What you need to know
- 1Password has announced a new way to share passwords, even when the recipient doesn't use 1Password.
- Passwords can be shared with anyone and limited to people with specific email addresses when needed.
- Businesses will benefit from logging created when a password is shared.
Online security company 1Password has today announced a new feature for its password management app by the same name. The feature allows 1Password users to share items with anyone, even if they don't use the app themselves.
While people would normally text or email passwords when they need to be shared, that's less than ideal. 1Password has long had a way to share passwords with other 1Password users, but this feature means anyone with a web browser can get in on the act.
As 1Password notes, it's all surprisingly simple in use.
Let's say I want to share that Wi-Fi password with my in-laws. All I need to do is open the share menu and select "Share" to generate a link.By default, the link expires in seven days, but I can also choose to let it expire after 30 days, 14 days, one day, one hour, or after a single person views it. I can also choose to let anyone who has the link view the item, or I can restrict sharing to only the people whose email addresses I enter.Next, when I select "Get link to share," I can send that link to my recipient(s) through any channel I choose. I can even share it directly through my operating system's built-in share menu.
Those who use 1Password for business will be glad to know that the system logs every time someone shares a password, so admins will always be aware when someone is sharing passwords when they shouldn't. What's more, sharing a password is a one-time affair — the password never changes after being shared, even if you change it in the 1Password app.
It's important to note that when you share an item in 1Password in this way, you're not sharing the original item itself. Instead, you're sharing a copy – a snapshot of the item as it existed at the moment it was shared. That means that if you share a password with a contractor, the contractor can only view the item as it existed when you shared it. If you change the password after you share it, the contractor will not see the updated item, only the original copy.
You can learn more about item sharing on the 1Password blog — features like this are why many would consider 1Password to be the best iPhone password manager on the market. It's also one of the best Mac password managers, too!
