal secrets. Nor do I feel comfortable accessing their decrypted Bitwarden Vault exports to do it for them.
First, Bitwarden has a massive, significant following. Surely, Bitwarden is now in the global top five or top ten of most popular password managers. By various metrics:
2M+ Chrome extension users
1M+ Android app installs
800K+ Edge extension users
600K+ Firefox extension users
Second, after the LastPass breach, many are re-considering their password manager choices and plenty land on 1Password, particularly due to the Secret Key. That's my story, too.
Third, for families, many of us come from disparate password managers and it feels as if Bitwarden users are punished when a family decides to move to 1Password, but family members on Bitwarden need to struggle far more just to get started.
Fourth, some of my less technical friends have genuinely refused to even consider 1Password because it offers no Bitwarden import. Its absence is literally a deal breaker. That's anecdotal, but I'm sure users like these pile up over time.
On that 4th point, 1Password may never even be aware of how many potential users wouldn't even bother to file a feature request or send a message on the forums or even send a support email.
TL; DR: Not having your former password manager on the official 1Password import list is as if 1Password wasn't available in your language. That kind of app gets so far off your radar, not only has it left your mind completely, but you will actively avoid it if someone else suggests it.
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What's odd is that many other password managers, but not 1Password, do have Bitwarden Import:
- LastPass has Bitwarden import
- Dashlane has Bitwarden import
- RoboForm has Bitwarden import
- Keeper has Bitwarden import
- NordPass has Bitwarden import
- 1Password does NOT have Bitwarden import
1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Browser:_ Not Provided
Comments
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Fourth, some of my less technical friends have genuinely refused to even consider 1Password because it offers no Bitwarden import. Its absence is literally a deal breaker. That's anecdotal, but I'm sure users like these pile up over time.
You cannot force people use what you probably consider the best password manager in the world. All the password managers compete for the favor of their prospective customers, and the customers will choose themselves. Often, their criteria isn't what you see as criteria, but in the end you have to accept their choice.
Often, their choice is the right choice, but you're unable to see it. For example, 1Password needs some learning curve to understand how to use and manage it. Your less technical friends might have sensed this better than you, and they might be right in their choice, because they sensed they would not be able to use it efficiently (even if they mastered the import barrier). And they might have sensed some other more simple product could suit them better.
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@Tertius3 Thank you for your reply.
You might've missed this key line, "refused to even consider 1Password". Unless users can import their current passwords, it's a dead-end discussion already.
The word "consider" is key in my anecdote. These friends specifically quote the lack Bitwarden import as the primary reason they will not consider 1Password. They actually prefer 1Password's UI, multi-page auto-filling, TOTP auto-filling, Secret Key authentication, and the diversity of item types, as they've seen me demonstrate it.
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Thank you for your very kind words and feedback.
While I may have written the code, I do feel obliged to give a lot of credit to the thousands of converter users who have provided feedback, bug reports, and feature requests over the last decade. In fact, just the other day I resolved two issues with the bitwarden converter based on such feedback.
I do appreciate that the converter suite is not for everyone, especially on the Windows side where installing the Perl environment is required. I wish that was not the case.
I wrote the first converter to transition my nearly 70-year old mother from eWallet to 1Password. Even now as a late septuagenarian, she has never looked back.
Your anecdote reminds me of a story about a friend who would not wash his socks because the machine refused to dry them. I hinted to him it might be time for a new friend. :-)
Cheers,
MrC0
