Mac and iPhone lost: How do I access 1Password? Standalone License

Chris937

Hello,

this scenario is just hypothetical, but I want to have a solution sorted out in case this happens:

I've got the latest versions of 1P installed on my iPhone and my Mac with a standalone license and no 1P account.

Suppose I lose both my iPhone and my Mac, how can I access my data? All my passwords are generated and most are 50 characters, so I know none of them, except for the Master Password, of course.

I can not download 1P with my Apple ID on another Mac, because I don't know my Apple ID password without access to my 1P data.

I already figured out that there is an option for web access with the 1Password accounts, but that does not help me with my license.
Is there a simple solution that I am missing or is it just not possible with the standalone license?

Thank you a lot in advance for your answers and your help.

Greetings from Germany,

Christian

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1Password Version: 6.3.2
Extension Version: 4.5.9
OS Version: 10.11.6
Sync Type: iCloud

pervel

I simply print out a few of my most critical passwords (such as for Apple ID) and hide it somewhere at home.

Drew_AG

Hi @Chris937,

Thanks for writing in! That's a great question, and one that we hear occasionally. Hopefully you never find yourself in that situation, but it's a good idea to be prepared, just in case.

Although you only need to remember one password (your master password) to unlock 1Password, there are some circumstances when you may need to remember another password. For example, if you need to enter a password/passcode to unlock your Mac or iPhone, you'll need to do that before you can access 1Password on that same device, so you'd need to have that password/passcode memorized. It's a lot like having a safe in your house - when you come home, you'll need to have a key to unlock the door to your house before you can unlock the safe.

In your example, you would need the password for your Apple ID in order to re-download the 1Password app from the Mac App Store. But if you don't know your Apple ID password and don't have access to your 1Password data, there's an alternative - you can get a copy of 1Password from our download site. You'll be able to use that in trial mode until you're able to re-download the Mac App Store version again.

So downloading the app is the easy part - what's more important is restoring your 1Password data. If you aren't using a 1Password account, you'll need to have a copy of your data somewhere other than on the lost devices. For example, you might have a backup of your Mac on a backup drive and/or a backup of your iPhone in iCloud. Or you may have been syncing your 1Password data via Dropbox or iCloud. If so, you can restore your data, but you'll need to remember another password to do that (an exception might be a backup of your Mac on a backup drive - but that backup might also be protected with a password).

We have a good article about this on our blog (the article is a few years old now, but it's still relevant): More than just one password: Lessons from an epic hack

The bottom line is that you might need to memorize more than one password in order to be prepared for a situation like the one you described. For a password you need to remember, it might help to change it to one created with the 'Words' option in the password generator (see the bottom of that user guide page for details about that option).

Hopefully this helps, but please let us know if you have more questions about that. Cheers! :)

Chris937

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Drew_AG. I have now set up a new memorizable password for my Apple ID and feel better prepared for the worst case scenario.

Cheers,

Christian

Drew_AG

You're very welcome! I'm glad that was helpful for you.

Hopefully you're all set now, but if you have more questions or need anything else, just let us know. :)