What conditions cause 1Password to prompt for Touch ID or password to unlock?

Penelope Pitstop
Penelope Pitstop
Community Member
in iOS

After leaving my iPad unused for a day or two, 1Password repeatedly asks me to authenticate with Touch ID or sometimes my master password when I try to autofill forms in Safari. It doesn’t stay unlocked after I authenticate the first time, but when I tap the icon in the Safari address bar and unlock the extension, it does seem to stay unlocked. Is this what I should expect?

Also, opening the 1Password app does not seem to unlock the browser extension. Is that what I should expect?

Comments

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    Hello @Penelope Pitstop! 👋

    Thank you for reaching out! When filling a field in Safari there are two different options, the 1Password for Safari browser extension (which presents suggestions in a menu right underneath the username/password field) or iOS AutoFill (which presents suggestions above your keyboard). Descriptions of both are here:

    Can you confirm that you're referring to using the 1Password for Safari browser extension? If you are then you can configure how often you're prompted to unlock the extension by following these steps:

    1. Open and unlock 1Password.
    2. Tap the icon for your account or collection at the top left and choose Settings. (If you’re using an iPad, tap your account or collection at the top of the sidebar.)
    3. Tap Safari Extension.
    4. Set "Reauthorize After" to the desired option.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    -Dave

  • Penelope Pitstop
    Penelope Pitstop
    Community Member

    Thanks for responding so quickly @Dave_1P.

    I use both, so I'm unsure which triggers these repeated unlock requests. I'll test it and try to be more precise with my description. I will also investigate what 'Reauthorize After' is set to.

  • Penelope Pitstop
    Penelope Pitstop
    Community Member

    It's iOS Autofill. Is that supposed to prompt for unlock every time?

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P
    edited March 6

    @Penelope Pitstop

    Thanks for confirming that you're using iOS AutoFill. When you fill a login using iOS AutoFill (the prompt above your keyboard) you'll always be asked to unlock 1Password. This is currently a limitation of our implementation of AutoFill on the iPhone and iPad and I've passed along your feedback to the team internally so that they can look into possibly changing this behaviour in the future.

    I recommend giving the 1Password for Safari browser extension a try, it will only require you to unlock when the "Reauthorize after" timer that I mentioned in my previous post expires: Get to know 1Password for Safari on your iPhone or iPad

    -Dave

    ref: dev/core/core#19987

  • Penelope Pitstop
    Penelope Pitstop
    Community Member

    Thanks @Dave_1P.

    I must confess that I had conflated the two features. I won’t be using the iOS Autofill any more.

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    @Penelope Pitstop

    I'm sorry for the confusion. I use 1Password for Safari myself when filling logins into the browser since it features a much more powerful filling brain and is more capable. You'll still need to use iOS AutoFill to fill into apps other than Safari since the extension isn't available there.

    Let me know if there's anything else that I can help you with. 🙂

    -Dave

  • Penelope Pitstop
    Penelope Pitstop
    Community Member

    No apology required! I didn’t fully understand what I was using, and you helped me to.

    I suspect it’s an OS limitation. I did flirt with switching to native Apple keychain and abandoned it because of the need to authenticate with every single login. It’s OK with Face ID, but Touch ID introduces too much friction.

    Thanks again for your support @Dave_1P.

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    It's my pleasure, I'm happy that you've decided to stick with 1Password. 🙂

    -Dave

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