A way of getting educational discount, but by buying the MAS version

arufi

Hi, I'm very keen in buying 1Password for Mac that supports CloudKit, which I am aware that I have to buy from the MAS, not the Webstore version. Is there a way of getting the discount? say, perhaps by buying from the MAS, but later you "refund" the price difference to my account?

littlebobbytables

Hi @arufi,

Sorry, the educational discount is only available via our store. Now I do believe we have a sale on at the moment that includes the MAS version so you may be able to pick it up at a discounted price anyway :smile: Please note, I don't know for how long the sale is on.

arufi

Thanks for the reply. I noticed that, that is why I asked, perhaps it is possible to get additional discount :chuffed:

Okay then, to better help me with the decision on which one to buy, can you please highlight the comparison between the MAS and the Webstore version? I know the key difference is in the use of CloudKit. But in terms of performance, features etc., does it differ then if Dropbox is used instead? Is the MAS version "superior" than the Webstore version? (to justify the extra 20% price)

Update: Arrrr... did you just change the price of the education version? last night I saw it was $28! :angry:

Stephen_C

@arufi take a look at this knowledge base article which, near the top, has a very good section "Should I buy 1Password from the Mac App Store or from your web store?".

Sorry, I can't answer your question about the apparent change in price of the education version.

Stephen

littlebobbytables

Hi @arufi,

Hopefully you found Stephen_C's link useful. The only real difference is the MAS version can access the CloudKit framework which is required for iCloud Sync. The intent has always been to keep the versions identical as quite frankly, feature disparity on a single platform is just a headache. As Apple are restricting access CloudKit to Apple store purchases only though here we are.

iCloud Sync will allow you to sync your primary vault only while Dropbox gives you more control and you would need either Wi-Fi Sync or Dropbox to sync secondary vaults. Syncing of secondary vaults is a Dropbox feature because iCloud has never allowed you to share files, the original reason secondary vaults were developed. Unless you have a strong dislike towards Dropbox it's actually more versatile given the cross platform and cross version support.

I'm confused about the angry emoji in your post though, our St. Patrick's Day sale is on so we've discounted 1Password across the board. I don't pop into the educational store that often but I think the normal price is £39.99 so $27.99 is better isn't it?

If you have any questions do please ask :smile:

arufi

Hi, thanks for your explanation.

I read somewhere that one of the advantages of CloudKit is that it allows uploading only certain changes happen in a file instead of the whole file like in Dropbox. So in Dropbox case, the changes are saved in a file, then that file is uploaded to dropbox, and the other devices download the file then process it; while in CloudKit, the one gets uploaded and processed are only the bits that changed, thus making sync faster. Is it correct?

About the discount, on Saturday night the price tag in the education store is $27.99, yet the next day it's back to $40, but I just check now it's $27.99 again :)

AGAlumB

@arufi: I don't know all of the technical details of CloudKit, but that is about the gist of it! Dropbox deals more directly with the filesystem on each platform, if that makes sense.

From a user perspective, I would say that iCloud Sync has a lower barrier to entry. That is, any devices that support it (specifically, any that can run iOS 8 or Yosemite) simply require you to log into your Apple ID and iCloud is set up.

Dropbox, on the other hand, requires a bit more to set up (separate account, software installation) on devices, but is a more flexible, general-purpose (and multi-platform) sync solution.

I personally use both, just for different purposes; and ultimately it is just a matter of your specific needs. If in doubt, the 'MAS version' supports both, whereas the 'website version' does not support iCloud Sync.

It sounds like there might have been some browser caching weirdness, but I'm glad it is showing up correctly for you now. If you have any issues when making a purchase, be sure to reach out. I hope this helps! :)

arufi

Thanks for the info. Finally bought it from the MAS couple days ago. More expensive but I think it's worth it, so far syncing is seamless (already using the iOS version for about a year now).

Next, I just hope you guys provide FREE "major" upgrades ;)

AGAlumB

@arufi: Any time! I'm glad to hear it is working well for you. :)

This is probably weird, but I really like the Mac App Store because I get (most of) my app (and OS X) updates in one place, rather than having to check each app individually. And iCloud Sync doesn't hurt. ;)

Honestly, I love what I do and I'd gladly do it for free...but my wife gives me dirty looks when I say that out loud and politely reminds me that we have bills and stuff. Suffice to say, we at AgileBits depend on the revenue from new versions of 1Password to pay for the work that goes into developing and supporting our products, and keep us all from having to find other jobs. So major upgrades do tend to have a price tag attached.

We won't necessarily say 'never' to free major upgrades, but my wife sure will! :pirate: