1 Password and Keychain Access

Options
Barb McMillen
Barb McMillen
Community Member
in Mac

What is the difference between the two programs and which do I use? Keychain is ever present and exists on all my machines / devices. I'm at a point where I don't understand which I should be using (of course I have both) Thanks much, Barb

Comments

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni
    Options

    Hi @Barb McMillen‌. I'd say Keychain attempts to do one very specific task, storing a combination of username and password or password but its integration into the OS means it can be used in places where 1Password won't be e.g. my IRC client uses the Keychain to store login details for the servers I use. The usefulness of Keychain jumped when they allowed it to be synced via iCloud. There are a few reasons why I store everything in 1Password though.

    1. It's a lot more user friendly and designed for viewing and editing.
    2. It doesn't limit you to iCloud. I personally sync my iPhone with my Mac via WiFi but many here use Dropbox.
    3. Which brings me to the third point, 1Password can be run on multiple platforms (OS X, iOS, Android and Windows) and if you sync via Dropbox you can even access a read only version of your vault, titled 1PasswordAnywhere.

    Many Apple services are designed in the belief that their users are in a completely Apple only environment which isn't always true. Sometimes they acknowledge that e.g. iTunes for Windows so Windows users could also be iPod owners but then things like iCloud are, to the best of my knowledge, Apple only. That's my perspective as a user. It's the same reason I've used Thunderbird all these years while I was limited to POP email. If I decided to change back from OS X to Windows or move to linux I knew I could easily move my entire mailbox with me as Thunderbird works on multiple platforms.

    What I didn't mention above is 1Password also allows you to share vaults, something you can't do with Keychain. Now I use my secondary vault merely as a logical divide between work and personal but it was actually intended as a way for people to share vaults. Both those uses, intended or otherwise aren't possibly at the moment with Keychain.

    Does that help at all?

This discussion has been closed.