Couple questions about 'Families'

tastyroadkill

Bear with me, I'm a bit confused and trying to understand the details of the new Families.

Right now, my fiancé and I have a total of three vaults - one personal vault each and then one shared vault for shared passwords. We both sync using dropbox.

With Families, would we still have a shared vault? And, would we still sync via dropbox?

There is only two of us in our family and we only use Mac products (OS X and iOS). Is there any advantage to transitioning to the Families model?

Thanks! :-)

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1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided

hawkmoth

@tastyroadkill (yum!) -

With Families, would we still have a shared vault?

You certainly can, as well as each of you having a private one. This is similar to what you already have now.

And, would we still sync via dropbox?

If you convert to Families, your data for your new Families vaults will be kept on AgileBits servers. You won't have to worry about how syncing works, because it's built in. The only reason you might continue to use Dropbox would be if you also retained your current vaults, instead of transferring everything over to Families. But I can't see any obvious reason to do that.

Is there any advantage to transitioning to the Families model?

You would gain access to the web interface, which might help if you needed access to your data when you don't have access to one of your devices. You also gain some recovery tools, in case one of you should forget your master password or (new) account key. With the standalone applications, no one can help you get access to your data if you forget your master password. You will also always have access to the most recent versions of 1Password for all platforms without having to ever pay for upgrades to the software. So, if you later add a Windows box or an Android device, you'd be covered. And, as I already said, no more worries about keeping a third party sync solution working - not that I've ever found Dropbox to be unreliable in any way.

It's hard for me to say if these are big advantages for the two of you. I have signed up for Families, and, although I could share with one other person (my wife), she isn't much interested, so for now, I am a family of one. I think this could become useful if I need to give instructions for another person to gain access to my data in the even of an emergency. Others may have more ideas. Do remember that Families requires a monthly subscription payment, which may or may not affect your decision about it.

tastyroadkill

@hawkmoth Thanks very much for your helpful and informative reply.

Do you know if vaults are encrypted locally before being sent to 1Password's servers? If not, then that's certainly a 'no go' for me. Local encryption is always a priority.

hawkmoth

Do you know if vaults are encrypted locally before being sent to 1Password's servers?

I do know - all encryption and decryption occurs locally. AgileBits has no access to your data. In fact, they cannot help you regain access to it if you forget your master password and/or your account key. (The account key is specific to the Families application, not to the standalone versions.)

Aleen

Looks like Hawkmoth has been able to answer all of your questions so far, @tastyroadkill, but please let us know if you have others!