Locked Out of 1P 7 With Only a Standalone License After Automatic Update

KevinLH
KevinLH
Community Member

I was just automatically updated from 1P 6 to 7, presumably because I had an old work account lingering (my work account was a 1P account rather than standalone). But I don't work for that company anymore, so I can't log into that account.

I sync all my data through Dropbox but when I click the link that says "Don't have an account? Create a 1Password account or find your data elsewhere", the login window just closes and opens again in a different position on the screen.

So now I'm locked out of all of my passwords and data. Can I roll back to 1Password 6? Any other options?


1Password Version: 7.0.4
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 10.13.5
Sync Type: Dropbox

Comments

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member
    edited June 2018

    Hi, @brenty. I'm in this same situation except that I no longer work for the company associated with the account that prompted me to be upgraded to 7. I originally bought the license for iOS, Mac, and Windows, and that's it. So now I have no access to any of my 4 years worth of data. And when I click the link to "find your data elsewhere" (because it's stored in Dropbox), the login window just closes and opens again in a new position. What do I do?

    Note from 1Password team: This comment and replies were merged into this discussion from: Mac: Got automatically upgraded to 1Password 7 but I don't have an account.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited June 2018

    @KevinLH: I'm really sorry to hear that. I'm hoping it's not as bad as it sounds, but I have to ask: have you already had your access revoked, and the only copy of your data was in a company account? If so, there isn't really anything we can do about that; the company paying for it has the right (and ability) to remove your access at any time. That's why we have individual 1Password.com memberships and local vaults, so people don't put their personal data in a company account and end up getting locked out of it.

    But if I'm misunderstanding, I'm glad to be wrong. Unfortunately we still won't be able to directly help you recover your data, as we never have access to it. But if you'll let me know what you have to work with, I'll be happy to help walk you through things.

    Did you backup your 1Password data at some point?

    https://support.1password.com/backups/?ios#you-can-also-create-and-restore-backups-of-local-vaults

    Did you copy it to other devices, or sync it somewhere?

    https://support.1password.com/sync-options/

    For example, you mentioned Dropbox. Is that copy of the data up to data, or good enough? What version of 1Password are you running currently? Let me know and we'll go from there.

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    @brenty No, the data was never in the company account. It's all in personal vaults that I created after buying the license for the standalone Mac client. I can still access the data from my phone (iOS). The issue is that 1Password 7.0.4 won't let me access it from my Mac, because it requires me to use a 1Password account, which I don't have, and which I never had.

    I installed what I thought was a standard 1Password 6 update. When it restarted, I was prompted to log in with a 1Password account which, again, I don't have. I sync my data with Dropbox. From what I've been reading, 1P 7 should not have been installed automatically on my machine, because I do not have a 1P account. I used to have a work 1P account which I haven't used in a year and a half. I'm guessing 1P 6 got confused by the presence of the old work account, forced a 1P 7 update, and inadvertently locked me out.

    But I could be misunderstanding things.

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    Or maybe the only issue is that when I click the link to find my data elsewhere, it doesn't go anywhere (just like the OP reported)?

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    @Karel how did you downgrade back to 6?

  • Stephen_C
    Stephen_C
    Community Member
    edited June 2018

    @KevinLH there are detailed instructions, from AgileBits, about how to revert to 1Password 6 in this post.

    Stephen

    ref: VKT-32428-832

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH: I didn't mean to jump to a conclusion so much as try to plan for the worst case scenario. Thanks for bearing with me. :)

    No, the data was never in the company account. It's all in personal vaults that I created after buying the license for the standalone Mac client. I can still access the data from my phone (iOS). The issue is that 1Password 7.0.4 won't let me access it from my Mac, because it requires me to use a 1Password account, which I don't have, and which I never had.

    1Password does not require a 1Password.com account. It sounds like you just need to setup the app using your existing vault(s). If it's in Dropbox, just install the latest version of 1Password, reset the app, and then choose the Dropbox option when setting it up — not the account option.

    I installed what I thought was a standard 1Password 6 update. When it restarted, I was prompted to log in with a 1Password account which, again, I don't have. I sync my data with Dropbox. From what I've been reading, 1P 7 should not have been installed automatically on my machine, because I do not have a 1P account. I used to have a work 1P account which I haven't used in a year and a half. I'm guessing 1P 6 got confused by the presence of the old work account, forced a 1P 7 update, and inadvertently locked me out. But I could be misunderstanding things.

    Indeed, if you have a 1Password.com account setup in the app, version 7 is included in that so you'd be given that update. If you're no longer using that account, it would be best to sign out of it and avoid confusion in the future. Definitely let me know if you have any other questions!

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    Thanks for the info! So in that case it sounds like the issue is that the link to find your data elsewhere doesn’t work. Is that a documented bug?

    To solve this, I rolled back to 6 after being informed that I’d have to buy a new license for 7.

    Since I already paid for what I thought was a lifetime license that apparently no longer counts for new updates, I’m not too crazy about paying again. I’ll be looking at competitors instead. If 1P is still the best on the market, I’d consider paying again, as distasteful as it is. I can no longer recommend 1P, though (something I’ve done adamantly for four years).

    Anyway, none of that is your fault. Thanks again for your help. And thanks also to @Stephen_C!

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thanks for the info! So in that case it sounds like the issue is that the link to find your data elsewhere doesn’t work. Is that a documented bug?

    @KevinLH: Can you tell me what you're referring to specifically? I haven't had trouble opening my own vaults, and I know @Lars has spent more time testing in this area specifically than probably any other person alive. Certainly there may be edge cases with some people's setups, but not something we're seeing generally. It's something we can look into though.

    To solve this, I rolled back to 6 after being informed that I’d have to buy a new license for 7.

    Glad to hear that you're all set with that then! :)

    Since I already paid for what I thought was a lifetime license that apparently no longer counts for new updates, I’m not too crazy about paying again. I’ll be looking at competitors instead. If 1P is still the best on the market, I’d consider paying again, as distasteful as it is. I can no longer recommend 1P, though (something I’ve done adamantly for four years).

    I can't say that I agree with that, since we haven't ever sold a "lifetime license": we've always sold them per-version. I've paid for all of them myself. A license doesn't ever expire, but it's valid for the version you purchased. Certainly if you find the idea of paying for a new version distasteful, 1Password probably isn't going to be a good fit for you. Getting paid for our work is the only way we can continue to make our software, or answer people's questions about it, after all. And of course there are cheap or free alternatives out there, so it's good to check out the options and find what's best for you. We'd prefer you stick with 1Password of course, but only if you feel it's a good value for you. We want happy customers, not trapped ones!

    Anyway, none of that is your fault. Thanks again for your help. And thanks also to @Stephen_C!

    You're very welcome! And no matter what, we're here if you ever have a question about 1Password. :)

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    In the second paragraph of my original post, I go into detail about the link that doesn’t work. I saw someone else post on the forum with the exact same issue I described. If I can provide any more detail than that, let me know.

    I wasn’t suggesting you work for free. I guess I’m just not familiar with paying for software multiple times. If this is your standard practice, then I must have just missed the fine print originally. I most likely wouldn’t have bought software that I knew I was going to have to buy again.

    Is there a general cadence to the paid version updates? I think it’s been about four years since I bought the license. If it would be another four years before the next one, that might be palatable.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH

    I guess I’m just not familiar with paying for software multiple times. If this is your standard practice, then I must have just missed the fine print originally.

    Really? I don't mean to be needlessly oppositional, but from my own experience, this is standard software industry practice. Free updates within a version, and paid upgrades to new full versions. In our case, there's no "fine print." This particular page has long since been replaced and is no longer available on our site, but here's a public web archive of our AgileBits Licenses page from 2012, saying exactly this:

    Regarding "general cadence," there's no specific schedule or timeline we can point to. But if you visit our version history server, you can get kind of an overall sense of the rhythm and pace of it. I haven't ever done a real forensic analysis, but I'd say our full-version (i.e., paid) upgrades come around about once ever 1-2 years, per-platform. Call it 18 months, maybe, on average? That's mostly a guess based on my experience and time here, but I think it's likely generally accurate.

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    @Lars You seem sincere, so I’m guessing we just don’t have the same experience buying software. To be fair, I don’t buy much software. 1P was an exception for me. I had no prior experience to make me think that an upgrade policy existed, let alone that I would need to read it. Again, possibly just my inexperience.

    I will say that when I looked at the App Store reviews for 1P 7 (after I recommended 1P to a friend and she countered with the bad reviews), it was very poorly-reviewed and most of the user complaints were from people who, like me, were surprised that they’d have to pay again and/or thought that they had to create a 1P account (again, I also had this impression, since there is no apparent way to link my Dropbox data due to the apparent bug I’ve described).

    I notice that the policy you cite doesn’t apply to 1P purchased from the App Store, which I think is where I bought whatever version I originally bought. Do you happen to know how the policy is different for App Store purchases?

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH: Ah interesting. Indeed, we don't set App Store policy! I've had a similar experience to Lars with buying software. One exception is stuff I've bought through the App Store, which generally falls into one of two categories:

    • Free updates for a while, then current app gets killed and a new one pops to to replace it, which is a separate purchase
    • Free updates for a while, and then developer abandons it, presumably because they have to get another job

    That may sound a bit glib, but that's very much the reality given that Apple offers no way to do paid upgrades in the App Store. We had a blog post related to this recently:

    Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

    It wasn't an easy decision as far as what to do, because there were downsides and potential confusion no matter what. But it just isn't sustainable for us (and really any company whose revenue doesn't come from advertising or selling user data) to not charge for 1Password 7. Whether that means someone buys a license for that version specifically or they pay for it as part of a 1Password.com membership, that helps us keep cranking out updates for it — especially for things like new browser releases, and the next version of macOS.

    Anyway, I hope that helps offer some additional perspective, and be sure to let us know if you have any other questions. Have a great weekend! :)

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    @brenty Thanks for the info! Definitely helps with perspective and background.

    Any ideas about the link bug I described? I’m kind of hesitant to even consider v7 with that bug being my very first experience with it and no acknowledgment yet.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH: I've re-read your comments a few times, but I'm still not sure what "link bug" you're referring to. Without specifics I'm not sure what to tell you. You made an offhand reference to someone else having a similar issue. Can you point me in that direction at least?

  • danco
    danco
    Volunteer Moderator

    Just another perspective.

    I have quite a lot of paid software. Some of it requires payment for new major versions, some of it requires no extra payment whatever. And some very good programs (almost essential to me) have free upgrades, some are paid. It's not really possible to say, but I think one should expect to pay for a major upgrade, and feel pleased when one doesn't.

    I've no idea why there is this difference. I suspect it may depend on the size of the team developing, supporting, and selling the software. The economics will be different between a single developer working in their spare time, a team of 100, and a team of several thousand. We know AgileBits has a team of about 100, as they have said this several times recently, but I don't know the size of the team for Chronosync and PathFinder, for instance

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    @brenty Quoting my original comment, second paragraph, like I mentioned before:

    ‘I sync all my data through Dropbox but when I click the link that says "Don't have an account? Create a 1Password account or find your data elsewhere", the login window just closes and opens again in a different position on the screen.’

    Original comment (top of this thread): https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/92340/locked-out-of-1p-7-with-only-a-standalone-license-after-automatic-update

    Quoting ScotterC:

    ‘When I click alternatives (the lower left of the dialog), it doesn't navigate anywhere.’

    Source: https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/91909/mac-got-automatically-upgraded-to-1password-7-but-i-dont-have-an-account

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Just another perspective. I have quite a lot of paid software. Some of it requires payment for new major versions, some of it requires no extra payment whatever. And some very good programs (almost essential to me) have free upgrades, some are paid. It's not really possible to say, but I think one should expect to pay for a major upgrade, and feel pleased when one doesn't.

    @danco: Good perspective. :) To me that feels similar to "plan for the worst, hope for the best", which sounds awful, but I find helpful personally. :lol:

    I've no idea why there is this difference. I suspect it may depend on the size of the team developing, supporting, and selling the software. The economics will be different between a single developer working in their spare time, a team of 100, and a team of several thousand. We know AgileBits has a team of about 100, as they have said this several times recently, but I don't know the size of the team for Chronosync and PathFinder, for instance

    Very good points. I can't speak for others of course, but I think there are three main aspects of 1Password that perhaps make it a different beast to many other apps as far as development and support:

    • Security: Even when few changes (or none) are required, a lot goes into research and staying on top of developments in the field (and planning ahead, where possible). And when we do need to react more quickly to changes in the security landscape, we have to have the people to do it.
    • Compatibility: This is connected to security in a to of ways since people staying on the latest OS and browser releases is so important. But we also need to make sure we support those so that people can reply on 1Password instead of resorting to copying and pasting with spreadsheets or something.
    • Features and improvements: Again, tied in many ways to the others, we add fairly big features not only in major releases but often also in "minor" point updates. If you look at our release history, we're often updating once or more per month, and over the course of a version cycle, like 1Password 6, that really adds up to a lot going on.

    I'm sure you're aware of all that, but it's interesting to put it all into context. :)

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH: I'm really sorry if I'm being dense here, but when you keep pointing to the same two sentences which didn't make sense to me in the first place, it still doesn't make sense to me. Can you take a look at this post Lars wrote and give that a try? Also, please clarify what you're seeing. If it's simpler, take a screenshot of this. To include it in your reply, simply click the document button in the top of the comment field, and select the file you wish to share:


     
    Just be sure not to post anything sensitive, as this is a public forum. I just don't have a good sense for what you're doing and what is (or is not) happening the way you expect. Thanks in advance!

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH - You've hit an unusual edge case, I think.

    ...presumably because I had an old work account lingering (my work account was a 1P account rather than standalone). But I don't work for that company anymore, so I can't log into that account.

    Right. But at the time you DID work for that company, you added that account into 1Password 6 for Mac. Later, when you left that company, you removed it. So here's what I think happened (and how to fix it):

    https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/comment/444668#Comment_444668

    Please give those steps a go (and read the explanation there if you're interested); let us know how that goes for you.

  • KevinLH
    KevinLH
    Community Member

    @brenty I had already reverted to 1P6 to fix this, but to help clarify this bug, I just reinstalled 1P7 and grabbed a screenshot.

    Attached is an image of the very first screen I see when opening 1P7. I've blurred out the account name and added a red circle around the link in question. When I click that link, the window just closes and then opens again in a slightly different screen position. If there's still something about that you don't understand, please try to be specific about which part of it you don't understand.

    @Lars What you're describing sounds like what I described so I agree that is likely the cause of the issue. But because I never intended to upgrade to 7 in the first place, I'm just reverting to 6 for now so I can keep using it until I make a decision about 7. Thank for providing the additional instructions. Those might come in handy later.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @KevinLH: Yep that sounds like what Lars was telling me about too. Thanks for clarifying. Indeed, if you're happy with 1Password 6 it won't matter, but there's no harm in following Lars's instructions now so you can forget about it and not have to try fight with it if and when you do upgrade. Cheers! :)

This discussion has been closed.