Extending support for trusted web browsers

Mitch
Mitch
edited July 2023 in 1Password in the Browser

Update (June 12): The "Trusted Browsers" setting is now available in the nightly channel of 1Password for Mac (build 81009030). To change the release channel, go to Settings > Advanced > Release Channel.

Hi all,

I wanted to provide everyone with an update about our upcoming support for using additional web browsers with 1Password.

The 1Password desktop app supports major web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) as well as a handful of others. In the past, whenever we've gotten requests to support a new browser, we've taken the responsibility of individually vetting the developer, their app, and their security and privacy policies. As you can imagine, this process is labour-intensive, and it's also not ideal from a security perspective: it should be up to you to decide which vendors and applications you trust to connect to 1Password and access your data.

So instead of adding more browsers to our own list, we are introducing a new ability for you to customise your own installation of 1Password and choose which browsers you trust.

Adding a trusted browser

Soon you'll be able to allow any browser to connect to 1Password by adding it to the list of trusted browsers in Settings in the 1Password desktop app.

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Authorizing a trusted browser

The first time you add a browser, you'll have to authorize it. This ensures that apps cannot gain privileged access to 1Password without your permission.

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Once you've added a custom browser, it will be able to connect to 1Password in order to ask it to unlock, and also to request data from 1Password when it is unlocked. You are responsible for trusting the browser and its developer, as 1Password cannot make guarantees about the security or policies of any browsers you add to the list.

FAQ

Why is the default list of trusted browsers so restrictive?
Allowing a browser (or any application) to connect to the 1Password desktop app gives it full access to your logins when 1Password is unlocked. That level of access necessary so the browser can save and fill passwords, but it can easily be abused by untrusted software and developers with bad intentions. So we've erred on the side of limiting support to vendors and browsers which we can extensively review.

When will the trusted browser setting be available?
We will be introducing the new setting shortly in the nightly channel of the 1Password desktop app. Your feedback and testing will help us bring it to the beta and stable channels.

What happens to browsers that were previously supported?
Browsers which are officially supported by 1Password today will continue to be supported. You will not need to add them to the list of trusted browsers or take any other action to continue using 1Password with these browsers. Browsers which had preliminary support in beta-only (Sidekiq and Wavebox) will however need to be re-configured using the setting.

Will the setting make any web browser compatible with 1Password?
The setting will allow any web browser to connect to the 1Password desktop app as long as it is code-signed (Mac or Windows) or installed with admin privileges (Linux).

The browser will also need to be able to be able to install and run the 1Password extension. Browsers which are based on Chromium should be able to use the Chrome extension, and browsers which are based on Firefox should likewise be able to use the Firefox extension.

An important caveat is that not all browsers which claim to support Chrome extensions or the WebExtensions spec have full support for the 1Password extension or all its features, and there are often slight differences between implementations. While we will do our best to work with both browser makers and 1Password users, we cannot guarantee compatibility with any browser beyond the ones we officially support.

Comments

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    Hello everyone,

    You can now add additional trusted browsers using the production version of 1Password for Mac! As long as your browser is code signed by Apple you can follow these steps to add your browser:

    1. Open and unlock the 1Password for Mac desktop app.
    2. Click on 1Password next to the  in the menu bar.
    3. Click Settings.
    4. Click Browser.
    5. Click Add Browser and choose your browser from the Applications folder.

    While we hope to bring this feature to other platforms as well in the future, it will initially only be available on macOS.

    If you run into any issues then please open a new thread and the team will be happy to help!

    -Dave

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