Feature Request: Keyboard with randomized key positions for entering master password

Olaeg
Olaeg
Community Member

Hi there,

This feature request seems odd at first, but hear me out.

There are several reasons why I don't want to use TouchID on my iPhone:

  • My master PW, although obfuscated, is stored on the device
  • Unlocking without my consent is possible under force or, more realistically, while I'm sleeping
  • Typing my master PW every time ensures that I won't forget it eventually

That being said, there is one disadvantage of typing in your password (besides inconvenience): you can be watched or recorded by surveillance cameras. As a matter of fact, you can't even avoid being recorded in some public areas.

I don't even care that a potential attacker would of course also have to know me and have access to my 1password file. The master PW is the one thing that never should be recorded or spotted anywhere, and much less by other people.

So rather than doing weird body movements in public places to obscure your typing from all possible angles, I suggest the following:

On the master PW entry screen, a special button replaces the standard keyboard with a custom keyboard for use in those situations. It's keys are laid out randomly (as opposed to qwerty). After every keystroke, the key positions would randomize again, so no patterns could be deduced. The key labels itself would be sufficiently tiny to prevent recognition from farther away.

It might be significantly slower to type on this keyboard, but it's faster than finding an unmonitored spot first and safer than typing it in the normal way. I don't even know whether such a randomized keyboard already exists as a concept. If not, I'll take credit for its invention ;-)

Dear Agile Bits team, what do you think about it? Is this something you would consider adding?

Comments

  • Hi @Olaeg,

    Thanks for writing to us with this suggestion. Unfortunately I'm not sure it is technically feasible to do what you're asking on iOS. iOS only allows included keyboards in password fields. If we were to develop a keyboard such as you've described I don't think we'd be able to use it for Master Password entry.

    I will forward the suggestion along to our developers for their consideration, though. :)

    Thanks!

    Ben

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