Recovery codes for individual and families

thedean
thedean
Community Member
edited May 22 in Families

Glad to hear that we now have the option to create a recovery code to recover individual and family member accounts. This is particularly great news for individual users who up until now did not have a method to recover their accounts if they lost their account password and secret key.

However, for family members, the advantages are less clear, as family members have always had a process to their recover their accounts with the help of a family organizer.

I am sure there are good reasons for having both recovery mechanisms. Could you please provide us with some use cases where:

1) it would be preferable for a family member to use a recovery code instead of a family organizer to recover their accounts, and conversely

2) some use cases where it would be preferable for a family member to use a family organizer rather than a recovery code to recover their account?

Thanks.

1Password Version: 8.10.32
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 14.4.1
Browser: Firefox

Comments

  • ag_tommy
    ag_tommy

    Hey @thedean

    The main consideration that comes to my mind is the unfortunate situation where a family organizer has lost their details, and a member needs to recover their account. It could also be the husband or wife has passed away, and the surviving spouse/partner needs to regain access to their account where vital details have been placed.

    Their are some families where the members are estranged and no longer speak to the other. I can imagine this being a useful situation in that case. We also have a few folks who want to go it on their own and do away with the family aspect.

    All in all, I see it varying greatly depending on the individuals needs. As for me I'll be ready on the recovery front for my children and I'll also help them safeguard their recovery keys should they need it. I don't think there is one-stop answer for the situation due to family dynamics and life getting in the mix. I for one intend on taking every precaution available to me to ensure my family can access their data.

    The way I see it is it's just another tool on the tool belt that will be available should it be needed.

  • thedean
    thedean
    Community Member

    Hey @ag_tommy:

    Thanks for your input. Probably the best example I can think of is what you and I discussed in this recent post: https://1password.community/discussion/comment/710610#Comment_710610

    In this situation, it might be fine to have a family organizer help recover your account, but if you and your family organizer are both in the same car and it gets hit by a bus, then having that family organizer does little good.

    In this case, giving non-family members your recovery key and your email password might be a very good back-up plan, either in addition to, or in place of a family organizer. Good candidates might be the executor of your will, plus the alternative executor of your will.

    My only request is that your documentation team help explain examples like this. I love your product. And I think you do a very good job of documenting "how to" use the product in your knowledge base. The one area where I think you can improve is helping to communicate to your clients some best practices for a product that can be used in so many different ways. I hope you would pass on this constructive criticism to your documentation team.

    Thanks,
    Dean

  • ag_tommy
    ag_tommy

    You've 100% got it. I've passed your feedback verbatim.

  • DannyG1P
    DannyG1P

    Hey @thedean, thanks for the questions. I'm happy to share that we just launched recovery codes for Family Accounts in Beta, and we give customers the option of choosing which recovery method they prefer.

    In particular, choosing to go with a recovery code has the following advantages:

    1. You control your own recovery process, and don't need to wait on someone else to initiate and confirm your account recovery
    2. Your recovery code stays the same and can be used again later.

    Finally, for Family accounts with a single Family Organizer, the recovery code provides that Family Organizer with a recovery method where they previously had none.

  • thedean
    thedean
    Community Member
    edited May 22

    @DannyG1P Thanks for the explanation.

    I hope in the future, when new features like this are released, that your documentation team goes the extra mile to explain the best practices (as you just did), rather than just doing the minimum of explaining how to use the feature (eg. "How to create a recovery key" and "How to use a recovery key").

    I consider this issue closed.

    Thanks again.

This discussion has been closed.