[Feature] - Automatic Filling On Android Without Requiring Keyboard Switch

jamestalmage

The stock keyboard on my Droid just works better than the 1Password keyboard. Switching keyboards is a pain. Doubly painful since I need to switch back again a few seconds later to actually type efficiently. I would recommend improving the Android keyboard as an alternative, but I don't think it is a viable option. Google and their partners spend a lot of time getting the stock keyboard just right (and it shows). You can not possibly expect to replicate that effort.

Instead, I think the better strategy is to remove the need for a custom keyboard. I know it is not required with LastPass. I recently switched from LastPass, and this is the one thing I really miss.

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Referrer: forum-search:Automatic Filling

peri

Hey @jamestalmage. Thanks for getting in touch with us with your feedback!

The decision to add a custom keyboard for filling was made after testing out another filling implementation. We realized that the alternate method we were working with had too many unfixable problems, and the keyboard worked out as a great solution for filling, that doesn't require copying to the clipboard. You can read a little more about the prior implementation, as well as the reasons for going with the keyboard here.

That said, we've gotten a lot of feedback from users since adding filling support on Android, and we've been tracking all of it. Most of the feedback has been rather positive. However, there are certainly areas that need improvement. We hoping to improve our custom keyboard in the future, so that it has more modern features.

We've also received requests to integrate with other third-party keyboards, and I'll go ahead and add your vote. :)

Please let us know if you have any other feedback or questions. Thanks!

jamestalmage

I am not talking about the LastPass copy notifications (though I would probably prefer that over the current solution). I am referencing their solution that uses that accessibility API, but auto fills regardless of the current keyboard. If that is somehow using the clipboard that is news to me.

For me, the added inconvenience is a detriment to security as it discourages use of a password manager. If someone has hacked into my phone sufficiently enough to monitor the clipboard, I am already in big trouble. Anything important is hidden behind a one time password as well, so clipboard contents will have limited utility. I am certainly not suggesting you ignore the danger of clipboard snooping, but if it is unavoidable you need to take a realistic view of how many hoops a user will jump through before giving up on proper security. Pick the lesser of two evils.

I want to move my Mom over from LastPass as well (so she can take advantage of the integrated OTP manager). She is frustrated enough by LastPass. With all the extra clicking required by 1Password, there is no way to sell that move.

Improving the keyboard / integrating with third party keyboards is a wasted effort IMO. Are you going to convince Motorola to integrate the stock keyboard on the 13 month old phone I own? If not, all your efforts are wasted on me. You will never come close to covering every niche preference.

peri

There are a number of considerations that we took into account when designing our filling feature. Our initial approach involved displaying a tappable 1Password icon that would hover just above the password field. The icon would only become visible when 1Password was able to detect login fields.

Unfortunately, we found many disadvantages with this approach that pushed us to change our implementation. For example, filling required the use of the system’s clipboard on Android versions prior to 5.0 (Lollipop). Filling was also not available in many places, such as the in-app browsers used in many banking apps.

Our custom keyboard + accessibility service is the best solution we found that allows us to avoid the system clipboard and fill logins almost everywhere in the OS. It also allows us to include both automatic filling and manual filling. For an in-depth explanation of the complete transition, be sure to check out Michael’s forum post:

https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/36307/new-1password-keyboard-and-filling

Balancing between convenience and security is not always easy, and we know there is room for improvements with the keyboard implementation. Our team plans to review improvements and popular requests from our users in the near future.

Please let us know if you have any other questions. :)

tedder

1Pass team- any thoughts on the new "text selection" add-ons in Marshmallow? I thought it would only work inside your "own" app, but Ars indicates that isn't true:

Most interestingly, apps can add text toolbar items to other apps. Install Google Translate on a Marshmallow device and you'll get a "translate" option in the text menu of every app. This is a capability of a new "text processing" API, which allows apps to create a system-wide text selection option and receive the selected text once their menu option is clicked on.

saad

Text selection is a really cool feature, but it seems it’s only a one way communication to send highlighted texts to your app. It’s great to see Google Translate take advantage of this feature! I can see it being very useful.

I don’t see many benefits for 1Password’s filling feature, though. Is there something specific with this feature you wanted us to look into for 1Password? :)

Alchemjst

The way LastPass handles this with the accessibility pop-up is the only thing I right now miss from it, the keyboard does feel clunky, here's to hoping you find your elegant solution as well as the for Nexus Imprint. Thanks for the service/app.

peri

Thanks for the feedback! I'll pass this along to our developers. We'd love to improve filling in 1Password on Android, so this is something we'll have to revisit. :)

Troneas

Those of us who have phones with physical menu keys (i.e. Samsung) can't switch keyboards as easily as with other phones.

We are forced to use the clipboard anyway (you didn't really think we would use 1P keyboard as our daily driver, did you?) so you (1password) might as well put in place LastPass solutions even if it means giving up some security for those of us who wants / needs it.

As I say, as it is we HAVE to use the clipboard anyway.

And where is the material design??

Thank you.

peri

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pass along your vote for improving filling on Android.

That said, I use Samsung devices, and I find it pretty easy to switch keyboard. Just focus on a text entry field, swipe down from the notification bar, select "Choose input method," and tap the 1Password keyboard. Then just long press on the space bar from the 1Password keyboard for quick switching back to your preferred keyboard. Thanks!

markwoon

I'd love to see integration with Swiftkey, but even without that, how about just adopting the default Android keyboard as the base? Extend that rather than creating your own?

My biggest annoyance (beyond having to switch to the 1Password keyboard) is the need to switch back and fourth to get symbols/numbers. For something designed specifically for passwords, this should be a no-brainer.

peri

Thanks for the feedback! We'd love to improve our 1Password keyboard, and adding modern keyboard features often requested by our users. I'll add your vote as well.

Also, if you want to see 1Password integration with SwiftKey (as I would too), please give us a :+1: on their poll!

411pass

Take a look at what Keepass2Android does with the keyboard: custom keyboard, automatic keyboard switching when you select a password, the custom keyboard has buttons for username and password so you can simply touch them in the right field and it does the "typing" for you (many times it even auto-fills). I really liked it when I used it. Yes, it does require root to automate a lot of this stuff, but you can detect root and give it as an option to those who use rooted devices at least.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2android.keepass2android_nonet

saad

Thank you for the suggestion @411pass. Rooting allows altering the behaviour of the core Android OS and it can bring inconsistent behaviours across different OS versions and devices if we are not careful. However, with that being said, I do see room for improvements for 1Password’s filling feature. I’ll include your suggestion for the developers to review. :)