Moved from v6 dropbox to v7 cloud, some observations and feature requests

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occamsrazor
occamsrazor
Community Member
edited May 2021 in Mac

So I have been using v6 with Dropbox syncing since forever (v3?) and finally made the move to Families using the 1Password.com cloud syncing. Just wanted to make some observations....

  1. Overall, I think it is much improved especially with the new changes enabling Touch-ID on Macbook for both the app and Firefox extension. That works really nicely.

  2. My workflow for entering passwords on the web used to involve getting the password from 1P Mini in the menubar, and now the inline entry using the Firefox extension is a great improvement, especially with the Touch-ID unlock.

Overall I am very happy with the new (to me) experience, but there's a couple of anomalies or areas for improvement that I'll note. All of these have already been discussed in various forum threads already, so I realise they aren't new, but I'll note them anyway:

  • I miss being able to store an encrypted backup of all vaults offline. Yes, I know it's all backed up in the cloud, and I know that an offline copy is stored somewhere in the deepest depths of my ~/Library/Application Support or wherever, and that this is backed up via Time Machine. And I accept the benefit may be largely psychological. But I would still like the simplicity off being able to do a single-click backup or restore to a local encrypted file of absolutely everything in my account like I used to be able to do with my standalone vault.

  • The new "archive" vs "trash" - I'm keeping an open mind but I'm not sure I like it. Especially as when you move items to/from shared vaults you end up with multiple copies in the Archive. For example I move one item from personal to shared, then move it back again, I end up with two copies in the archive. But it's not really an "archived" item is it... as it is still in my vault?

  • When I am on a website, the 1P Firefox extension auto-suggests entries for the current website. But 1P Mini in the menubar does not. I guess that is by design but it'd be nice if it did.

  • There needs to be a better way to handle transfer of data in the event of death. I know about the emergency kit, and family organizers, and that you are looking at the matter. But I feel by far the best method would be a time-based transfer request i.e. a family member can request access to all or specific vaults and only gets it after the main account holder has not responded or logged in on any device for X days. It would of course be an optional function that needs to be set up while living, and specifying which vaults are to be given access to, therefore fulfilling the consent aspect which I do agree is an important one.
    It could be implemented via shared vault permissions - e.g. you have View, Edit permissions already. You could have an additional permission for shared vaults "View only in the event of death" which would then trigger only if the family member makes a request through their account AND the account holder does not respond or log in on any device for a period of X days which is set by the account owner in their preferences.

  • I haven't set up family members yet, but the ability of the account owner to permanently delete the accounts of family members and thus their personal vaults - without any ability for them to split them off into an individual accounts or otherwise retrieve their data - well, it does seem problematic for them.

  • Currently I am using Authy for websites 2FA. I'd like to transfer them to 1P but there doesn't seem an easy way beyond adding 1P as a second 2FA device to each website individually then deleting the Authy ones. Now that is Authy's fault, not 1P. But thinking forward should I ever wish to transfer 2FA codes from 1P to another authenticator.... wouldn't it be good if 1P automatically stored the website 2FA setup QR code as an image in the login item for each site? That would then make it super easy to setup other authenticators if needed. Perhaps this is possible already.... I haven't tried yet.

  • I don't consider this essential, and currently use notes for this purpose, but as others have mentioned it would be nice to have a dedicated 2FA backup/recovery codes field for items.

As said, I'm overall very happy with the move to 1P for families online account. Consider this just my wishlist of requests others have already made :smile:


1Password Version: 7.8.4
Extension Version: 2.0.1
OS Version: 11.4
Sync Type: 1Password.com

Comments

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
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    Hi @occamsrazor!

    Thank you for taking the time to write this! I have heard all of these requests before, so our developers are aware of them ;) The only one I think is new is this:

    wouldn't it be good if 1P automatically stored the website 2FA setup QR code as an image in the login item for each site?

    I am not sure how feasible this would be technically. It would mean that 1Password would have to search the entire website for the 2FA section, and then try to show the QR code. The procedure is different for every website, so I don't know if this is doable.

  • occamsrazor
    occamsrazor
    Community Member
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    @ag_ana - I guess I was thinking of it occurring at the point of creation of a new 2FA login when the QR code is on the screen and being read by 1P anyway in order add the 2FA. I guess as an alternative you could manually save the image and add it as an attachment as an alternative.

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
    Options

    Ah I see what you mean now @occamsrazor :+1: Thank you for the clarification!

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