Forgot Master Password to iCloud vault

AGAlumB

This discussion was created from comments split from: 1Password won't sync via iCloud with my new phone.

jon_rise

I'm having the same exact problem. I read your reply to the question brenty and I'm in disbelief that you don't have a fix for this. I pay whatever it was for the app and you're telling us we can't restore from a previous backup of my tons of passwords because there is no way to retrieve it on your end?

To be clear:

I forgot my master password. I deleted the app from my phone, restarted my phone, and then started without an account (being I never made one). I made a new password. I then went to sync to iCloud. The vault that is backed up to iCloud is still asking me to input the password that I had forgot in the first place to start the sync process. The NEW master password IS NOT working to sync the backed up vault (with about 70 accounts) on iCloud to 1Password. What I deduced from your answer above is you're saying there is no way to retrieve that info? How is that possible?

Jon

AGAlumB

@jon_rise: I'm really sorry to hear that, Jon. I hope you don't mind, but I've split you off into a separate discussion so we can focus on your situation, rather than sending a bunch of notifications to others in that other months-old thread.

Indeed, you pay for 1Password ostensibly to keep your sensitive information secure. And if there were a way for AgileBits to "retrieve" it for you, well...someone else could theoretically do the same. One of the reasons many people (myself included) chose 1Password in the first place is that we control our own data, and it cannot be accessed by a rogue AgileBits employee, government agency, or malicious attacker who doesn't have what you do: the data and knowledge of the Master Password needed to decrypt it.

You can absolutely restore from a backup if you have one...but from your comments I fear that you may not have backed up your data in the first place, which would mean there's no backup to restore from. I would love to be wrong about that, as it's a source of very personal angst for me, as I've lost data in the past myself. :(

However, in any case, you will need to use the correct Master Password to access it, and this is not stored in your vault or transmitted anywhere. Otherwise that would be a weakness that could just as easily be exploited by someone malicious to access your data. And while I appreciate that under the circumstances you may wish that weren't the case, it also means that no one else can access it either, were it to fall into the wrong hands.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I have no way of knowing that you're the real "Jon" and not someone malicious doing an impersonation trying to get me to grant access to the data. Fortunately it isn't possible for me to mistakenly — even with the best intentions — grant access to someone's data. That's probably bad news for you right now, whether you're really you or merely someone posing as you, but the rest of the time and for everyone else that's crucial to the security of 1Password users.

Did you make a backup of your data prior to deleting it? Alternatively, have you sync'd it with another device? Either way, that should give us something to work with. Here's hoping. Please let me know what you find!