iTunes file sharing not available in version 4.5? [replaced by backup/restore function in v5]

Megan

Hi @ravibhatt‌

Thanks so much for letting us know that you're interested in this feature! Unfortunately, I don't have much of an update for you at this time. This isn't to say that our developers aren't working on it (we know it's an important feature for you all, and it's high on our priority list!) but with new features there are just so many factors that could influence a release that we just don't feel comfortable providing too many details here.

I've passed your thoughts along to our developers, and we'll do the best we can to get this out to you all just as soon as possible!

Tee_Jay

Words like impatience and frustration are starting to sound rather mild when it comes to the reinstatement of this pivotal feature!

Jasper

Thanks for the additional feedback, Tee_Jay.

ravibhatt

Hi JasperP, Megan,

I'm with Tee_Jay on this. I understand that you are both not directly responsible for the delays but this is fast becoming unmanageable for the loyal 1Password users that have been waiting so patiently for this - the original thread on this was started over 3 months ago now and so it is difficult to believe that this is actually getting the attention it deserves. The importance of local offline sync cannot be overstated and I think we are all fast losing faith that this feature will ever be reinstated. I also understand that you cannot promise dates but on the flip side, leaving this so open ended (as it has been for the 3 months) is also not achieving anything productive for us. The way this has been, and continues to be handled is really disappointing - please give us something here or at least be fair enough to tell us that this is not happening so we can start to find alternatives. Thanks.

Megan

Hi @ravibhatt,

Thanks so much for the feedback here! I do agree, users have been very patient with us here, and I don't blame you for feeling frustrated. I've brought up the issue directly with the developers and impressed upon them the importance of this feature. There are no promises, but hopefully we'll see this feature sooner rather than later. :)

Thanks for keeping us honest.

rob

@Tee_Jay‌ @ravibhatt Just wanted to give you a heads up that the ability to restore backups is planned for the next major update to 1Password for iOS. This update will not be available until the stable version of iOS 8 is released this fall because we need to make sure everything is working properly with iOS 8 over the next several weeks.

ref: OPI-1198

Tee_Jay

Thanks for the update.
Looking forward to see it happen.

duelist77

Thanks for the more concrete update. The delay in fixing the feature without adequate explanation was giving the impression that AgileBits treats local sync as a bells and whistles feature rather than a fundamental feature. We still have cause for concern regarding how AgileBits will continue supporting local sync going forward.

JosueAlexander

So this means theres no way to local back up my 1Password for iOS? I really dont trust dropbox and I have 1Password 3 on my mac so I cant use Wifi sync.... man this sucks

Stephen_C

See this post, which includes the following:

1Password 4.5.2 for iOS now creates automatic backups that are accessible via iTunes.

Stephen

duelist77

So, iOS 8 is out. 1Password 5 for iOS is out. Restore from Mac 1Password backup, the supposed replacement for iTunes file sharing, is still not available. What gives?

sjk

Hi @duelist77,

1Password 5 for iOS does allow you to create and restore backups of your 1Password data using iTunes File Sharing with your Mac. This article has instructions:

iTunes Backups

However, as currently mentioned at the top:

There is a known issue with iTunes backups. We’re working to get it fixed, but in the meantime be sure to configure one of the available sync options so that you have a copy of your vault in the cloud or on another device.

We apologize for the inconvenience while that's being fixed and an update is released; it's a high priority.

duelist77

@sjk,

The itunes backup instructions you linked to does not mention anything about restoring to iOS 1Password from a backup made by the desktop version of 1Password. Is that going to be an option once the itunes backups feature is fixed?

sjk

Hi @duelist77,

Sorry for missing that you'd like to restore a backup to 1Password for iOS that's been created with 1Password for Mac or Windows. I do think that will be possible, but won't be able to fully confirm it until the previously mentioned issue with iTunes backups is resolved. Stay tuned. :)

ref: OPI-1682

duelist77

@sjk,

I sure hope that restoring from a Mac 1Password backup will be there. When iTunes file sharing (which included "syncing"/copying data created by Mac 1password to iOS 1password through iTunes) was broken, you guys sold the backup/restore feature to us as a replacement.

Not being able to restore from a Mac 1password backup would leave users with NO non-cloud, local syncing (or emergency restore) option that also doesn't rely on wi-fi (yes, I know there's wi-fi syncing, but there still needs to be a direct wired solution).

sjk

Hi @duelist77,

I sure hope that restoring from a Mac 1Password backup will be there.

I don't see any reason why it won't work after the bug has been fixed.

… would leave users with NO non-cloud, local syncing (or emergency restore) option …

To make sure it's clear to other readers, restoring from a 1Password backup will replace the existing 1Password database rather than syncing with it.

duelist77

To make sure it's clear to other readers, restoring from a 1Password backup will replace the existing 1Password database rather than syncing with it.

For those of us who edit the database only on the Mac, that's exactly what we want (Mac database always completely overwrites the iOS database).

sjk

Thanks for making that clear, @duelist77. :)

A unidirectional "copy-sync" like that will work fine after the next 1Password update for iOS is released.

devpriorities

Just to clarify terminology, nobody here wants "backup" nor "restore." I'm not sure why you guys call it that. You clearly have a cohort of users - including me - that only ever create passwords on OS X / Windows, and just want to copy those to their phone. This has nothing to do with backing up and restoring. I guess we can call this "copy-sync" as you did above, but let's just stop referring to backup and restore in this thread.

When can we expect this supposed next release for iOS?

rob

Hi, @devpriorities.

The iTunes file sharing feature that 1Password 4 used to have was mainly intended as a backup/restore feature to replace the backup feature in 1Password 3 for iOS. With later versions, we've now changed the app to be more obvious about the backup/restore capability. It's true that the iTunes file sharing feature allowed a certain level of sync to occur by merging the 1Password.agilekeychain file with the existing database on iOS, but that was not its purpose.

In 1Password 5 for iOS (and Mac, though it's in beta still), we've spent a lot of time making our local Wi-Fi sync option more robust so that users can rely on it for true syncing without using any cloud services. We'd love for you to check out the Wi-Fi sync option again!

@duelist77‌: With regard to the backup and restore feature that we discussed, the bug preventing a successful restore that @sjk mentioned has been fixed in the 5.1 update to 1Password for iOS.

duelist77

Hi @RobYoder,

To be clear, what I (and I assume, also @devpriorities‌ and others in the same boat) want is not so much merging of the Mac and iOS databases, but the Mac database completely overwriting the iOS database. That would ensure that unintended or accidental changes made in the iOS database won't be propagated into the Mac database and polluting the Mac database as a result.

Also, it's still a good idea to have a wired sync (or backup/restore or copy, or whatever you want to call or implement it as) option in addition to cloud and wi-fi sync, because among other things, 1) as a failsafe, 2) to avoid fuss of dealing with different firewall and router configurations, 3) don't always have a trusted router available, 4) wi-fi sync still doesn't sync everything (attachments, multiple vaults, etc.), to the best of my knowledge. I hope that you and Agilebits will agree that wired sync/restore/copy is important to have. I'm not so sure that Agilebits does agree though, given how much the Agilebits representatives in the forums try to steer everyone toward cloud or wi-fi sync (like you did in your post!).

rob

Hi, @duelist77‌

Thanks for your reply! The backup/restore feature in 1Password for iOS does exactly what you described. It completely overwrites the iOS data with the data that is restored. The previous iTunes file sharing feature, on the other hand, merged the copied data with the existing data on iOS. So the new backup/restore feature is better in that regard.

As for wired sync, we definitely do not plan to get rid of the existing backup/restore feature, but we do not currently have any plans to add a true wired sync solution. We tried that with the USB sync beta, but it didn't work out. We recommend Wi-Fi or cloud syncing because those are the only true syncing methods that are available and we don't want people to think backup/restore works like regular syncing, but for users who don't plan to update items on iOS, the backup/restore feature will continue to work just fine.

As for your fourth point about Wi-Fi sync not syncing everything, you are correct with the current released versions, but this is what I was referring to as changing in 1Password 5 for Mac and iOS. We've spent a great deal of time on Wi-Fi sync lately and it will now sync all vaults and attachments between Mac and iOS in 1Password 5. Since 1Password 5 for Mac is still in beta, though, this hasn't made many waves yet. :)

devpriorities

So, just to clarify - you guys do not plan to support wired backup/restore?

rob

Wired backup/restore is already supported, and we will continue to support it. :)

WJR

So, again for clarification, if I create passwords on my Mac (which is what I do virtually 100% of the time), will there be a wired means to get that data onto my ipad/ipod/iphone? I have no interest in backing up/restoring data from my ipad/ipod/iphone. I want to have those devices mirror my Mac's data. Will this be able to be accomplished through a wired means?

duelist77

@WJR, I think @RobYoder's point is that you can do what you (and I and others) are looking for re having the iOS database mirror the Mac database by using the backup/restore feature to restore a backup of the Mac database to iOS.

@RobYoder‌ and other Agilebits reps, I want to ask a question re how the iOS backup/restore feature will work with Mac databases. I assume that, to restore a Mac database to iOS, I would point iTunes to the Mac 1password backups folder, since in the user guide the user is told, when restoring from a backup made by iOS 1Password, to point iTunes to the backup folder created by iOS 1Password. But the Mac 1Password backups folder includes many backup files, while the iOS backups folder has just one backup file, as far as I can see. Do I point iTunes to the Mac backups folder when I want to do the ios-data-mirror-the-mac-data thing and assume that iOS 1password will use the most recent Mac backup in the folder, or do I need to do some extra steps (e.g., create a temporary backups folder somewhere convenient and then copy the most recent Mac backup into that folder and then point iTunes to that folder)?

rob

@WJR‌, @duelist77‌ is correct. You can use the backup/restore feature in 1Password on iOS to restore the iOS app from a 1Password for Mac backup. Again, this is intentionally designed as a backup/restore feature, not a sync feature, but it will work to manually copy the data over and overwrite all 1Password on the iOS device. My answer to @duelist77‌'s question below explains how to do this.

Do you mind chiming in about why you would prefer to do all of this over a wired connection instead of using local Wi-Fi sync? Wi-Fi sync is a much easier option and just as secure, so I'm curious. :)

@duelist77‌: Number 2. You'll need to create a folder named exactly "Backups" (without quotation marks) and copy the most recent Mac backup to that folder. Then you can follow the instructions under "Restoring a Manual Backup" in our guide to 1Password for iOS backups. That will make sure that you have a folder named "Backups" with exactly one backup available for 1Password for iOS to restore.

WJR

I have a perfectly good old iMac that will not update beyond OSX 10.7.5. I have purchased both 1Password 3.8.22 and the Apple Store version 3.9.6. Unfortunately, wifi sync does not appear to be an option between the old Mac 1Password and the current iOS version. Will the backup/restore method you have described work with 1Password 3 and iOS 1Password 5? I am not a big fan of cloud storage - I would rather have my data on my home computer (with local backup) and simply mirror that data to my iPhone, etc.

rob

Hi, @WJR. The backups from 1Password 3 for Mac are not the same format as 1Password 4 and 5 for iOS and Mac, so they will not work to restore 1Password 5 for iOS, I'm sorry.

Razor3

1Password 5 for iOS does not let you restore from backup in a new installation. In a new install the options are to sync from iCloud, Dropbox, and Wi-Fi.

In the previous working 4.x version, a new installation would detect the .agilekeychain file I copied via iTunes File Sharing and sync/restore it.

5+ months, 90+ posts, 1 major version revision, and no resolution.