Using iCloud across all platforms

ronross

Hello and forgive me if this has been asked/answered previously. I currently have 1Password (5) on my IOS and OSX devices syncing using iCloud. I purchased a Surface Pro 4 and wish to upgrade my 1Password license to include the Windows version. However, before I do this, am I correct to assume that the Windows version will not sync to iCloud like the IOS and OSX devices? I looked at a few threads and still aren't certain if I can easily add my 1Password vault to a Windows environment while syncing with iCloud. I do have iCloud on the Windows machine for other cloud based connectivity.

Thanks.

Ron

---

1Password Version: 5
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: OSX (El Capitan), Win10, IOS 9.2
Sync Type: iCloud only

MikeT

Hi @ronross,

You are correct. CloudKit, the sync platform that also powers iCloud Drive and 1Password's sync, at the moment is still limited to OS X and iOS App Store apps. There are some progress being made by Apple to expand this to the web and other platforms. We're hoping it would be possible to use that to make iCloud Sync possible on Windows.

For now, there are a few options you can do:

[Updated: I previously incorrectly said you can use iCloud + Folder Sync, this is wrong]

1. Use Folder Sync on Mac to create a folder to store in the iCloud Drive folder to sync it between PC and Mac. For your iOS device, you can pick either the PC or Mac to sync over Wi-Fi.
2. You can switch to Dropbox, which supports all platforms that 1Password is on, so this covers Android, iOS, OS X, and Windows. It'll be consistent and easier as you only have one sync service to manage with.

There is an issue that we're working on to improve iCloud Drive's compatibility with 1Password on Windows. When you make a change with 1Password on PC, it updates the data file directly but not the parent folder. This is fine for Dropbox and a few other sync services but iCloud Drive doesn't trigger the sync, it requires the parent folder to be updated before it knows something has changed. We've fixed this on the Mac but we haven't done it yet on Windows.

ronross

Thanks for the quick reply. In the first solution:

Use the same iCloud Sync setup between OS X and iOS that you have now and then enable Folder Sync on Mac to create a folder you can sync to your SP4. In this case, put it in the iCloud Drive folder. On SP4, open 1Password and direct it to your iCloud Drive > 1Password folder to open it.

How would that work if using an IOS device?

I'm not a huge fan of Dropbox. Not having 1Password on the SP4 is not a deal killer.

MikeT

Hi @ronross,

I apologize, I was wrong on that solution, and I've updated my previous post to correct it. There is no way to use the same iCloud setup for all platforms at once. There's a hybrid option where you can use Wi-Fi + Folder Sync at the same time and there's one option where you can use a single method like Dropbox, which will sync to all platforms at the same time.

For the hybrid option, you can use Folder Sync in your Mac app to sync your 1Password database between PCs and Macs via your iCloud Drive folder. For your iOS device, you would have to pick one computer to serve as the Wi-Fi server to sync the data to your iOS device. This won't be automatic as you would need to unlock 1Password on the computer first and then sync it.

The hybrid option is how I have 1Password setup now between Mac, Windows, and iOS/Android devices, multiple mobile devices can sync with the same Wi-Fi Sync server. It works well enough as long as you remember to sync your mobile devices with your PC often.