Early access and Alfred / Spotlight / LaunchBar (3rd party search integration)

Not yet. 🤞

Ben

Hi @mdvzo, I'm sorry we haven't had an update for you on this one yet.

Seems like very few requests have made it to code.

This is not quite true - there have been many additions and improvements in the last months, and there are more on the horizon - a sizable number of which have been driven directly by customer requests.

However, we know we still have more work to do, and we're not done yet. We'll keep listening closely to customer feedback on everything, and are iterating as quickly and efficiently as we can. I hope the updates to come will be to your liking!

Hi @HRD, I'm sorry if it feels that way! And I do recognize that you requested this a while ago and have been patient along the way.

Just to offer some additional info:

It has never been adequately explained why it was withdrawn in the first place.

Alfred integration wasn't withdrawn from 1Password 8. Essentially everything that's in 1Password 8 is new, because the app was completely rebuilt from the ground up. It's an entirely new app (not a spruced-up iteration of 1Password 7). I'm sorry if that sounds like a technicality, but what I mean to convey here is that it's not that we're working with an updated 1Password 7 and decided "eh, no one likes Alfred." We do understand that this has value for folks, and it is indeed on our list.

There has just been one excuse after another why your developers have failed to do this.

My last post mentioned that we're already working to capacity, so I don't imagine it'll be productive to elaborate further; I understand you don't feel we're doing enough. But I would like to share with you some recent thoughts from Dave Teare, one of our founders:

Please keep in mind that 1Password 8 was a complete rewrite from the ground up. And not only that, it was done so in new languages with new tooling.

We launched the first early access on August 11th of last year. It feels like a long time but let's put some numbers to it. Wolframalpha reports that the first release was 127 weekdays ago (business days if you prefer) and in that time the 1Password for Mac beta changelog has grown to include 22 new betas with over 400 improvements. We can argue about the priority of individual changes but the point is there's a lot going on.

Again, we're doing everything we can to produce an app without peer - and the most robust, resilient and full-featured product we can.

I'm afraid I don't have a satisfying answer. This work is currently blocked by another project: secure settings. We can't move forward here until that work is complete, and I don't know when that will be.

Ben

I understand your frustration HRD, but I don't feel that is either a fair characterization of what has been said or the state of things. This isn't on the basic functionality list. We understand it is something a subset of users are very passionate about and will work to bring it to the product as soon as we can reasonably do so. I wish that could be tomorrow, but it can't. Many of us here are Alfred users. We want it too, but to say integration with Alfred or other 3rd party search is part of the basic/fundamental functionality of 1Password is a stretch; I'm sorry. I'm happy to continue to advocate for it, but the tone here is as disheartening as the fact that it hasn't been built yet.

If this is functionality you're anxious to have, it is available today in 1Password 7 for Mac.

Ben

Hi @HRD , please keep in mind that the Early Access of 1Password 8 for Mac is just that - it's not a Production release yet. And again, we're discussing 3rd-party app integrations, which are definitionally not a part of basic app function.

We are indeed adding new features, fixes, and improvements as fast as we can (you might have seen that we added sidebar Categories, hideable tags, a fix for Quick Access positioning on multiple monitors, QR codes in the desktop app, and more just this week), and development of the app continues to progress. We understand that you really care about Alfred integration, but we are also balancing many priorities (each of which affect people who also are dedicated users of 1Password). As @Ben mentioned, it might be best to roll back to 1Password 7 for a while if this particular feature is of critical importance to you.

There's not much we can offer beyond doing our best, which we're already doing, so I think it's best if we leave the discussion there.

Hello @HRD,

I'm sorry for the frustration we caused and are continuing to cause you on this.

You're right that 3rd-party app integration hasn't bubbled up on our priority list yet and I'm sorry that it's causing you pain. It's something we'd like to revisit when we have a chance.

There are many on the team that love Alfred, including myself. My Mac feels completely broken without it and I even wrote An Alfred Love Letter on Twitter shouting out my love for the app and the team behind it. So I have absolutely nothing against this feature. I would like it added and someday I hope we will.

With that said, at this moment, we're simply stretched too thin to make this a priority. Some on the team pushed me to raise it on the priority list and I regretfully had to say no as there were too many other things competing for priority.

As you quoted we indeed launched the first early access on August 11th of last year. It feels like a long time but let's put some numbers to it. Wolframalpha reports that the first release was 132 weekdays ago (business days if you prefer) and in that time the 1Password for Mac beta changelog has grown to include 23 new betas with over 400 improvements. We can argue about the priority of individual changes but the point is there's a lot going on. The team is averaging about 4 improvements a day and I feel they're doing great. The last thing I want to do is disrupt the team with changing priorities on this mid-stream or requiring them to spin even more plates in the air. We made a call on our priorities and we are moving forward. I agree with you we should add this feature and when we get a chance we'll start a small project to revisit this and push it through.

Again, I am sorry that I'm causing you more work and frustration. My comments here are not meant to be an excuse or otherwise. I simply thought sharing some of the behind the scenes details could help.

Finally, I'd like to mention what I try to mention on every announcement around betas and early access: if you enjoy being on the bleeding edge, jump on in! If you don't, wait for the release. It's always hard to get a solid read on feelings over text but I don't get the feeling you are having fun. If you're not and/or Alfred integration is critical to your workflows, please use 1Password 7. It's a great app and you can dive into 1Password 8 once we're able to add 3rd party app integration.

Peace. ✌️

++dave;
1Password Founder