I wasn’t expecting this much hate towards 1Password in the comments. I was using Google Passwords, then migrated to Apple, finally to 1P7 and now 1P8. It’s one of the best software I’ve ever used and I don’t know what I’d do without it. Same goes for Fastmail as well.
1password has progressively gotten worse every year for the past 5-10. 1password team if you are reading this, please stop making your software worse. Search which was great for years is now terrible and has jumbled results.
Some software should just be considered "done" and never changed again. 1Password is one of those things.
I don’t really understand this kind of comments that complain without any specifics. Worse how? I use two family subscriptions and a corporate one for many years and haven’t noticed any regression in functionality or UX. They release time to time minor quality of life improvements and continue supporting modern platforms. 1P7 to 1P8 upgrade went without any problems on all platforms I use. IMO this is the best password manager on the market by many measures.
For me, I paid full price for the app. I attached many important documents such as my ID, SSN Card, my original birth cert, even the deed to my house. If I pass my wife knows where to get this info.
When my son was born I went to add his birth cert and SSN. I couldn’t. The “attach file” button is still there but it simply doesn’t work any more.
After hours of troubleshooting I finally found a discussion on their own support form where they acknowledged they explicitly disabled this feature. The solution is to switch to a paid subscription.
I’ll never buy software from them again. That’s just one example. They’ve removed similar functionality from cloud sync services to compel users to buy a subscription.
They have a PR department, don’t give your time bro bono to spin it for them. With as many customers as they have, they’re in no danger of not being able to pay developers.
Every couple of months, without fail, the chrome extension starts failing. It gets to the point where I see the "current popup style" and just know that I have to ignore it, open the actual 1Password app (and login there), and THEN go back to chrome and open the extension again.
Some periods of time I simply went to copy from the app itself because the extension didn't work.
Been a paid customer for over a decade, and I originally bought it because the apps were so nice and they really did work 100%. The last couple of years have been painful at times though.
- 1Password used to support Dropbox syncing without a subscription. They allowed you to keep using the app, but they removed support for auto-filling logins from dropbox in Safari or Firefox. You could only auto-fill from vaults that you paid monthly for. Whatever, they win, I started paying monthly.
- They broke search in the past few months. I have multiple accounts with the same service (i.e. google, mercury) for personal and business. Now when searching it displays gibberish like 2FA backup codes from the notes instead of just having `${title} - ${username}` like it had for years
- They completely changed the left bar and moved around the entire UI multiple times. Credit cards used to be a simple click on the left side. Now I have to click "All Items" on the left side, then find the dropdown for "All Categories", click it, scroll down to Credit Cards and click on that.
It really comes down to the fact that it's a password manager. All it has to do is store passwords and fill them in when I need to sign in somewhere. Why has the UI fundamentally changed multiple times over the years throwing away all learned user behavior.
EDIT: There's also just the intangibles. I can't always remember specifics, but I "Feel" like 1password has been fighting me for years. I don't feel that way about many other pieces of software I use. 1Password just feels hostile in how they change/update things.
* Their syncing broke, and their support promised that buying a subscription would make it work. I did. It didn't. A year later I managed to get it fixed. I'm now on a permanent subscription for something I used to own -- that's not bad by itself, but the feeling I've been taken advantage of, and promised something that was false, leaves a bad taste.
* Syncing sometimes doesn't work anyway. I might add an account on my laptop and not be able to access it on my phone for a day or more.
* It's much buggier. Sometimes the Mac app just doesn't appear when you click the menu bar icon (this happened to me just a minute ago.) You have to right-click and select Open 1Password to get the full app, after which the menu bar app will now work. Sometimes. Right now, it's not no matter what I do. Why? No idea, it's random.
* Basic password features seem missing. There is _still_ no way to edit in a 'Remember me' checkbox on a login form. I would like 1P to set that checkbox.
* The UX design gets worse each release. In 1Password 8 they removed the useful menu in the Mac menu bar. I can't check what it is now because of the bug above, but it used to show a list of passwords. Now it has some kind of pseudo-intelligent other menu that has to be invoked via a shortcut and the Mac menu bar app actually does almost nothing useful.
* Not to mention their UX design which comes from the "hide buttons until you mouse over and click a button you didn't realise was there" school of intuitiveness.
* More UX: the iOS app now has a list of favorites, but it's almost impossible to get the info you want. Take a bank card: you can tap it in the list to show the name, card number, etc, but if you want the ATM pin -- which is the number I most forget, and the useful one because my card number is saved everywhere that uses it -- you have to dig into the item itself. How? Via a tiny, tiny untappable arrow.
Worst is that interactions with them show an attitude that they think they're building a better and better app each release. They're not. I cannot wait until I can move away to the new Passwords app.
1Password has gotten way, way better than it was a few years ago in my opinion. Tons of new features and the redesign a couple years ago was a big improvement.
How was it a step backward? I have noticed zero downsides to 8 compared to the previous version. I'm comparing the current version to the last version 7 I used. This electron hate is such a headscratcher for me.
Generally speaking, Electron apps are larger and slower than their native cousins. I just checked on my M1 Mac, and between the Safari extension (which somehow consumes more memory than the app itself) the main app, and various helpers / renderers, it clocks in at 410 MB of RAM. I'll give you that it's also acting as an SSH Agent, but that still seems rather large for the functionality.
Personally, I noticed a slowdown in responsiveness immediately when switching from 7 to 8.
It's clocking in at 120MB on my machine and launches instantly. I don't get this blind hate for Electron, it has made software runnable on more platform than ever with less development resources.
I hear this, and I believe people, but it leaves me in a confused state because I don't understand. I (think) I've used them all, and the only password manager that is in the same class or better is bitwarden, which is also web/electron.
After LastPass lost it I shopped around and avoided 1Password precisely because it looks and is marketed like typical feature-oriented apps powered by VC valuations and growth metrics. I do not like trigger happy product management near critical single-purpose software. It’s already quite challenging, because pw managers need (1) offline support (2) a sync protocol that’s virtually bug free and (3) state of the art crypto/security and (4) wide cross platform support.
I prefer such an app to sit basically dormant until there’s a new industry development (like passkeys) to keep up with the times. And even then, those features should only be added thoughtfully with a defensive mindset to ensure stability going forward.
So tldr, your stated benefits are in fact the very reason a lot of people don’t like it.
I don't understand this sentiment. I'm not attacking, I'm trying to understand.
So if there's opportunity for a feature that adds real value for many people to an application without it affecting the core of the product, it shouldn't be added? I can add passwords and unlock websites just as quickly with 1Password as I could 8 years ago. Why does adding other useful, related features make a difference?
Because they keep on changing the product at the same time. If they added value and left what worked still working, it'd be great. But they change things, and it's buggy, and the UX is worse, and I just want the nice productive utility I had a few years ago.
You say you can do things as fast as you could eight years ago -- but I can _not._
It’s based on experience that more features tend to break functionality, change user workflows and changes in product strategy, sometimes even companies get acquired or shut down things.
Of course, these things can happen to any product in theory, but with experience I’ve developed a bit of a radar for what kind of company is behind a product based on their design, website, marketing etc.
> Why does adding other useful, related features make a difference?
Like what? I’ve had the same experience with 2 pw managers for probably a decade, and the only noticeable change has been passkeys. Note that for me it’s personal use only though.
I completely disagree. Yeah, the launch of 1PW8 was rocky. They didn't have feature parity on some devices (iOS). I waited a good while to update and when I did I had an issue with my Yubikey, so I went back to 1PW7 on iOS, but it was fantastic on macOS--way better than 7. After a short while, they fixed the Yubikey login issue with 8 on iOS and I have had exactly zero issues on macOS or iOS since, for about a year(ish).
Another data point: my 85 year old mother used to have issues with 7. She'd get confused about things. With 8, it's been clear sailing for her. That's pretty impressive to me.
1password 8 on iOS is fine and I note no issues with it, it just works.
On macOS 1pw 7 worked with no issues, 1pw 8 doesn't
However the big issue is that 1pw8 requires you to use their cloud - so if someone takes over the company and changes things or the company goes bust or even if the company's servers get hit by DDOS you lose all things.
1pw7 allowed you to keep the main db on anything and use multiple sync mechanism. For example you could keep the data all on machines you own, you could be a business and that would matter for security. Yes cloud etc is secure but there are cases where you don't want things to be anywhere not on your machines.
I dislike the new search so much, just make search work like it does in every other application. If you're reinventing the wheel for something so basic that's the first sign you're doing something very wrong.
Yup. Wish I could go back to 6 because 7 feels noticeable slower, but 8 is a non-starter due to the lack of self-hosting or local vault options. I also hate how a bunch of "babysitting" features are forced on you in later (after 5 or so) 1Password releases. I don't want Watchtower to be pegged to the top of the sidebar - but there it is anyways. I don't want to set a password hint for the master password, but I'm forced to regardless.
Omg yes! Fastmail + 1P is soooo good. 1P has an integration with privacy.com to create unique debit cards. With these 3 tools I have a unique email, pw, and debit card for each service. Makes me feel in control over my interaction with a service. Here’s my referral link for privacy if you’re interested
Love the service, the problem is they effectively charge a 1-5% commission to use it because you lose credit card loyalty/rewards programs benefits. Last year I got nearly 3% back, I think that's too high for the service. I don't think there's any way around it unfortunately, credit cards rewards are paid by the fees and interest of those who carry a balance.
Good point, but we still use privacy.com for random stuff online. The majority of our online purchases happen at a handful of stores, and we use our credit card there. But especially for sketchy sites, we use privacy. For example I bought a keyboard from a small company in Russia (right before they invaded) and they’re probably completely legit but I’d rather lose the 1% on that purchase than be concerned they have my real card
Likewise. I think they are making some weird and off putting choices around the enterprise but for consumer stuff (which is squarely where the apple passwords comparison sits I assume) it’s still a great piece of software honestly.
I love the idea, pricing and open source nature of Bitwarden, but it's only good if you haven't used 1Password. Personally I was very critical about 1Passwords migration to Electron, but it has been really good to be honest. My assumption was that they had dropped the Electron plans, because I absolutely did not notice the change.
Bitwarden still fails to correctly identify basic username/password fields, but 1Password gets it right every single time.
I was a BW customer and switched to 1P. 1P is so much better. The clients are better and the syncing of sessions between the browser, desktop, and CLI is amazing. 1P has great integration with Linux and SSH too.
Long, long, long-time 1P user (2007?) increasingly fed up with their anti-consumer practices (dishonestly hiding discussions on their community forum about App Store versions and dismissive “responses” were the final straw).
So I put vaultwarden on the cluster at home, built a backup routine I was comfortable with and started using BitWarden to evaluate it before trying to help the whole family switch (we have 8 users, including a grandmother and grandfather from different sides of the family).
All this to say, I have to agree. I could not, and will not, switch my family to BitWarden (for the foreseeable future). Search is AWFUL, there’s no way to sort my passwords (recently added, recently updated, etc.) and the clients are way way way slower than 1P (sure, probably in part to server on an underpowered compute instance). However, even the “offline behaviour” (when BitWarden clients can’t contact the server) is slow, and sometimes syncing just doesn’t work.
I completely agree, the worst part is just how limited and clumsy the front-end is for secret storing. It’s limited, ugly, and often hard to parse visually. I can’t imagine trying to help my aging father use it on his desktop, much less his smartphone - where he’s had great success with 1P.
While I continue to have great disdain for AgileBits, 1P is still the most user friendly password manager for a group that includes definitely-not-technically-inclined people. I wish it wasn’t, I wish I could stop giving them money, but compared to the competition, there’s just nothing else that comes close.
Same, I'm actually a bit of a late adopter (only started using 1p in earnest once they came out with a Linux client) but it's been so great. I absolutely love the SSH agent in particular, it just works.
On topic, as a primarily Linux user I'm not in the target market for this (or any other Apple products or services really) and that's fine.
I'm willing to pay for a lot of software, but the costs are certainly real (especially in aggregate), and I try to be mindful of whether it is worth it to me. I would definitely pay $10/year for a password manager. I currently pay $36/year. Would I pay $100? No. But I'm not sure where the cutoff is.
And then I have to do this for every pricier piece of software. (For all of the lower-cost, one-time payments, little apps, etc. I just pay and move on.)
> really enjoy paying each month for access to your passwords?
When it comes to a password manager, I appreciate having constant access to updates. That isn’t feasible for one-and-done code.
That said, it’s 1Password’s bugginess that will have me looking at Apple’s offering. (Particularly how it performs on non-Safari browsers, e.g. Orion and Firefox.)
I used it with my family and it's worth paying monthly for it. Passwords are so incredibly important. If I was hit by a car tomorrow, I know a huge chunk of my life is there for people to just pick up.
> If I was hit by a car tomorrow, I know a huge chunk of my life is there for people to just pick up.
My wife and I have talked a bit about this recently but haven't implemented anything yet. (I use 1Password, and she doesn't have access other than a shared vault, and vice-versa with iCloud passwords.)
One thing that gives me a bit of hesitation is from a security standpoint - if we have access to each other's accounts and one of us falls victim to, for instance, a password-manager-level phishing scheme, the fallout from both of us having to recover from that at the same time is dramatically more of an inconvenience than if only one of us is affected.
Happy to hear from anyone else who's thought about this and any approaches they may have been taken - there doesn't seem to be much discussion about it online.
If you're worried about banking passwords and accounts, those shouldn't be shared logins. Banks in the US have specific procedures for handling the death of account holders, and someone logging in as the deceased is problematic. Beneficiary designation and percentages needs to be followed, and if a spouse/other logs in and starts moving money around, all that has to be unwound.
My break glass implementation is a printed sheet of all my financial orgs and account numbers (including bills I handle). All the beneficiary designations are done, so my wife would just need to give them the death certificate and she'd have control of the funds.
Yeah. I want to pay the people who look after the thing that stores my most precious information. I want them to be overpaid and look after their golden goose.
It seems nuts to me that you expect someone to provide you a service for free?
I never said free. Did I? Just because someone is revolting against rent seeking companies vs building a solid product and increasing users this forum likes to denigrate them into being freeloaders. You've got the wrong idea and are running with it in the wrong direction.
> vs building a solid product and increasing users this forum likes to denigrate them into being freeloaders
The point is maintenance is an ongoing expense. Pretending it can be baked into a one-off purchase price is nuts, unless one is willing to buy that software caveat emptor, as in if it has a critical bug, sorry, you need to upgrade to have safe software.
For a game, that seems fine. For a password manager, obviously not. That said, enough people don’t like this to give Apple an advantage in amortising payments that users cannot.
Again with this made up concept that I wanted a pay once notion. I kept upgrading with their releases until they went SaaS and removed the ability to store the data locally. If they continued to offer local storage with paid upgrades, I'd continue paying and using. They don't, so I'm not.
I just checked it on my device in airplane mode: everything is available locally and new records can be added.
What do you mean saying you cannot store the data locally?
Understand. Both your user needs and their approach to the product are reasonable in this regard. It looks like you are simply no longer their target audience and need different product.
