Electron

Having used this beta since the announcement, this doesn't look or feel like native Mac software, and it's more of a resource hog than in the past. The UI elements and interactions aren't native, the scrolling is choppy, among other smaller things (which other people have posted about). Having been a (up until now) happy 1Password customer since 2012, "sad" is the only way to describe how I felt seeing all of this go down. Yeah, it's probably still secure and easier for them to develop going forward, but I was a happy customer because it was a premium Mac application, and that's no longer the case. Thankfully iCloud Keychain has come far enough that I'd feel comfortable moving to that should this go through. I hope AgileBits reconsiders SwiftUI! 🙏🏼

roustem I would also like to know why my comments are no longer visible to other users.

Thanks to the developers for their efforts in the new version, and for staying in here, under fire, and answering questions. I hope it hasn't been too discouraging to get all the feedback. The discussion has been passionate because people care about such a beloved app.

There are lots of opinions in here from longtime users, so I wanted to chime in as someone who (maybe?) is reflective of newer and potential target customers of the app. I'm certainly not new to the Mac (about 10 years with it), but I was a longtime Windows user and vividly remember dipping my toes into the Mac, and what brought me over. It wasn't bullet point features in apps, but was the "delight" of using certain apps, one of which was 1Password. I had eyed it with envy for a while, and was sold once I tried it.

It was pleasurable to use. Being new to the Mac, I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but now, looking back, I realize it was the "Mac-ness" of the app that drew me to it. I can't imagine that I'm the only person for whom that delight of using it was the big attraction. That was kind of what 1Password was all about, for me at least.

99% of my use case is filling passwords and looking up passwords. All the various features being added over time are nice, but that feel is what set 1Password apart. I do get the sense from reading the developers' comments, that they have different priorities (ability to roll out new features taking priority over "delight" for example), but that's just a guess from the outside looking in.

I've only been using the Early Access version today, and I hope my opinion shifts over time, but if I had to describe it, I'd say — it is fine. That's really it. That intangible magic, which reached out instantly in the past, is gone. It's just a tool. (The high memory usage is another issue). I couldn't even describe exactly why the magic is gone, other than to say things just feel . . . off.

I'm sure the app will do fine, but I worry that losing that feel of delight will make 1Password lose the one big differentiator it had compared with competing apps.

Just one person's opinion, and it isn't intended to belittle the work being done.

Thanks to the developers for their efforts in the new version, and for staying in here, under fire, and answering questions. I hope it hasn't been too discouraging to get all the feedback. The discussion has been passionate because people care about such a beloved app.

There are lots of opinions in here from longtime users, so I wanted to chime in as someone who (maybe?) is reflective of newer and potential target customers of the app. I'm certainly not new to the Mac (about 10 years with it), but I was a longtime Windows user and vividly remember dipping my toes into the Mac, and what brought me over. It wasn't bullet point features in apps, but was the "delight" of using certain apps, one of which was 1Password. I had eyed it with envy for a while, and was sold once I tried it.

It was pleasurable to use. Being new to the Mac, I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but now, looking back, I realize it was the "Mac-ness" of the app that drew me to it. I can't imagine that I'm the only person for whom that delight of using it was the big attraction. That was kind of what 1Password was all about, for me at least.

99% of my use case is filling passwords and looking up passwords. All the various features being added over time are nice, but that feel is what set 1Password apart. I do get the sense from reading the developers' comments, that they have different priorities (ability to roll out new features taking priority over "delight" for example), but that's just a guess from the outside looking in.

I've only been using the Early Access version today, and I hope my opinion shifts over time, but if I had to describe it, I'd say — it is fine. That's really it. That intangible magic, which reached out instantly in the past, is gone. It's just a tool. (The high memory usage is another issue). I couldn't even describe exactly why the magic is gone, other than to say things just feel . . . off.

I'm sure the app will do fine, but I worry that losing that feel of delight will make 1Password lose the one big differentiator it had compared with competing apps.

Just one person's opinion, and it isn't intended to belittle the work being done.

I was thinking for a couple of days how to react to the 1Password 8 being an Electron app but @1ps_lbs said it more precisely than I would.

I used to buy standalone 1P upgrades then switched to subscription paid by my employer. I am soon to move to other job so I had been thinking about the 1Password Family subscription. Not anymore. No way in hell I am paying for Electron app. If you rethink you approach in the future so might I.

https://dteare.medium.com/14-years-of-growth-the-1password-story-fbbf58ebe28b
build a big team but couldn't provide the excellent user experience as 2 people, why bother to scale, sad.

Thanks to the developers for their efforts in the new version, and for staying in here, under fire, and answering questions. I hope it hasn't been too discouraging to get all the feedback. The discussion has been passionate because people care about such a beloved app.

There are lots of opinions in here from longtime users, so I wanted to chime in as someone who (maybe?) is reflective of newer and potential target customers of the app. I'm certainly not new to the Mac (about 10 years with it), but I was a longtime Windows user and vividly remember dipping my toes into the Mac, and what brought me over. It wasn't bullet point features in apps, but was the "delight" of using certain apps, one of which was 1Password. I had eyed it with envy for a while, and was sold once I tried it.

It was pleasurable to use. Being new to the Mac, I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but now, looking back, I realize it was the "Mac-ness" of the app that drew me to it. I can't imagine that I'm the only person for whom that delight of using it was the big attraction. That was kind of what 1Password was all about, for me at least.

99% of my use case is filling passwords and looking up passwords. All the various features being added over time are nice, but that feel is what set 1Password apart. I do get the sense from reading the developers' comments, that they have different priorities (ability to roll out new features taking priority over "delight" for example), but that's just a guess from the outside looking in.

I've only been using the Early Access version today, and I hope my opinion shifts over time, but if I had to describe it, I'd say — it is fine. (The high memory usage is another issue). That's really it. That intangible magic, which reached out instantly in the past, is gone. It's just a tool. I couldn't even describe exactly why the magic is gone, other than to say things just feel . . . off.

I'm sure the app will do fine, but I worry that losing that feel of delight will make 1Password lose the one big differentiator it had compared with competing apps.

Just one person's opinion, and it isn't intended to belittle the work being done.

Hi,

since I am not going to stay with 1Password after version 7, for what it's worth, I'd still like to give you some feedback about the reason, with the hope that the decision might be reconsidered. I am not talking here about the move to the subscription-only model, which is another reason but would be off-topic.

As a long time Mac user and developer (I started writing MacOS software with THINK Pascal in 1990), I always paid the utmost respect to the exemplarily well defined Apple Human Guidelines, which, unfortunately, in recent years, fewer and fewer people, including at Apple, read. At the same time, as user, I always demanded from programs adherence to it.

As embedded programmer I greatly dislike highly inefficient cross-platform frameworks and, in general, unnecessary abstractions over the system APIs. The memory consumption figures exhibited by such software is simply a disgrace to software development.

I understand that contraptions like Electron are the dream of some managers come true. From a user's perspective, an Electron-based program is just an uninvited foreign body on his own computer.

SwiftUI and its limitations were mentioned before in this thread. The choice however is not only between SwitftUI and Electron. A good macOS application can be written the traditional way using Xcode and Interface Builder. It requires effort, but, like with every good product, there are people who care willing to pay for it.

In the end, as a paying customer, I simply exercise my freedom of choice by refusing to finance non-native software in an attempt to keep the Mac platform clean.

I’d also like to register my concern over switching to Electron for the Mac app. I’ve been a customer since v2 and the most important feature to me has always been that 1Password is a well made, truly native app in the Apple ecosystem.

Even if performance issues with Electron turn out to be a complete non-issue, there are still inherent limitations with the Electron user experience that cannot be worked around. These have already been mentioned by others, such as menus being unable to go beyond the boundaries of windows, not working correctly with macOS work spaces, navigation discrepancies and many other small annoyances. I cannot see any amount of skill or dedication addressing these in a satisfactory way using Electron.

Personally I’d love to see the team dust off the SwiftUI front end. I would much rather wait a good long while for a SwiftUI version than move to the non-native Electron version in a month or two. I can certainly see how it’s easier on the development team to consolidate code bases and drop support for v7, but in the process the app is in danger of losing one of its most compelling features, compared to other offerings that often have lower price points.

For now I’ll stay on v7 which I’m really very happy with, and hope for a native front end version at some point down the line.

Lots of comments on memory usage in this thread. I haven't had a chance to install/use the v8 early access yet, but I thought I'd share my 1P7 memory usage, as it's quite a bit higher than what some people are posting. This has the side-benefit of memorializing my 1PW v7 mem usage as of today so that I can compare future days and 1PW v8 when I upgrade.