Feature request: account recovery role (without being admin)

XIII

I don't like the idea of other family members being able to (unintentionally) mess up vaults or billing. That's why I am the only administrator for our account. I would like my family members to recover my account though when something terrible happens.

Can you please consider introducing a new role that can recover accounts without being admin?

Jacob

Hey @XIII! That's a great idea. It'd bridge the gap quite nicely. We had a Recovery group back when 1Password Teams was first introduced, then we combined it with the Admin group in team accounts to make things simpler. Implementing a recovery group in 1Password Families now would require a bit of work but I imagine it'd be quite useful for folks, so we'll keep it in mind. :) Thanks for the suggestion!

learning_1pw

I second that. Jacob. It would be very useful for my family account.

john_m

Thanks for your feedback @learning_1pw :chuffed:

skippingrock

I third this suggestion,
but there is the issue of survivorship when some thing really really bad happens to the administrator(s).

Maybe if an Administator dies (or becomes incapacitated) the administrator access could be willed (or living willed) to a specified order of members (or un-activated guardian members). This predetermined provision could be activatated by a special and separate survivorship password that is stored in a safe box, law firm or some trusted third-party.

For example, if something were to happen to me, I'd want administrator access to be able to go to my spouse. But if something were to happen to both of us, I'd want administrator access to go my children, if they are of a certain age, but if they were not old enough yet (by my standards) the administrator access would go to a triage of pre-created guardian accounts that would accessible and activated the survivorship password is entered and if, and only if, it was entered before any of my children passed the date for which I felt they could be responsible enough to have administrator access.

If one or both of my children passed the dates I set for them, they would become administrator upon confirming with their master password and the first guardian account would not be activated. However if those children that were old enough also perished and thus not able to confirm their access with their master password within a set timeframe, then the aforementioned guardian account(s) would become active. If even the guardian(s) passed, maybe the surviving child might have to wait until reaching that predetermined age to have administrative access automatically bestowed upon them? I dunno, I guess that's why it's a good plan to have appropriate guardianship established for your children.

Anyway, I know that this platform is still new, but as it ages and as we age, the need for a proper survivorship system will grow. It's not appropriate for me to give administrative access to my children (nor guardians) right now, but it is also not appropriate to have them locked out of something that they (or their guardian) may need for their survival. This includes items stored in my Personal folder but tagged with inheritance.

I suppose that I could simply store my password in a safe place, but that wouldn't give me the freedom to change my password at will, I'd be needing to keep that written password updated, which might not always be possible. I mentioned the idea of having an administrator only account, but now I don't like the idea of a rogue admin account you cannot control the access to.

What do you others think?

Frank

Hi @skippingrock - I can completely understand the need for something like this. I added my wife to the Families account as a Family Organizer so in case something happens (1) She has everything in our Shared vault (2) She can recover my account to gain access to my Personal vault if needed (3) We have both printed out our Emergency Kits and placed it in a safe & secure location so we can both access it. I know it's not the same use case as to what you're suggesting but I figured I would share my use case with you. We appreciate the feedback and for sharing your thoughts on the issue.