a pre-purchase question - Syncing Mac & iOS

mattspace

Hi,

I'm currently using 3 devices, a desktop mac with mountain lion, an iPad air with iOS 7 (the new toy - err, tool), and an iPhone 3gs with iOS 5 (potentially 6).

Currently Keychain Access on the Mac is the repository of all my info in life - generating and storing passwords etc, many of which have nothing to do with autofilling web forms or even computer use (the corner video store's password, etc), but without an iOS equivalent, my iPad is a lot less useful than it should be (keeping all my 30 character random passwords in notepad so I can paste them in really doesn't seem like a great idea - and I've almost ground my teeth to dust each time I have to enter the iTunes store password to download an update).

So, if I switch everything over to 1password on the mac and iOS:

• will it sync passwords without using a cloud service (WiFi sync seems like a yes)?
• with USB sync looking like a new feature, is WiFi syncing being removed?
• can iOS devices WiFi sync with each other, or does a Mac have to be involved?
• how are conflicts / differences resolved if you're creating and editing on multiple devices?

Thanks.

Megan

Hi @mattspace,

Thanks for considering 1Password as your password storage solution! I'll do my best to answer your questions here.

will it sync passwords without using a cloud service (WiFi sync seems like a yes)?

You can certainly use Wi-Fi sync to avoid storing your data in a cloud service. There are 2 tricky points here though: you'll need 1Password 4 for iOS to sync via Wi-Fi with 1Password 4 for Mac, and 1Password 4 for iOS requires iOS6+. So, if your iPhone is able to run iOS6, you're good to go! :)

with USB sync looking like a new feature, is WiFi syncing being removed?

We had hoped that USB sync would be a good alternative to our previous Wi-Fi sync, but we were never quite able to get it working the way we wanted, so the shiny new version 4 Wi-Fi sync is where it's at right now for non-cloud syncing. :)

can iOS devices WiFi sync with each other, or does a Mac have to be involved?

Currently, you do need a Mac to help the sync process, but we are certainly hoping to make this more user-friendly in the future.

how are conflicts / differences resolved if you're creating and editing on multiple devices?

Because Wi-Fi sync is currently a manual process, we recommend ensuring that you do a sync after making any changes to your database on any device. But in the event that changes are made to the same entry on two devices before a sync is performed, 1Password will either create a separate entry with 'conflict' in the title, or if possible, include the conflicting data within the entry (under a 'conflict' heading) so that you have access to all changes and can manually update the entry to ensure that the most up-to-date data is being used.

I hope this helps, but I'd be happy to answer any further questions you might have!