Travel Mode: What's safe for travel and what's not?

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becc_maj7
becc_maj7
Community Member

I just heard about Travel Mode via the Random But Memorable podcast. I clearly possess a lack of imagination because I am not understanding why I might need to use Travel Mode when traveling or what sorts of things I might want to mark NOT safe for travel. Could someone please explain to me in no uncertain terms what's going on at international airports to necessitate this? Nothing I've read (including the 1Password blog about this feature) seems to shed any light on this. Are Customs officials asking people to open 1Password and then stealing bank account login info and robbing them? I'm asking because I'm traveling to India in December and only taking my iPhone, and I have no idea whether I should be trying to use this feature or not (and again, if I do, what sorts of things should NOT be accessible from my phone while en route). Thank you in advance for your help with this!


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  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited November 2019
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    @becc_maj7: That's totally okay, and it's a good thing if it's not something you need to worry about. But either way I'm glad you reached out to ask! You can find general information about Travel Mode on our support site, as far as how to use it:

    Use Travel Mode to remove vaults from your devices when you travel

    And while I can't tell you what is or is not revelvant for you, I can give an example from my own life that might help. I travel internationally a few times a year, and while those of us who work for 1Password do not keep customer information on our devices (and go to some lengths to limit what we ever have access to in the first place) what I do have day to day is login credentials that are used to access customer information, so I can help people with billing questions via email, and also exchange diagnostic information with colleagues, as a couple examples.

    While I don't recall ever having been subjected to a search when entering other countries, I regularly am when entering the US; so I use Travel Mode to quickly and easily remove work-related data from my devices before leaving for any airport (or border crossing by car). Before 1Password memberships and Travel Mode, I used to have to manually remove vaults with work data manually from each device, and then add them back later; whereas with Travel Mode it's literally just a click to toggle it in my account. Essentially, it's my job to protect both customers' privacy and company data, and Travel Mode makes that much easier. Not having the data there in the first place makes it easy to comply with requests by authorities to look at my devices without putting any of that at risk.

    I hope this helps. Be sure to let me know if you have any other questions! :)

  • becc_maj7
    becc_maj7
    Community Member
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    Ok, thank you, @brenty - it sounds like I don't have much to worry about then since I don't use 1Password for accessing information about other people (just my own boring info that I wouldn't want to land in the hands of hackers eager to plunder my bank account!). I think I'll just not worry about Travel Mode unless someone else chimes in and updates my understanding of why it should get used beyond what you're describing.

    One completely unrelated question: is there a way for me to change my username on this forum? I tried doing so under my profile info, but it's greyed out and I couldn't figure out any way to modify it.

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
    edited November 2019
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    @becc_maj7:

    One completely unrelated question: is there a way for me to change my username on this forum? I tried doing so under my profile info, but it's greyed out and I couldn't figure out any way to modify it.

    We can help you with this :) What username would you like to change to?

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
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    @rebeccagale: I've sent you a private message with additional details to help with that. :)

    And you're very welcome. I really like the way you framed this:

    I don't have much to worry about then since I don't use 1Password for accessing information about other people

    :) :+1:

    But I will give you a different use case that may appeal to some: You could use Travel Mode to unplug. Have trouble getting away from work stuff, social media, etc. when on vacation, or just trying to have a quiet weekend? You could turn on Travel Mode from a device you're not taking with you to avoid the temptation to distract yourself.

    I just thought of that now, and I'm wondering if I am brave enough to try it over the holidays... :lol:

  • becc_maj7
    becc_maj7
    Community Member
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    @brenty that is a super interesting idea... I might actually do that for my social media account in the 2nd half of December, especially since I'm going to India for 2 weeks and am trying to figure out how to disconnect as much as possible during that trip from my self employment work back home (which is what I primarily use social media for, too)! And I will be in touch about a new userid. Thanks to you and @ag_ana for offering to help with that!

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
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    @becc_maj7: You're welcome. Very cool! Let me know how it goes. Keep in mind that Travel Mode is granular per-vault, so you could have stuff like social media accounts in one vault and mark all others "safe for travel" so it would only affect that one.

This discussion has been closed.