Apple's new Passwords app is coming as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, and in our testing we found it to be a little behind 1Password's offering.

In a cruel twist, however, 1Password has revealed its Mac app, 1Password 8, has a security vulnerability that could, if triggered, allow a bad actor to get to a user's account key.

Given that the key is the literal 1Password behind which your others are stored, it's important to update to the latest version, 8.10.36. It can also allow for items to be removed from your 1Password Vault.

In a blog post, the company said:

"An issue has been identified in 1Password for Mac that affects the app’s platform security protections. This issue enables a malicious process running locally on a machine to bypass inter-process communication protections."

"This issue was responsibly disclosed to us by Robinhood’s Red Team after they chose to conduct an independent security assessment of 1Password for Mac. 1Password has received no reports that this issue was discovered or exploited by anyone else."

How to ensure your 1Password Mac app is updated

While 1Password seems to be unaware of anyone attempting to gain access using this 'malicious process', you can make sure you're safe with relative ease using the steps below:

• Open 1Password 8 for Mac
• In the menu bar, click 1Password, then 'Check for Updates'
• In the settings screen, click 'Check for Updates' to ensure you're running the latest version

Thankfully, the fix is already there, but this arguably couldn't have landed at a worse time for the company - although its admission of the issue is certainly appreciated for users (myself included).

Still, with Apple's Passwords app on the horizon, it remains to be seen if users will drop 1Password for the baked-in (and free) option.

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Passwords are important. Strong passwords are even more important, as is using unique passwords, and above all, keeping them private is a pretty good idea as well. To make all of that easier, I've long recommended that people use a good password manager. I still do. But my thoughts on which password manager people should use have just changed. And not in the way that I expected.

See, I've been using 1Password for a long time now. I can't remember exactly when I started, but it was back in the days of buying it and syncing vaults using Dropbox. There was no built-in syncing and no subscription pricing, not that I mind the latter. The former is a necessity for anyone using multiple devices, but it's table stakes at this point.

Over the years I've used 1Password because of the cool apps, easy syncing, and above all, shared vaults. Being able to have a vault that has all of the family's passwords in is a lifesaver, especially when one of the kids needs the Netflix password or gets logged out of Disney Plus. Shared vaults were enough to keep me using 1Password and I basically ignored iCloud Keychain as a result. Sure it's free, and yes, it's built right into everything I use on the daily. But there's no way to have one password easily accessible to multiple people at all times.

Or at least, there wasn't. And now that there is, I figured it was time I take another look at Apple's password management system and potentially save a few dollars every month. And I liked what I saw.

Free as in beer

The obvious thing that iCloud Keychain has going for it is that it's free, which means that just by having the minimum features — so long as they actually work — it's going to be a winner for a lot of people. I could myself in that because while I'm more than happy to pay for software that makes my life easier or better, I'd rather use a free one so long as it does the same job as well or even better. It's with that mindset that I took a deeper look at what iCloud Keychain has to offer.

In use, it's almost identical to using 1Password which is a testament to Apple's APIs. The fact that third-party password managers function in the same way as iOS 17's built-in manager shows that Apple isn't blocking developers from competing here. The experience isn't going to be impacted by Apple.

So if entering a password when asked for it by a website or app is basically the same, it's time to look beyond that — how iCloud Keychain works.

In the case of sharing passwords, it's great. You create a shared group and tell the system who to send an invitation to and you're off to the races. It couldn't be easier, so long as they're using Apple devices of course. My family uses iPhones and iPads, so there were no issues there and anything I add to the shared group instantly appears on their devices. It's like magic, but better — it's free magic!

Beyond the shared vault situation, there was one smaller thing that kept me with 1Password — the lack of an actual iCloud Keychain app. That still irks me and I can't understand why one doesn't exist. But there are ways around that. There's a shortcut that can be used to instantly access the portion of the Settings app that currently holds all of our passwords, and it works. Add that to your Home screen and you can almost convince yourself it's an app. It's fine, but I still want a proper app in iOS 18.

Decision time

So with all of that said, I sit here with my 1Password subscription canceled and iCloud Keychain doing its thing. It manages my usernames and passwords and even hosts my one-time passcodes as well, so multi-factor authentication is taken care of.

Now yes, I know some people store much more than passwords in 1Password so for those people this might not work — although locked items in Notes might fit some of your needs, and credit/debit cards can be saved in Safari, too. But if you're just storing passwords and want to save some cash, iCloud Keychain is finally a viable option for me. I reckon it could be for you, too.

Passkeys promise to replace the username and password combination that we've all been using for decades and you're probably going to need a way to manage them. 1Password was already known to have plans to support passkeys and now that support is closer than ever.

1Password will reportedly allow people to take its passkey support for a spin starting June 6, although there are some caveats that need to be noted before you go diving in.

Obviously, passkeys aren't yet supported by all websites, but beyond that, there are some issues specific to 1Password — like the fact there's no mobile support for passkeys. Not yet, anyway.

Pass on passwords

Passkeys allow people to sign into their accounts and apps without entering a password with authentication handled by on-device biometrics. That's an over-simplification of course, and passkeys could be awesome. But perhaps not just yet.

The Verge reports that 1Password will allow people to store passkeys in their vaults starting next month, but you'll need to use "the 1Password beta browser extension for Safari, Firefox, or Chromium-based browsers," we're told. Those browsers obviously include Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Arc. But there's no word on official Mac app support as yet.

What's more, there's no mobile support yet, either. Replacing your 1Password master password isn't a thing yet, but that's coming in July 2023 according to 1Password chief product officer Steve Won.

It's still early days for passkeys of course, and 1Password will eventually no doubt support them across all of its apps. But for now, anyone who wants to use passkeys and have them sync from device to device should probably just use iCloud Keychain while 1Password gets all of its ducks in a row.

Once it does though, 1Password could well be the place to save everything — at least until Apple gives us a proper iCloud Keychain app.

It’s not much of an insight to say that passwords are a security risk and that most of us use ones that are far too weak. While we tend to begrudgingly acknowledge that, actually putting things right – going through your accounts and changing every password to something unique and memorable – is both difficult and tedious. We’re using a lousy solution for a critical problem.

Recently, though, there have been rumblings of a better alternative, one that’s been sneaking quietly under the radar. If you watched Apple’s WWDC show last year, you’ll have seen Craig Federighi and friends talk about passkeys and how they’re a password replacement that is not only more secure, but easier to use too. But what exactly are passkeys and how do you use them?

To find out, we sat down with Jeff Shiner and Steve Won, 1Password’s CEO and Chief Product Officer, respectively, to hear how the popular password manager is implementing passkeys and why it thinks they’ll soon help you secure your logins without even having to think about it.

What are passkeys?

In layman’s terms, a passkey lets you log in without a password. That may sound unsecure at first, but we’re not talking about simply leaving the front door unlocked. Instead, you can use your own biometric information instead of a password. You know when you unlock your iPhone 14 Pro or confirm a purchase using Face ID or Touch ID? A passkey can harness that biometric security and convenience to log into your apps and online accounts. By nature, passkeys are both quick and secure.

Instead of having to remember a complicated set of unique, hard-to-crack passwords for the hundreds of accounts you use, you just log in with your face or your fingerprint. Not only do you avoid the risk of reusing passwords for different websites, but only your own biometric data will be accepted for logging in. There’s nothing to phish and nothing to leak.

That could be a game-changer. As Shiner puts it, “One of the things that’s exciting for us is I think we’re going to start to see in 2023 passkeys really take off.” He continues, “I think when we look at it in terms of where passkeys are at, some of the releases that we’ve seen from other platforms, and obviously what we’re doing ourselves, 2023 is going to be a year where passkeys start to take off.”

1Password’s passkey beta

To make that happen, 1Password will start supporting passkeys in an open beta around the early summer, but we’ve had advance access for a couple of weeks. 

1Password’s passkey beta is extremely easy to use – creating a passkey on a compatible website basically involves clicking “create passkey,” with no need to dream up a complicated password at any point. Then when you next go to sign in, you’ll be prompted for your biometric info and 1Password will fill in the passkey for you. It couldn’t be simpler.

At the time of writing, there are around 50 websites that support passkeys, including Google, eBay and Best Buy, and 1Password has created a handy website at passkeys.directory for you to see which sites are compatible. You can also upvote any sites you want to implement passkeys.

The process is so straightforward that it almost feels too simple, and that’s something 1Password is aware of. As Won says, “there’s still the human psychology of ‘man, that was a little too easy. Are you sure it’s secure?’” But 1Password has earned a trustworthy reputation, Won says, and that can help ease people into using passkeys. Besides, so many of us use Face ID or Touch ID every day knowing they’re safe, and that could help reduce the friction.

Removing the phishers’ reward

It’s easy enough to remember, say, five different passwords. But these days, we all have way more accounts than that. Won remembers that when he first started working for 1Password over a decade ago, he had just under 100 items saved in his password manager. “Now, if I open it up, I have like 890 items,” he says.

Remembering that many unique passwords simply isn’t feasible, so we cut corners and reuse passwords. But if one of the websites you use gets hacked and bad actors make off with your login details, and you’ve reused those details elsewhere, suddenly the hackers can get into as many accounts as you’ve reused the password for.

With a passkey, there’s no repeated password to be stolen. That’s important because, in the words of Shiner, “if we can remove the credentials with something like a passkey, then we remove the reward that the phishers are going after.” In other words, your risk drastically diminishes.

The Apple ‘bullhorn’

Both Shiner and Won seem confident that 2023 will see a breakthrough moment for passkeys, although it could take many years until they’re as widespread as passwords. 

That breakthrough could arrive thanks in part to the public adoption of passkeys by industry titans with wide, loyal followings. Apple, Microsoft and Google have all either flirted with passkeys or fully implemented them, and Shiner says that if these big names act as a “bullhorn” to promote passkeys, they could become a part of everyday life for billions of users.

It’s no good having your passkeys work on your iPhone but not on your Windows PC, though. To make passkeys really work, they have to be interoperable and extendable. While insisting he has no secret knowledge, that’s something Won is hoping Apple will announce at WWDC this June. If it comes to pass, it might mean the feature opens up “step by step for third parties to push into.”

With WWDC 2023 rapidly approaching, the turning point could be almost upon us. With it, we may finally see the beginning of the end for vulnerable passwords. As Won puts it, passkeys could help us move past a world “where we increasingly put more sophisticated locks on our doors, but the bad actors are just breaking the window to get in.”

1Password for iPhone and iPad is here, bringing an all-new look to the popular password manager that also brings it more in line with the app's Mac version.

The big new update, which is available for download via the App Store right now, includes a much needed lick of paint that makes the app feel more modern than ever. “1Password 8 for iOS and Android ushers in a new era for our mobile apps – enabling greater personalization, deepening our human-centric platform and helping to eliminate the headache of logins on mobile devices," said Jeff Shiner, CEO of 1Password. "Importantly, our updated app reflects our commitment to ensuring people have a seamless experience across all devices and platforms.”

All-new

The most noticeable change is the way 1Password 8 looks, with the app making it possible to edit the information displayed and more.

• "Customize 1Password with a new home screen: Allows users to personalize their 1Password experience by highlighting favorites, reordering sections and adding quick actions."

• "Find items even more quickly: An updated always-on navigation bar allows users to quickly access their home screen, search for items, and open Watchtower or app settings. It also includes new item icons, typography, detailed views for items and vaults and more."

Other improvements include changes to Watchtower that offers an improved dashboard view to help people ensure their passwords haven't been compromises and more.

Those with the 1Password app installed on their iPhone and iPad should see the update available for download in the App Store soon if it isn't already available. It's an update well worth getting your hands on if you're an existing 1Password user. If you aren't, the app was already one of the best iPhone password managers and this new update cements its places on that list.

You can also learn more about this new update over on the 1Password blog, too.

What you need to know

• 1Password for iPhone and iPad is getting a rebuild.
• A new Home screen can be customized to show the data people need most.
• A public beta is available for those who want to test the app out in its current state.

Popular password and secrets app 1Password has announced an open beta for its next big iPhone and iPad release — 1Password 8. Members of the public can sign up for the beta now, via TestFlight. 1Password has also shared details about what we can expect once the new update arrives, too.

While 1Password is already one of the best password manager apps around, its iPhone and iPad versions are now getting reworked to make use of the 1Password Core, a change that will bring the " full capabilities of a desktop-class 1Password app" into the palm of your hand, the company said via blog post. The change also means that using 1Password on an iPhone will be the same as using it anywhere else — the behavior will be the same so nobody should be surprised by how the app acts.

One of the big features that people will actually see, however, si the addition of a new and customizable Homee tab. Here, people can get quick access to specific secrets and vaults and the order can be changed to suit their needs.

Other changes include a redesigned iPad app, something that now "takes full advantage of the screen real estate". The password-checking Watchtower has also been given more power in this release, too. It's now much more capable than the previous 1Password iPhone and iPad versions, the company says.

It's still early days for the big redesign of 1Password for iPhone and iPad and more changes are coming. You can read more about what's new in the announcement blog post and that's where you need to head to get in on that beta, too. But be warned — betas are always tricky and this is an app that looks after your passwords and other secrets. Keep that, and the risks, in mind when installing 1Password 8 on your devices.

What you need to know

• Password company 1Password has reportedly picked up a $100 million investment and is valued at $2 billion.
• The company is experiencing huge growth thanks in part to businesses needing to secure users as they work from home.

Popular password management company 1Password has reportedly received a $100 million investment via an Accel-led round of funding at a $2 billion valuation. The news comes as the company continues to experience huge growth in the business sector, thanks in part to companies realizing that they need to secure their users as they work from home.

As reported by VentureBeat, 1Password has been expanding its portfolio rapidly after making its name as the go-to app for Mac users who wanted to keep all of their passwords safe behind a single Master Password. It's now much more than that, with a focus on business customers helping it reach annual recurring revenue of $120 million.

1Password CEO Jeff Shiner says that 1Password's success is thanks in part to companies having to deal with people working from home — and the security challenges that presents.

1Password has long been one of the best password managers for Mac users, but it's the move into business password and secret management that has opened the door to a whole new — and massive — revenue stream for the company.

It isn't just the Mac where 1Password excels, either. It's one of the best iPhone apps for people who don't want to rely on Apple's iCloud Keychain, too.

It's great to see a company like 1Password doing so well — a company that's always been popular among the Apple community and offers free accounts for journalists to help keep them safe when doing their work.

What you need to know

• 1Password has released a major update to its browser app.
• The update adds support for Touch ID and Dark Mode.

1Password has finally released some stellar updates for its browser extension.

In a blog post, 1Password has announced that it is bringing Touch ID support to its Mac app.

The company is also rolling out Dark Mode support to its browser experience.

Another important update to the browser is an improved way to create, edit, and save, your login information.

1Password says that the update includes 55 (holy crap) other fixes and improvements. The company says that, if you are already using 1Password in the browser, you'll automatically be updated to the latest version.

If 1Password isn't your cup of tea, check out our list of the Best Password Manager Apps for Mac in 2021.

When LastPass nerfed its free tier last month there was plenty of wincing among its users. The removal of features from the free LastPass offering meant that some could no longer is the way they previously had. And, it seems, people upped sticks and went elsewhere.

The removal of email support and the limiting of devices for LastPass users who didn't pay meant that they needed to switch to either LastPass Premium or LastPass Families. The changes begin to kick in next week.

The announcement was made on February 16. What happened afterward? According to the folks at 1Password, people jumped ship, At least, the numbers suggest that they did. CEO Jeff Shiner says the company saw its paid family account signups double after the LastPass news broke.

What's particularly interesting about that is the fact LastPass Families has never been free. It's priced at $4 per month when billed annually. 1Password Families runs $4.99 per month. So why did people move to 1Password?

Or, in fact, did they move at all? It's possible that 1Password has data on the number of people who imported password data from LastPass to back this up, but that isn't what Shiner's statement says. But assuming there is a link, I'd be very curious to know why people moved to 1Password when they could have just upgraded a free account without dealing with the hassle of moving apps and syncing services.

Did people simply want to stick it to LastPass for the perceived slight of losing free access to their password manager? That wouldn't be a huge surprise based on the vitriol LastPass suffered when it made its announcement last month. But whatever the reason, 1Password won't care. Picking up new customers without having to spend a cent on acquisition is the kind of thing business dreams are made of.

What you need to know

• 1Password has been updated to include native support for Apple silicon.
• 1Password version 7.8 is now available for download.

Popular password manager 1Password has been updated to include native support for Apple silicon. Before 1Password version 7.8, users were running the app via Rosetta 2 emulation when using an M1 Mac.

The new update includes a raft of other improvements as well, but the big addition is obviously the arrival of Apple silicon support. That being said, Rosetta 2 handled the x86 emulation so well few complained of 1Password performance before this update.

Other improvements include:

• Improved memory use when editing items.
• Improved the performance of the Touch ID/Apple Watch unlock prompt. {#5126}
• Adds an option to turn off autosaving of credit cards when typed in Safari.
• 1Password will now appear less frequently in email and account fields where autofill isn't desired. {4185}
• Changed the background of the item list sort control to fit better on Big Sur.
• Password history now displays in reverse chronological order. {#5217}
• Improved the reliability of syncing to 1Password.com. {#4835}
• Updated 1Password mini so that it no longer indicates the extension is missing when web browsers are frontmost.

Improvements have also been made to how 1Password handles passwords on sites like Instagram, eBay, and more.

You can download the updated version of 1Password right now.

1Password is one of the best password managers around right now and it's almost as amazing as having a keyless entry door lock at your home!

What you need to know

• 1Password 7.7 brings support for macOS Big Sur.
• But more importantly, it lets you unlock the app using your Apple Watch.

1Password released version 7.7 of its Mac app yesterday, adding support for macOS Big Sur. But that's by far the least interesting part of this update because you can now, #finally, unlock 1Password using your Apple Watch.

Unlocking 1Password previously required entering your Master Password which, if you've created a good one, can take a fair few keystrokes. Anyone using a fancy new Mac with a super-duper Touch ID sensor can use that, sure. But that's no good to those of us using desktop Macs. Now, we just need to double-press our Apple Watch Side buttons, and away we go.

I'm absolutely here for this and there are a ton of Macs supported. Anything with a T1 or T2 security chip is good to go.

There is, of course, more to 1Password 7.7. New inline password filling – just like 1Password X – is included for anything from your passwords to your credit card details.

Other changes include tighter integration with Privacy as well as a visual redesign. You can read all about it over on the 1Password blog, too.

The Mac version of 1Password just received a v7.3 update earlier this week, and it makes my favorite password manager better than ever.

First of all, the update brings some nice changes to 1Password Mini, which lives in the menu bar. It's been redesigned from the ground up to make it easier to get your information out of 1Password and into the places you want it to go. An example of this is when you drag-and-drop your username out of 1Password Mini into a supported app—just watch as the 1Password Mini window instantly fades away.

Speaking of, 1Password Mini will now recognize other third-party apps and will show you your relevant information when you need it. These apps that 1Password recognizes include Discord, Evernote, Adobe Creative Cloud accounts within apps like Photoshop, and more.

1Password also has a new, all-powerful "filling brain." This is powered by on-device machine learning. What this means is that 1Password will analyze webpages while you're on them, and suggest items that you'll likely need on that page. For example, if you're doing some online shopping, 1Password Mini will get your credit card information ready when called upon.

The 7.3 update brings many more changes, and if you'd like to read about them all, you check out the full release notes. You can download 1Password for Mac on the Mac App Store or directly from their website. You need a subscription to get all of the features of 1Password, which costs $3 a month for individual memberships or $5 a month for families.

When it comes to password management, one of my top recommendations will always be 1Password. I love it because it has a beautiful interface that's easy to use, it's cross-platform and available on everything (even Windows and Android!), and it makes it super easy to generate randomized and secure passwords for us while keeping them safe for later reference. 1Password is my primary password manager on the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac.

Free with in-app purchases - Download Now

When Apple released iOS 12 to the masses a few weeks ago, it brought about many cool new features to our iPhones and iPads. However, one of the best improvements involves password management, which we covered in-depth earlier.

But what if you prefer using 1Password as your default password manager? Or if not 1Password, something like LastPass or Dashlane? Don't worry, with iOS 12 Password Autofill, it is entirely possible to change the autofill provider to your preferred password manager of choice, as long as it supports Apple's new Password Manager API framework.

Here's how to change your default password Autofill provider:

1. Launch Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Go to Passwords & Accounts.
3. Select AutoFill Passwords.

4. From here, you can toggle AutoFill Password on or off. It may be more secure to leave it off, but it's definitely much more convenient if you keep it on.
5. Underneath the toggle, you'll find Allow Filling From. The iCloud Keychain is checked off by default. Any other apps that you have installed that support Apple's Password Manager API will appear underneath.
6. Find 1Password (or any third-party password manager of your choice) and tap on it to check it off to use.
7. With 1Password, you'll be asked if you want to Auto-Copy One-Time Passwords, but keep in mind that this requires notifications to be on.

8. Once 1Password is selected as an option to AutoFill from, just tap on Keychain to unselect it.
9. With Keychain AutoFill off, your default password AutoFill provider just became 1Password.

What's your default password manager?

I've been a long-time user of 1Password myself, so I have years of hundreds of credentials stored in my vault. I definitely don't want to have two password managers enabled, as that could complicate things on my end. I'm glad to see Apple allowing us to change our default password manager option for AutoFill, and hopefully, it's a step forward for more customization options in the future.

Have any additional questions? Sound off in the comments below.

Sign up at 1Password

On Friday, third-party password management app 1Password for iOS was upgraded to version 7.1.1, introducing support for Markdown as well as stickers for Messages, a couple of big bug fixes, and more. Here are all the new features added, according to AgileBits' notes:

• Markdown support: Following in 1Password for Mac's footsteps, 1Password for iOS now lets you format your Secure Notes using Markdown. This means you can add headers, create lists, italicize whatever you want for emphasis, add tappable links, and other cool stuff.
• Stickers for Messages: 1Password's own art department has designed a collection of stickers meant to be used in Messages, presumably so you can share your love for secure password management with everyone you talk to.
• Icon generation: 1Password now generates icons for items that don't have an icon already.
• Fixes for prevalent bugs: According to the 1Password team, after receiving feedback from users, this update fixed two widely-reported bugs: "Searching no longer returns broken or incorrect results, and creating a new item no longer causes 1Password to become unresponsive."
• Updated text: Text across the app has been updated to be more consistent, which makes it feel much tidier.

If you don't already have 1Password but are interested in downloading it (that is, now that you can use Markdown and annoy your friends with stickers), you can do so by tapping the link below. You can try it for free for 30 days, but it is a paid app, so after your trial is over you'll have to subscribe.

• Sign up at 1Password
• Download 1Password for iOS

Thoughts?

How do you feel about 1Password's new update? If you use the app, what's your favorite feature? Share in the comments below.

AgileBits just launched the latest version of 1Password for Mac and it's filled to the brim with new features, including new organization options, Watchtower improvements, a new design, and an overhaul of 1Password Mini.

1Password 7 for Mac - Download Now

I've had the immense pleasure of using 1Password 7 for Mac for a while now and I'm thrilled to say it's now available for everyone! The latest version of my favorite password manager adds heaps of new features and improvements that make the app that much easier, swifter, and more secure to use.

It all starts with an overhaul of 1Password mini, the little app that runs in the background, providing passwords and auto-filled logins in the browser. As of 1Password 7, though, mini can help you fill in passwords for apps — heck, it even supports drag and drop functionality. Now every. single. time. iTunes asks you to authenticate, you can use 1Password mini to drag and drop your login details. Mini is also getting a lot more powerful — you can edit your passwords, add documents, and more.

1Password 7 has a fresh coat of paint, too. Along with detailed information for individual items, you'll also notice richer notes and support for tagging. 1Password 7 also supports Markdown in notes and sports a new custom font called Courier Prime Bits.

In what I'd argue is the best update to 1Password, the app's Watchtower service is getting even more powerful. Watchtower already warned you when your passwords were weak, reused, and potentially compromised — now it does a whole lot more. Using the haveibeenpwned service, 1Password 7 will alert you when any of your passwords have been breached. The app will also shame you into adding two-factor authentication! Using the twofactorauth.org service, the app will check to see if you've added 2FA to your logins. Lastly, it'll let you know when sites with logins are using insecure connections over HTTP.

There are also several under-the-hood improvements:

• 1Password and 1Password mini have been combined into a single process. This boosts performance and increases 1Password launch times. Basically, everything runs faster and better.
• 1Password now uses Apple's Secure Enclave to protect your master password.
• Syncing data using 1Password memberships is more secure, too!

There are many, many improvements. You can learn more about the all-new iPassword 7 for Mac over on the AgileBits blog. 1Password 7 for Mac is free for everyone who has a 1Password membership. Those with a standalone license can get 1Password 7 for $64.99. That said, AgileBits is running a launch special during which licenses will cost $49.99.

1Password 7 for Mac - Download Now

Today, AgileBits — the developing company behind widely-used password manager 1Password — announced the newest addition to its family of password management solutions. Called 1Password Business, the service is a bit like 1Password Teams, but built specifically for managing larger groups, protecting your employees, and securing your data.

With 1Password Business, you can make sure you keep up with GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2, and other compliance regulations by better controlling who has access to what using very meticulous permissions, custom groups, device restrictions, and travel restrictions. And, when you need to share a password with a certain group of employees for a specific situation, you can do that as well. AgileBits themselves even use 1Password Business to stay compliant:

In addition to compliance controls, 1Password Business features automated provisioning for when your business is growing so quickly that onboarding is a real pain:

On top of both of those huge features, 1Password Business offers third-factor identification, advanced auditing and reporting, and free family accounts. For more information you can check out AgileBits' blog post.

If you'd like to sign up for 1Password Business, you can do so by heading to the 1Password sign up page and choosing the plan that's right for you — a Business subscription is priced at $7.99 a month. If you're uncertain, you can even get a 30-day free trial to make sure 1Password gels with your business practices.

Sign up at 1Password

Questions?

Share any questions in the comments below!

AgileBits' 1Password password management app has been one of the most popular ways to securely keep track of multiple passwords for awhile. Now, the company has released a completely overhauled beta of 1Password 7 for the Mac, making it even more of a must-have tool for people who have literally any sort of account. According to AgileBits' announcement, this beta is only "a taste of what's to come," but it's already pretty jam-packed with improvements and new features.

Aesthetically, a lot has changed about 1Password for Mac — even the initial lock screen that appears when you launch the app. Though the change is super minor, the colors and design have been altered slightly, making it look more minimalist and tidy. And speaking of design, the entire interface of the app has also changed, replacing the stark, blindingly white background with skillfully chosen dark blue and gray tones. Font designer Alan Dague-Greene even created a new font specifically for 1Password 7 called "Courier Prime Bits."

Also new is the revamped, "enhanced" sidebar that gives you access to your items, vaults, and more. You can now organize your vaults (which make it easier to categorize your passwords) by dragging and dropping — even if you want to drag them between two different accounts. And if you want to create a new vault, all you have to do is drag an item over the text in the menu bar that says "New Vault," and one will be automatically created for you. What's more, you can edit your vaults directly without ever needing to leave the app, allowing you to make changes even more quickly and easily than before.

Other notable features in the beta include rich formatting capabilities using Markdown in notes, better tag organization with nested tags, Secure Enclave for Touch ID, and integration with Troy Hunt's Have I Been Pwned? database so you can be certain you don't have any compromised passwords.

If you'd like to try the 1Password 7 beta for Mac, you can do so by clicking this link or by heading to AgileBits' announcement (where, coincidentally, you can also check out more details about the update). If you've already got a 1Password membership, you're good to go as soon as it's downloaded, and can just unlock the app right away. However, if you only have a standalone license for version 6, you'll be asked to either subscribe or purchase another license for version 7. Right now licenses are available for only $39.99 — that's nearly $30 less than they'll be when the update officially launches later this year — so if you're interested, I'd get on it right away.

Thoughts?

What do you think of 1Password 7? Sound off in the comments!

This week saw the release of a new service from security researcher Troy Hunt, Pwned Passwords, which lets you check your passwords against a database of more than 500 million passwords to see if any of yours are compromised. And though this tool was just released, the folks over at AgileBits have already integrated it into 1Password.com accounts for subscribers. With the click of a button, you can check to see if a particular password is in the database, letting you know if you need to change it.

Here's how you use 1Password's new Pwned Passwords integration.

A note on security

As AgileBits notes, sending your password off to be checked makes it inherently less secure. But working with Hunt and a team at Cloudflare, they have been able to devise a method of checking passwords without compromising their security. This is especially good news if your password is not in the database.

Here's how 1Password and Pwned Passwords keep your passwords secure when you go to check them:

How to use 1Password.com to see if your passwords are compromised

1. Sign in to your 1Password.com account through your web browser of choice.
2. Click Open Vault on one of your vaults.

3. Click on a vault item to see its details.
4. On your Mac keyboard, enter Shift-Control-Option-C (don't use the hyphens), or Shift-Carl-Alt-C on Windows to activate the tool.
5. Hover your cursor over your password.

6. Click Check Password. You'll get the "Oops, this password was found" or "Not found, way to go. :)" depending one whether or not your password is in the database.

For the moment, you'll need to run a check on each vault item individually, as there is no batch password checking option. Also, note that this is only for 1Password.com memberships. But while this is the case right now, AgileBits plans on adding this integration into the Watchtower section of its 1Password apps so any compromised passwords you might have will be right there in the app for you to see.

Sign up at 1Password

Questions?

If you have any questions about using 1Password's new password checking tool, tell us in the comments.

Guests & Links

• Michael Fey: Twitter
• Matt Davey: Twitter
• 1Password: Twitter, Website
• Vector | Rene Ritchie: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

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Transcript

[background music]

Rene Ritchie: I'm Rene Ritchie, and this is "Vector."

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Right now, if you go to mintSIM.com and use promo code IMFREESHIP, you can get free first class shipping on any Mint Mobile purchase. Thank you, Mint Mobile.

Joining me today, I am thrilled to have Michael Fey. Michael, do you prefer being called by your actual name or by a nickname?

Michael Fey (Roo): Everyone internally calls me Roo, like internal to the company, and that's because my Twitter handle is Mr. Rooni, which people just people just shorten to Roo, internally. You'll probably hear Matt refer to me on the call as Roo.

You can do that. You could call me Michael. I will respond to almost anything, Rene.

Rene: Everybody should know who you are, but for people who aren't familiar, what do you do?

Roo: I am the team lead for 1Password for Mac and iOS at AgileBits.

Rene: Is this so Rustom and Dave can spend their time playing hockey instead of working on the app?

Roo: Yes, that's correct. We've removed their write access from the repo.

[laughter]

Roo: They are off doing bigger and better things. They are pursuing their passions.

Rene: Mike, IBM WebSphere jokes coming in a few seconds.

Roo: [laughs]

Rene: Do you have a nickname, too, Matt Davey?

Matt Davey: I don't, no. Just generally Matt. [laughs]

Rene: For people who aren't familiar, AgileBits and 1Password for a very long time had a Dark Lord of the Sith in charge of their design. I'm talking about Dan V. Patterson. He is both delightfully grumpy and I think just a little bit mean.

[laughter]

Rene: It's especially wonderful when he's sitting next to Jamie at Dubdub sessions and Jamie points out everything he's doing wrong with icons throughout the session.

[laughter]

Rene: But I feel like you're the Jedi now, like there's some sort of balance has been returned to the design force at the company. Is that correct?

Matt: Yeah, I think that's correct. I do like to see myself as some sort of light to his darkness. But no, he's very enjoyable to work with, I would say.

Rene: [laughs] I don't believe you. I think he's forcing you to say that.

Rene: [laughs]

Roo: Dan still does a lot of our Mac design work. He's actually been off with Dave working on a secret new project which you may have seen. We just announced yesterday, which is the 1Password X. That's the extension that runs in Chrome. It connects right to the 1Password.com service. It works on Linux. It works on Chrome OS.

It's a big new thing that they've been off skunkworking for a while now. It's finally gotten to see the light of day.

Rene: Everyone was betting big that this would be final-to-year when we saw 2Password. You're still holding off on it.

[laughter]

Roo: That's a bit of an internal joke. We will periodically talk about doing 2Password.

[laughter]

Rene: It's a multi-factor thing. I don't want to get into right now, but for the future.

There's a couple reasons I wanted to have you on today. One was you've just introduced a big new version of 1Password.

Also, I was speaking to you quite a lot recently because you shifted business models. Whenever that happens it feels like there's some segment of your audience which panics.

Sometimes they have legitimate reasons to panic, because we're humans and we don't like change. Other times it's maybe there's not enough communication, or maybe there's misunderstandings.

What was that process? What led to that process, and what was it like?

Roo: It's interesting. In some ways a good way to characterize it is that we've not so much changed our business model as we've added to our business model. By that, we've added the 1Password.com subscription model.

Truthfully, it was something that we'd backed into a little bit. If we step back and we look at the genesis of the 1Password.com service, it was something that we created for enterprise customers, for business customers.

We were constantly getting feedback from our customers saying things like, "Oh my gosh, I love 1Password, but I can't use it at work because you guys don't have an enterprise solution." There was only so much of that that we could take before we had to do something about it.

We started working on this 1Password.com service for businesses. We got, probably, about 90 percent of the way through the development of it and realized that we had created something that was really awesome for regular people, for families at that time. We're like, "Well, this is kinda great family product right now."

Rene: Are you talking about 1Password Teams, or is that a separate thing?

Roo: No, this is 1Password Teams.

Rene: We use the Mobile Nations, the company that I work for, we use that internally. It solved a bunch of issues for us, so I can see what you're talking about with this.

Roo: When 1Password Teams was 90 percent of the way there we realized that we had created 1Password Families. We're like, "Well, the feature set that we've finished, this is 1Password Families. This is a brand new product. We should launch this," and we did.

That was shortly followed by 1Password for individuals. There was definitely a little bit of fear...

Rene: I apologize, because I think you said something really important there and I want to dive into it. We started using 1Password Teams. We've been looking for something like this for a long time because we had a bunch of passwords.

For people not familiar with what I actually do for a living, I write for iMore, but I also manage iMore, Android Central. [inaudible 6:03] Nation is not there anymore. Windows Central. We are a bunch of different websites.

We have Twitter accounts, Instagram accounts, and YouTube accounts. All sorts of analytic accounts. There's a ton of passwords.

I'm ashamed to say it, Michael, but before 1Password Teams they were in a Google Doc, which is probably the worst thing you want to do with passwords, especially when you have employees who might need them, but then may no longer be with the company a week later. It was not tenable.

You announced 1Password Teams. We got in on the beta, and it solved all of those problems for us.

When we used it, it immediately was something that I wanted even for my own family. My mom has never used a password manager. My father has never used a password manager. They wanted my help with them.

My grandmother passed away a couple years ago. She was before the Internet, but we started thinking what happens if one of us is incapacitated or traveling and we need to reach these accounts.

Passwords have become so complex and password managers had not kept up. It sounds like that's what the problem you were addressing.

Roo: Absolutely, it was that exact thing. That systemic failure to have a good solution for how to share secure information among a group of people.

You guys could have set up a shared folder on Dropbox, and you could have shared your keychain that way. It's a bit cobbled together compared to what you now have with the 1Password.com service.

We've dove right in, assuming that everyone knows what 1Password is, what it provides, and everything else. It's a password manager. It's a secure place to store your secret information.

In a team's environment, like you said, you can set up this information to be shared with any number of people on your team. You can set up specific vaults that shares certain bits of information.

For us, for instance, we have a social team. That's where our Twitter login lives, and that's where the Facebook information lives.

We have the Apple developer team. They've got information about how to get into iTunes Connect, certificates, and stuff like that. We can keep that information compartmentalized within the company.

Then you also touched on something else, which is what do you do when someone leaves. Holy cow. That's going to happen. Now you can immediately remove their access to any passwords that they might have had and you can also see what passwords they accessed while they had access to this information so you know which ones to go and change.

We solved a lot of problems.

Matt: We're also doing a load more around when you have a much larger team, and how we can scale this. We have new toys to play with, like being able to do reports on what passwords you might need to change when people leave. All kinds of things like that that we hadn't considered before.

Rene: Because that happens. Someone left a year ago and suddenly you're in a system. You're like, "Why is their name still here?"

I should back up by saying that the reason we were using password managers to begin with was because, especially in families, there were things like the Home Depot breach. There were things like credit card information or passwords that were compromised and then used in other services.

People would use the same password for some dumb company that didn't store it securely, but that would be their iCloud of their Google password, and then suddenly everything was compromised.

You started to absolutely have to have long, strong, unique passwords, but then there's no way for a human to remember multiple of those. That led us into password management, which then led us into all the other stuff that we needed. [laughs]

Roo: Ideally, you should know none of the passwords for any of your sites. I know two. I know my 1Password, which is my master password that gets me into my vault, and then I know my iCloud password, because that's another one that you need to know periodically. Beyond that, every password that I have is unique and not replicated to any other service, because...

Rene: I hear that a lot. I hear that people know either their password manager...I should make clear. I'm talking 1Password now.

You guys can cover your ears for a second. There are other companies out there. Sometimes it depends...

Roo: Wait, what? There are, really?

Rene: I feel like people who grew up on the Mac started using 1Password. People who grew up on PCs, because you guys weren't there as early as you were on the Mac, started using LastPass.

Some people who grew up on Palm, for example, I don't even remember what I used on Palm, but there was a company. Maybe it was DataVault or something. There was a company that started making password managers for Palm, and then went another direction.

Sometimes it's where you originate that determined what you started with, and people tend to stick with it.

To your point, you remember your master password, and then you remember your iCloud password, or, if you're an Android, your master password and your Google password, because you will be prompted for it in some circumstances where you don't have access to anything else.

I used to try to remember by Dropbox password because I knew that I have one password hooked up to that. The copy between clipboards on iCloud became good enough that I could open another device, copy it, paste it in to authorize, and then after that now I know one password.

Roo: How did we get here? We were talking about business files.

Rene: Yes.

Roo: We introduced the 1Password Families service. It was immediately greeted with a lot of positive feedback from customers.

They're like, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing. Now I can set this up and share with my family," like you said. "I can tie in members of the family that haven't traditionally been using password managers, and this is really cool."

There were also people who it generated a little bit of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. They're like, "What's happening? I don't want to go to a subscription model."

Rene: They thought you were coming to their house and taking their passwords out of their cold dead hands. [laughs]

Roo: There's a bit of that. There's the "How dare you? How dare you move to a subscription model?" My reaction to that is always a bit of, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not taking away what you have today."

"What you have today will continue to work just fine. 1Password isn't going to get deleted from you device, and the way that you paid for it yesterday is still valid today. We've just introduced something new."

There was definitely a period of time where, to be completely transparent, inside the company we were not sure if we were going to discontinue the standalone model and go all-in on subscription or continue to offer both. That added to the fud that our customers were feeling.

We've now been completely transparent about that and said, "Look, for 1Password 7, the next version that's going to come out, we will sell licenses for that. You can buy a standalone copy of 1Password 7 and it will work across your devices, and you can use it just like you've been using 1Password 6."

1Password.com is what we're going to recommend to people. All new customers that come to 1Password for the first time, we've funneled them directly into a 1Password.com subscription.

Because quite frankly, Rene, the subscription model, the payment side of it, the finances side of it, that's fine for us, but it is the best way to use 1Password today. It really is. There's so many affordances that you get with a 1Password.com account that don't exist in the standalone model.

We know that that's the best way. That's what we want our customers using because, even from a customer support point of view, it's the easiest way for us to provide support. Because when someone has a problem, the problem scope is so narrow that we can easily work through those issues and fix them.

Rene: One of the things that I think is there's this traditional disconnect between atoms and bits. When somebody bought a cassette, and then we went to CDs, there was no assumption that you'd automatically be given a CD.

Then when we went to DVDs and went to Blu-ray there was no assumption that Warner or whatever the company was, Disney, would send you a new disc with the same movie that you already bought on. But there is this assumption that as devices change, as requirements change, you're going to always be able to run those bits.

We saw this most recently with 32-bit apps, apps that had been discontinued, developers that no longer existed. When people would try to load them on devices that were 64-bit only, it's like, "What the hell is happening? Where's my app? I paid for this. I paid 99 cents for this four years ago. Why is it not running now?"

The app market there's so many distortions. I don't want to do a huge tangent, but there's so many distortions about the app market that what you were seeing there was a sum of a lot of preconceptions directed in the wrong way.

Roo: That's true. The other thing that really didn't do us any favors is that we have not sold an upgrade license to 1Password since...Matt, what's it been, four, five years since we've required someone to buy a new license between versions?

Matt: I've seen someone email in and said, "Well, I paid in 2008." I think that's the earliest that I've seen [inaudible 15:59] .

Roo: They're still able to use the newest version today.

Matt: I think how much work I've put in from that point, and that's just me.

[laughter]

Roo: We've not conditioned our customers. That sounds a little skeevy. Our customers have not expected that they would need to pay when the new version comes out.

That's changing for 1Password 7. That's going to be a new version that requires a new license. It's a brave new world for us. [laughs]

Rene: Again, you saw "Star Wars," but you didn't get to see "Empire Strikes Back" for free. The thing I try to think about is free is great, but if it does not allow a developer to continue working on the product, then it's ultimately self-defeating.

I joked about this with Craig Hockenberry, where I said every time I see him at WWDC I want to shove singles down his pants because I want to support...

Yes, I'm super happy that I get 1Password 7, but I want to make sure I get 1Password 8, and I want to make sure I get 1Password 9. It's in my best interest to make sure that AgileBits and 1Password stay viable and stay in this business.

We've seen big companies like Microsoft [laughs] pull the plug on services, and then it doesn't matter how much money you saved because it's gone. When you make that value equation, I consider it not a purchase, but an investment. I want to make sure that investment is paying off for me over time.

Matt: The other advantage that it brings us, which as a designer pushing out new and shiny stuff is what I want to do every day. When someone says, "Hey, we should hold this back a bit. This is really good. We should hold this for 1Password 7." I'm like, "Well, now with the 1Password.com model, we have definite audiences of families, teams, and individuals."

I can work on a feature, push it out, ship it, and everything without worrying about what version it's in and how that might affect that version as a whole. It brings us a whole level of freedom.

Rene: To expand on that, previously you'd have to wait and hold back features so that it would be enticing enough to get somebody to upgrade when they looked at them across a new version. Now it is software as a service.

Google does that. Microsoft does that. You subscribe to Windows now. [laughs] You don't really buy it, because it lets you push out features at the speed of development.

Roo: That's absolutely true. It lets us improve the product at a more natural pace. We don't get these big peaks and valleys. It's a nice steady incline and it works out really well.

[music]

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Thrifter.com. All the best stuff, none of the fluff. Thank you, Thrifter.

[music]

Rene: Shifting gears a little bit, let's get into 1Password 7. What was the thinking for that, and what was your goal with it?

Roo: 1Password 7 on the iOS side, we try to hit an annual target for this. We just talked about doing iterative development where we get to release features as they're ready. Now I'm going to switch gears and talk about how we do these big releases every year.

[laughter]

Roo: Because on iOS we like to make a big splash, typically alongside whatever the new version of iOS is in the fall. This process typically starts for us at WWDC when Apple gets up on stage and tells us all the awesome stuff that's coming. Then we immediately go off to a room somewhere and start madly proof of concepting ideas for what the next version of 1Password's going to be.

One of the things that we did is Matt and I took a step back and looked at the iOS client as it was. We said, "You know, there's some really cool things in here."

"Apple has added some really cool things, but the product as a whole is very solid at this point, so now let's take a step back and see where we can rework some of our assumption and see how we can make the app work better with the way that people work on their devices."

We got drag and drop this year on iPad, which is awesome. We released 1Password 6.9 for iOS. That came out the same day as iOS 11, and that had drag and drop on iPad.

It's fantastic. When you want to log into a website or another app you can use the 1Password extension, but I find myself bringing up 1Password in Slide Over or Split View and dragging and dropping my user names and passwords over. It's awesome.

Rene: It's so tactile.

Roo: We were really excited about that. That was the germ for the idea of what other ways can we make the app super easy to use.

We really focused on getting information out of 1Password and into other apps easily. The two big things that we added were this feature that in development we called Copy, Copy, Copy, but I was told that that's not marketable, so it became Quick Copy.

The idea is there are many apps that support the 1Password extension. From the login screen, you can tap on the 1Password icon. It brings up 1Password. You select your login. It fills it into the app automatically. That's the best experience. That works in Safari, as well.

There's other apps that, for whatever reason, those developers haven't taken the five minutes to add support for 1Password yet. For them, what do you do?

You launch 1Password. You find the item. You copy your user name. Switch back to the app. Paste the user name. Switch back to 1Password. Copy the password. Switch back to the other app. It's a pain.

What Quick Copy does is as soon as you copy that user name and switch to another app, 1Password starts paying attention to what you do next. If you come back to the app within, it might be 30 seconds, we copy whatever the next field is right onto the clipboard for you.

All you have to do is switch into 1Password and switch back out again, and you have your password now. If you've got two-factor verification set up, the next time you switch in we can copy your one-time password for you, and you can switch back and paste it into the app.

It makes the whole process way smoother, especially on iPhone X with the home indicator swipe. It's ridiculously fast now to log in to third party apps that don't support the extension.

That was one of the things that we did. The cool thing is that Quick Copy extends beyond logins. You can do it with credit cards. You can start by copying the name on the credit card. The next time you go in it grabs the number, and then the verification number.

Every item in 1Password participates in Quick Copy in some way, shape, or form. It makes it easy to get your information out.

The other thing was reworking the favorites screen. Favorites has been a list of items for the longest time. We said, "How can we make this better?" That's where we came up with this idea of the favorites screen is a separate entity inside the app, in terms of being a list of items. They act a little bit differently.

Matt came up with this gorgeous design that you tap on a row, and it animates up and shows these nice bubbles underneath. When you tap on the bubble it gives a beautiful little copied animation.

If you have a one-time password it has this awesome circular progress indicator that wraps around the outside of the cell. It's really, really beautiful looking.

Same thing, it gives you quick access to your information so you don't have to go, hunt, and peck, within the item details for the information you want. It's going to be right there on the same screen that you started.

Those were the big things that we really focused on since Dubdub.

Rene: Matt, I always talk to designers and they're like, "Yeah, you can tell me to make this stuff, or you can mock it up in Motion, but that doesn't mean make it human."

How do you take the idea of speed and Copy, Copy, Copy, or Quick Copy and make it not only discoverable, but understandable so that someone knows what's happening when they're seeing all this interface?

Matt: It's an interesting process, especially working with Roo, [laughs] because when he has an idea he's very excited about it. You have to coax that into some sort of human interaction.

[laughter]

Matt: It's really, really nice to see how it works with the fluid UI of the new iPhone and how easy it is to switch apps.

Initially what we wanted to do was alert a user and say, "Look, this is how it works." It's very easy to go down that route of saying, "OK, let's just pop something up and tell the user what we're doing."

What I've found more and more with using Quick Copy was that I would log in and there would be a small dialogue that said it had copied, and then the next time I went in it said it had copied again. I learned it from that. I don't think there was really much human interaction persuading that we had to do with that.

The favorites view took a little bit more. It's hard to know how people are going to react to these changes because people are very precious about 1Password. Because of the stuff that it holds, you react a little more sensitively to when it changes.

When we do a change like this we do play with it for a long time. This fluid UI felt like it really fit within the new iPhone and the way of using it.

We did put a couple of hints and helpers in there, but they disappear a lot faster in the new version. [laughs] They do disappear pretty fast once you learn them.

I'm really happy with how it came out.

Rene: Specifically for things like iPad Pro, where you have to deal with maybe just being a slide over, even though it doesn't slide anymore. Is it a pop over now? I don't know. [laughs]

If you're in that transitory state, or you're in a one-third view or a half-view, did you have to think about that at all, because you weren't always owning the screen?

Roo: I'll answer this more from a development point of view than a design point of view. This is one of the things that I'm very proud of on our team.

Apple, when they get on the stage at WWDC they are constantly telegraphing their moves. If you pay attention, they tell you what's going to change. They tell you what new devices are going to look like.

Rene: Like size classes, like safe areas?

Roo: Exactly. They get up on stage, like, "So this is the new way of doing things, and you should do them," with a wink and a nudge.

We've been following that advice closely for a few years now. When it comes to things like Slide Over in iPad and things like that, 1Password really works.

It was the same with iPhone X. You saw it yourself, Rene. When you picked up the iPhone X and installed whatever the shipping version of 1Password was at the time, for the most part, other than the tab bar at bottom colliding with the home indicator, everything worked. That's because we pay attention and we do what Apple suggests when they suggest it.

We don't find ourselves playing catch-up very often with stuff like this.

Rene: People can see in my hands-on from the original event. 1Password was on the demo units for iPhone X back in September.

My experience, the one that really was jaw dropping for me was when I got my review unit and it was about a week, maybe five days before they went on sale.

Back during the event, at the demo, Face ID was not set up for us. It was set up for the Apple representative who was in charge of the device. We didn't get a change to try that. We could see them doing it, and we could do Animoji and stuff, but we couldn't do the ID part of it.

Right away, I set up Face ID. I was with John Gruber at the time. I was setting up Face ID. It was fun and it was superfast to set up.

I was setting up this phone and I needed my password, so I tapped on 1Password. I was getting ready to look for the button to put in my master password or tell it that I wanted to do Touch ID, and I got this little indicator that went, boom, unlock, and it opened for me. "Wait a minute. I didn't do anything."

[laughter]

Rene: It took my brain several...I could hear it clicking, trying to figure out, "Wait a minute. It's got Face ID, and it just did it. I'm suddenly in this phone and I had to do no active action to cause it." [laughs] That was a real transformative moment for me.

Roo: That's been my experience with Face ID in general, is that it is transformative in how you use the device. The amazing thing about it, for me, is that it makes security invisible. Your device is locked down, it is solid, and when you go to use it, it's ready for you.

Even simple things like notifications on the lock screen now are anonymized notifications until it recognizes your face. That's amazing.

Rene: It blossoms into the full preview. [laughs]

Roo: Again, when you unlock the device, that swipe up and you're ready to go. 9 times out of 10, you don't even see the little Face ID indicator. It's awesome. It's just so cool.

Rene: I don't know from the developer standpoint, but from a user standpoint, at least when I had it, very few apps had really been updated. I'm sure Apple had some people in for kitchens.

People aren't familiar with that. Sometimes Apple, especially for stage, if Apple's going to have someone demonstrate onstage in an event, nobody has seen the software by then or the hardware. They bring them in a little bit early. They get it optimized. Then it's like, "We gave them 24 hours on iPhone and look what they managed to do!"

But often between the periods of events and releases, whether it's an iOS release or a hardware release, they'll have developers in to sort of work to optimize their apps because they want people on day one to have a really good experience with them. Some of the apps have been updated. But even the apps that weren't, it just worked.

My understanding is that there's no real Touch ID and Face ID API. There's just a bio-authentication API. It'll call whatever's appropriate to the device that you have.

Roo: That's exactly correct. That was an incredibly smart move on Apple's part, that anything that supported Touch ID yesterday is going to support Face ID today right out of the box. That was awesome.

Rene: I don't know if it was you. But I think my bank app kept saying Touch ID even though it was Face ID. But that's been fixed now. I notice on 1Password, I was trying to authenticate it not intentionally. One of the things with Face ID is if you just pick it up, it might try to look at you. It'll shake. But I got this delightful little animation saying, "Nope, no Face ID. Want to try again?"

Roo: For the shipping version of 1Password 7 that shipped alongside iPhone X, we had to go in and make sure that we weren't saying...We had hard coded strings in there for Touch ID all over the place of course. Now it's smart about picking between the two. But other than that, that stuff just worked. It was great.

Rene: I love that old gesture from the Mac when it would shake its head if you typed in your password wrong. It's been brought all the way through the stack now where it will literally shake its face if your face is wrong.

Roo: It's great. It's nice to see the smiley Mac continue forward in its new form as the Face ID icon.

Rene: We touched on, but what do you think about Face ID in general? Because some of it has been a little controversial as well. You've lost the ability to register via separate fingers. You're using one face. There are limitations to it, for example, very young children or twins or people with very similar facial features.

Does the convenience in your mind justify the trade-offs? Or are you looking for something more?

Roo: I think that that's something that every person has to decide for themselves. For me, Face ID is perfect. It works exactly the way I want it to. I am more than happy to use it every single day.

But there are going to be people who, for whatever reason, it does not fit into their model of the world. It could be from a security point of view. Maybe their threat model includes things like constantly crossing the border or constantly going through secure areas where their phone could be searched and seized and stuff like that. For them, no, maybe not.

Rene: Or they have a literal evil twin.

Roo: Yes, full goatee, the whole nine. Those people, Face ID might not be for them. I think that that's going to have to...Like I said, each person is going to have to decide for themselves if that's the case. But for 98.5 percent of the population, Face ID is going to be exactly what you want it to be. It's going to work great.

Rene: Is your reaction similar, Matt?

Matt: Yeah, I think for me, it works more times than Touch ID did. It's because I have sweaty fingers.

Rene: [laughs]

Matt: Touch ID, I always needed to rub my trousers and then try it. But with Face ID, it's perfect. It's so seamless and very considered how it lets you know what it's doing but, at the same time, doesn't get in your way. It is just perfect.

It has trained me as well to hold it at the right distance, not too close, not too far away. I found myself adapting to that over the past few weeks and holding my phone at probably a normal person distance, not right up against my face like I generally did.

I find it has worked wonders. I don't need to think about it anymore. As it becomes winter in Canada, I don't have to think, "OK, I need to get some gloves and cut out the thumb hole or you know."

Rene: You need to throw down those hockey mitts like you would in a fight and just...

Matt: Exactly.

Rene: John Gruber and Ben Thompson had a really good take on this on "The Talk Show" where, in terms of design, you never want the human to have to conform to the machine. You always want to have the machine adapt to the human. But you can make machines so delightful that humans are happy to train themselves to use them in the way they're intended. I think that's brilliant.

One of the other things that I really like is this feels like a step forward to me. I have this beautiful dream about persistent passive authentication where eventually we just have a device that will get a little bit of our voice and do Voice ID and a little bit of our face and do Face ID.

It'll feel our touch on the screen and do Touch ID. Because of the motion processor, it'll know our gait and just recognize us based on our gait.

It'll used all that telemetry to have a trust index. When the trust index is high enough -- like I'm in a known location, it's got enough of my voice, my face, my gait, my touch to have a really good trust that it's me -- it'll just be unlocked. I'll be able to use it without even thinking about it.

As those things change, as I'm further away or it hasn't heard my voice in a while, hasn't seen my face in a while, I haven't touched the screen, eventually it might fall below a threshold and force me to do an active authentication whether it's touch or face or passcode or whatever.

But most of the time, it would just know that it's me and let me go about my business. I wouldn't have to be bothered. I hated saying bothered about security. But I really wouldn't have to be bothered by it anymore. Michael, this feels like we're getting closer with each of these steps.

Roo: 100 percent agree. The Face ID is such a leap forward in that area of invisible, seamless, hassle-free security. It really is.

Unless you have used one of these devices, it's really difficult to convey how seamless it is. But the best way to do it would be to take a non-Face ID device and set it up with no PIN or passcode and use it. The swipe to unlock on a device that doesn't have Face ID and how it just lets you in instantly without doing anything, that's how it is using Face ID. You just swipe and you're in. It doesn't get any better than that.

Clearly it could when it starts recognizing fragments of voice and touch and stuff like that. But this is so, so much better than what we had with Touch ID. I am fanboying out a little bit right out. I understand that. But it's really good.

Rene: But we're fans of cool tech. It's like you watch "Knight Rider" or something and it's a car that...We're living in a time where a lot of the science fiction from our childhood is becoming reality. I don't know if there's ever been an era where that's been so true before.

Roo: Agreed.

Rene: My godson, his father was talking to him about Knight Rider. He just looked at him and he goes, "You mean it has Siri?"

Roo: [laughs]

Rene: I guess. Totally wasn't that interesting to him. I think that's pretty remarkable.

One of the things you mentioned that I also want to touch on is we're living in this remarkable age where convenience is really, really important. We're getting all these great new features like Touch ID, like Face ID. But we're also living in an era where it is becoming more of a concern.

I'm a Canadian. We're like one of those passive Star Trek races that is welcome almost everywhere. Still I'm nervous now crossing some borders. There have been concerns about...

It doesn't really matter what the authentication is, whether it's law enforcement or criminals or just an angry one night stand, whatever, they could put your finger on Touch ID. They could hold the phone up to your face for Face ID. They could detain you unless you were willing to give up a passcode. There's all of these factors you're dealing with.

I know you guys have been looking at things like a travel mode. But how does that influence your thinking around a security model and threat assessments these days?

Roo: It's one the things that is the most forefront in our mind every day honestly. As we add new features and improve the product in various ways, it is one of the things that we are constantly thinking about. How is this going to impact the security and the threat models that people face day to day?

Sometimes you look at something like when we added Face ID, of course we were going to add support for that. But at the same time, we did think about, "What can people be compelled to do when crossing a border by law enforcement? What can happen there in the presence of Face ID, and what can we do to try to mitigate some of that potentially?"

One of the things that we did add with this new version based on some customer feedback that we got was there were people saying, "I don't want to use Face ID and 1Password. If I am compelled in some...My threat model includes having someone show, use my face to unlock my phone against my will, and I'm not comfortable with that."

We've had PIN code support inside of 1Password for a long time. But it was only available if you didn't have Touch ID enabled on your device. Now we allow you to set a PIN code on your device regardless of whether you have some biometric unlock available. You can actually opt in to just doing PIN code.

You can use Face ID for your phone normally. But then when you switch over to 1Password, you can put in a PIN code instead of using Face ID to authenticate.

We are constantly thinking about this stuff and making sure that we are giving our customers the tools that they need to make the right decisions based on what their day-to-day threat model is.

Rene: I think that's key. I like how Apple thinks about this. I like how you guys think about it.

I realize that I'm just a user. I just want things. I don't always understand the system engineering that has to go through them.

I remember Craig Federighi at WWDC...For a long time, I've wanted to be able to, for example, do biometrics and a passcode, something I know and something I am, so that I have two factor. He mentioned that Apple's gotten a lot of requests for this.

But then how do you handle recovery? Because right now if biometrics fail, it goes down to PIN code. But then you've reduced the factors by one. Do you have to have a recovery password that allows you to recover if you forget one of them or one of them fails? Then you've introduced the third element into it. How does that increase the complexity of the security model? It really is...

I keep learning this lesson over and over again, Michael, that I have to stop thinking about solutions I think I want and just state problems that I have and let you guys do the heavy lifting. But I think that's great. If you can make it so that I can put more roadblocks for areas I think it's important to have those roadblocks, that benefits me.

Roo: Absolutely.

Rene: Where do you see this going? I mean just this in general. Apple has gotten now, on older iPhones, you can quintuple click in order to shut off biometrics and force passcode. On newer iPhones, you squeeze either the side button and either the volume buttons. You get not only the power down and SOS but you also force passcode.

Are those mitigations that are really effective? Are there going to have to be new ways for us to handle, I don't know what even to call it, but the crazy world in which we live?

Roo: It goes back to what we were just talking about is that I think that we will see improvements and changes in that area as necessary. Clearly the emergency mode, the emergency lock out feature they added, that was in direct response to things like possibly being compelled for your fingerprint at the border and stuff like that.

We keep talking about the border, but of course there's other places where that might happen. As the world changes and as we add new tech, we're certainly going to need to constantly be thinking of ways in which that tech could be abused and how we can mitigate that abuse.

Rene: Matt, just from a usability point of view, I think we hear about this because we're so connected and because we have social networks and instant media. We hear about this a lot. But I'm never quite sure how many of us actually face these threats on a day to day basis. I also don't want software to become harder to use just because we have all these potential risks.

Matt: What we try to do every time we add a convenience feature is to balance it with security. At the same time, every time we add a security feature, we try to add some sort of level of delight to it that makes it not seem almost so serious, to not add that fear factor to the extra level. It's really important when adding these, like you said earlier, roadblocks because they are.

There's no way that you can really add another level of security or another layer of security to make the user experience the same as it was before. It's always going to require something extra from the user. It's just how you make the user expect that.

When you have to log into a new device on 1Password, we ask for your master password instead of Touch ID. That can be almost jarring sometimes to some people. But it's that level of we need this from you now and you expecting that that I think helps with the user experience. It might not make it as seamless as some of these other convenience features, but it's definitely expected.

Rene: Totally. I think that's going to let me switch gears here a little bit and get back to brighter, funner, shinier tech stuff. But I think that's absolutely true. It leads me...

I'm going to totally interrogate you guys about tips and tricks and stuff for 1Password because I want to get better at using it. But one of the things I love now, I have an unusual problem, and I'll put problem in air quotes, that as a reviewer, I get new devices constantly.

Roo: Oh, gosh. That must be terrible for you, Rene.

Matt: [laughs]

Rene: It's like those things where you say, "Oh, I'm a supermodel, and I've got sand in my toes, and it's the..." Sometimes that'll happen.

At WWDC for example, I got to review three iMac in I think eight hours. You can't really review them. But I have to run all the tests on them. I have to see if what Apple's claiming about them is actually what I see with them, especially when it's something like wider color gamut screens, whatever it happens to be, or faster processors or they can handle 10-bit high efficiency video codec.

I need to log in to be able to do those. I've got it do to this science now. Whether it's phones or Macs, I immediately open them up. The first thing I do is I install Dropbox and 1Password. I only install Dropbox because, 1Password, I think you guys had Dropbox support before iCloud or I didn't use iCloud for some reason, maybe because I had an Android phone at the time. I still do.

But I put everything in Dropbox. I download Dropbox. I download 1Password. I log into Dropbox usually by copying the password out of 1Password on a different device. Then I point 1Password at it. I just watch those passwords fill up. It's gotten to the point where I keep all of my computing environments really, really light.

They mostly are just things that are pulled off of Dropbox or iCloud or from the Mac App Store. 1Password lets me just log into all the services that I use really quickly.

I can get up and running on a new machine I think in 15 minutes, 30 minutes depending on how fast the Internet is. That's so different from what it used to take me even a couple years ago. I don't know if that was a design goal. But speed to usability of technology I think has been greatly increased.

Roo: I completely agree. I'll touch on two things. One is how to make your 1Password workflow even faster on a new machine. But then the first is you see that with iPhone X. When you pull that thing out of the box, it was like, "Hey, go set this next to your other iPhone, and we'll just suck all the settings over." OK. It was awesome! That was such a great way to set up.

Rene: It mostly worked. I noticed that things that had token-based, like Twitter and some other things, didn't...I had to go and re-auth them. What was weird is Messenger said, "Do you want to log in with Rene Ritchie's Facebook?" I said, "Yes." But Facebook said, "You have to go log in again." [laughs]

Roo: I did do that for the first out of the box setup. But then I had to restore from an encrypted backup that I keep on my Mac because I have a Move streak that is 587 days long. I needed to make sure that I got that activity data back onto the phone.

But then going back to how you set up 1Password on a machine, as a 1Password.com user, Rene, all you need is your iCloud setup. Because when you sign into your 1Password account on your Mac, we actually take a portion of your credentials, so your username, the secret key that we need for the account, and the domain for the account, so Ritchiefamily.1password.com for instance.

We store that securely in the iOS Keychain. It is synchronized with your iCloud account. All you need is your master password to log in on a new machine. You just install 1Password, open it up, click on set up with 1password.com account, it will find all of your accounts that you need. You just click on them, enter your master password, and you're done.

Rene: I love that. That is going to save me time.

Roo: It works on iOS as well. Let me tell you, from a developer point of view, we're constantly tearing things down and building them back up again. This was one of our most loved features internally. [laughs]

Rene: I want to ask Matt for his tip in a second. But I'll give him a minute to think about it because another thing that I noticed...

Forgive me for saying this, but I've bifurcated my password strategy now because I don't think you guys get access to Face ID autofill for Web or apps. You still have to do that fast copy you mentioned.

Roo: Right.

Rene: But what I noticed for passwords that I don't care about, as long as they are unique and they are strong...I should back up for a second.

I have a big problem with iCloud Keychain. That is that it traditionally did not have a master password. I never wanted to be in the situation where I would hand somebody my phone, whether it was a stranger who just needed to make an emergency call or a friend at a conference who I have to look it up, I just never wanted to give a device that had un-intermediated access to my passwords and credit cards.

ICloud Keychain, I just never used it. But now that it can automatically fill with Face ID, I just give it what are really non-important passwords for me. I didn't even think about it. I ended up going to the "Wall Street Journal" to see Joanna Stern's review, and it came up. As I was looking at it, it filled in the Wall Street Journal password and authenticated me, and then gave me her article, just based off Face ID.

That was, again, one of those magical experiences. I would never put a proper service password in iCloud Keychain, and I would never put a credit card in there, [laughs] but I have no problem giving them my Wall Street Journal login now. The system just took care of it.

Roo: I've had that same experience for some sites, because I do the same. That first time that happened, I was like, "Whoa, no way. That was super cool."

The way that they've integrated Face ID into the system in so many little ways that is frictionless, but way more secure than what you had before is fantastic.

Rene: They don't do it yet with Touch ID, because I think they felt that was a bit onerous to have people have to go and Touch ID authenticate, but because you're opening the web page and already looking at your phone, Face ID just happens, and you just watch it fill and unlock. [laughs]

The first time, you're like, "Whoa, what just happened?"

Roo: Right.

Rene: Matt, any pro tips you can share with us?

Matt: What's interesting about your workflow there is, obviously, as Roo mentioned, we have the store in the keychain thing. We also have a QR code version of those credentials, too.

Roo: That's right.

Matt: You can just open 1Password and click "scan set up code," and show them that print out of that QR code. It's a...

[crosstalk]

Rene: Or you can bring it up on your phone from your pocket, right?

Matt: ...theme. Oh yeah, you can bring it up on your phone, as well.

Rene: That's right.

Matt: You show that, and then enter your master password, and you've set that device up. When it comes to, obviously, handing this device back, you've probably wiped it, but you want to be absolutely certain, you can actually log into 1password.com, into your account, and remove that device from your account.

There's a load of other permissions that you can set there too, that we have, like specifying that you only actually want that vault ever to download on a Mac or on an iOS device, never an Android. There are lots of control like that, which is really nice.

Rene: I have a couple quick questions for you two. When people want to get started with multifactor, with two-factor authentication, I think that's becoming increasingly common because we have seen of these hacks. Some of these hacks were, again, they get their password from Home Depot. They use it to access your bank or something like that because you use the same password.

You guys support multifactor. Is there usually a path to get started with it? Would you suggest they pick one account and get comfortable with it? Or is there a certain process that they should try first?

Roo: There's a great website called twofactorauth...Wait, is it twofactorauth or just twofactor.org? Hang on. I'm going to do something rude and open up Safari and fact check myself.

Rene: Real time follow-up. [laughs]

Roo: Twofactorauth.org. It's T-W-O. It's not the digit 2. It lists out all the website that this site knows about, and this is a crowdsourced site, that support two-factor authentication. It's broken down into backup and sync or gaming or retail, transport, all of these different categories.

You can go and say, "Well, all right, I've wanted set up two factor for my bank." You click on that. Now it's going to list out this enormous list of banks, then whether or not they actually support two factor, what kind of two factor they support, and a link to help you get set up with it. It's a really good way to get started turning on two-factor authentication for some of the services that you use every day.

It's especially useful if you don't know if...There might be a service that supports it that you're not even aware of. Now it's going to be on this site. You be like, "Oh, wow, so when I'm doing Twitch streams, I can go...I didn't realize Twitch has two factor auth. Great. I'll go turn that on." I would recommend getting started in that way.

The other thing is maybe just pick something simple that you use all the time that you're comfortable with just as a service, like Twitter. Turn on two factor for Twitter and see how it goes. Once you've done it for one site, the process is essentially the same for every other site.

Rene: Also it's mature now. I remember I was an early adopter. I did it for Dropbox. Their tokens kept getting mis-generated. It was so secure I couldn't get into it anymore. I had to turn it off and wait a month. Then they fixed all the problems. I've never had an issue since. If you did have bad experiences early on, it's worth it to try again.

Roo: Absolutely.

Matt: Just to say I see tweets sometimes saying, "Oh, wow, you can store these in 1Password." Yes, you can store these in 1Password. [laughs]

[crosstalk]

Matt: We do something really cool, as well. When you fill in a login, we automatically put that two-factor code on the clipboard. It's instinctive to me automatically just fill and paste in the next step. It's brilliant.

Rene: One of the things I also do is those websites that insist on having security questions -- I'm not staring too hard at apple.com and some of my banks -- those, famously people would go on Wikipedia, if you were on there, and look up things, or just start going through your social networks, and finding out your pet names, and break into them.

It might have been Rustom who suggested this a while ago. I make extra pseudo random passwords in 1Password, and then store them in the note field for all of the questions. [laughs] If I ever need them, I just go and paste them back in.

I'll never remember made-up data. If I make up a dog's name or a street name, I'll never remember that, but if I have an actual pseudo random blog in 1Password, I can paste that in all day.

Matt: The word list generator is really good for that, and telephone banking passwords as well.

I moved to Canada about a year ago. I had to set up all my banks and everything like that. Someone rang me up and asked me for my telephone banking passcode. I passed all the security, and they passed mine. [laughs]

Then I read out what was 10 words of absolute weird, almost asylum-detecting...

[laughter]

Matt: ..."Blade Runner" detecting words, and the woman was just like, "Yeah, that's correct, OK."

[laughter]

Matt: There was a real surprise in her face that was like, "Oh wow, that's weird."

Rene: I live in Quebec, and the weird thing here is that, by law if you get married, you can't take your spouse's name, either away, so you have to keep the name that you were born with after you get married. They still insist on asking mother's maiden name as a security question, even though everybody who knows you knows that because that's what they called your mom the entire time.

We haven't reconciled the social experiment with the security model in any way, shape, or form.

I love that you moved to Canada. You think you keep the same Queen, but she's actually a separate legal entity in like 25 different countries. The Royal Family here is slightly different because we count Canadian cousins that nobody else does.

Matt: [laughs] It's been interesting. My one takeaway has been that can openers or tin openers don't work here.

Rene: They don't? Well...

Matt: Every one I've tried, it just doesn't work. I now see...

Rene: We open cans on the right in Canada. We don't open cans on the left.

Matt: You may have just blown my mind.

[laughter]

Roo: I didn't realize we were going to get into can opener tips, this is amazing.

Rene: I feel he's new to the country, and 1Password has a deep Canadian legacy, so if we can help...

[laughter]

Roo: That's true.

Rene: It behooves us. If you do see Rustom typing away and coding during the playoffs, you can tell him to stop, he's allowed to watch one hockey game...

Roo: [laughs]

Rene: ...without adding code to your database. It's just fine.

Michael, thank you so much for your time. If people are interested in following you on social or finding out more about 1Password, or improving their security in general, where can they go?

Roo: You can follow me on Twitter @mrrooni, that's M-R-R-O-O-N-I. If you haven't done so at this point in the podcast, you should go to 1Password.com, sign up for an account, and get started, because the days of re-using passwords and using the same password, or even a similar version, or thinking that you've come up with some clever system that gives you a...

Rene: Or replace the letters with symbols. [laughs]

Roo: Whoa. Don't, just look, you need a password manager, and you need 1Password, in particular. Either download it from the App Store. That's a great way to get started, or go to our website and get started. It will change the way that you keep yourself safe online. Just go do it.

Rene: You don't have to have the best security in the world, you just have to have better security than the other person, so [inaudible 61:12] . [laughs]

Roo: Is that like when you're running away from a bear, you don't have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than the people you're with?

Rene: No, totally.

Matt: You always park next to the nicer car.

Rene: [laughs]

Roo: That's right, yes. [laughs]

Rene: What about you, Matt, where can people find you?

Matt: I'm Mattdavey on Twitter, D-A-V-E-Y. Sign up for a 1Password.com account. That's 30 days free.

There's lots of places in the app, specifically the Web app, that asks for design feedback because we have zero analytics inside all of our iOS, Mac, and all our clients and Web apps. I'm designing blind.

Any feedback that comes via Twitter or that comes via the links inside the Web app that says, "What do you think about this?" It's really appreciated when people take the time to email us and tell us, "I really like this, but this doesn't work quite how I use it." That's really how we gain metrics and how we judge how people use the product.

Rene: One thing I'll put a link to in the show notes too is one of the questions I get a lot is you're only as strong as your master password. You've got to be able to remember it. But it's got to be secure enough that someone else just can't type something in and get into it.

You guys, I think it was a few years ago, had this wonderful article on your blog about how to make a really good master password. That's one that I refer people back to just all the damn time.

Matt: That's a great article. With a 1Password.com account, we have the secret key which gets stored on every device that you log in. But if you go to a completely blank device and not sign in to iCloud and not do any of this other authentication stuff, you'll need that key. We refer to that as a second factor for us.

Rene: That's awesome. Thank you both so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you for making 1Password. It's probably saved more from way more security malfunctions than I deserve to be saved from.

Roo: Thank you for having us, Rene. This was a lot of fun. Hopefully at some time, we'll be on again in the future.

Rene: Absolutely. I got to bring you on into a round table so I can grill you about the implementation of obscure APIs.

[laughter]

Roo: I look forward to it. Just give me a heads up of those obscure APIs so that I can sound smart once I get there.

Rene: Absolutely. Thanks so much, guys.

Matt: Thanks very much.

Roo: Thank you.

Rene: Thank you so much for listening. You can find me @ReneRitchie on everything social. You can email me at rene@imore.com. The show is live now. You can subscribe in iTunes, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, all the favorite podcast clients. Just check the links below.

That's the show. We're out.

[music]

1Password, the well-known password manager app for macOS, iOS, Windows, and Android, garnered some negative attention over the last week. A combination of the company's move towards subscription and sync and away from standard licensing and local vaults, its lack of communication, and some needlessly reactionary and sensationalized headlines in the media, led to a lot of bad information being spread.

Some of that has now been corrected by co-founder Dave Teare on the AgileBits blog:

To put it bluntly, AgileBits is moving to a more sustainable business model that will allow them to better develop and support 1Password now and into the future. It's ultimately better for customers too, but people hate change and often have a hard time seeing beyond the here-and-now — even for something as important as security software. Especially in the age of pop apps, where everything is expected to be free all the time.

But it's the very age of pop apps, where everything is also mainstream, that the move to subscription and sync makes the most sense. It's why iPhones and iPad moved to iCloud backup rather than being grafted onto Time Machine. Computing has gone mainstream and mainstream computing requires solutions that are easier and friendlier.

I tried to set my family up with the old, licensed 1Password and they never stuck with or updated it. Now I'm subscribing to a family plan and I — combined with the team at AgileBits — will just handle it for them.

We're already using 1Password Teams for work, even though I work with really nerdy people, because easier and friendlier is appreciated by nerdy people too, especially when you have to scale.

I do think 1Password waited too long to over-explain what they were doing and, absent news, the worst kind of speculation runs rampant.

But, change aversion aside, I think most people will find the new 1Password model as good for them as it is for AgileBits, and they'll appreciate the security not just of their passwords being kept safe but the software itself being sustainable for years to come.

So, if you're already a 1Password user, avoid all the FUD and take your own hard look at the new direction. That's what I did, and why I'm switching to it sooner rather than later.

(I also subscribe to Creative Cloud — for some apps, it really is the better way.)

Sign up at 1Password

Note: You can still use local password vaults if you want to.

We recently began using 1Password Teams here at iMore and that meant a few of the people who'd been using LastPass had to make the switch. Both are incredibly good, but when you have to get everyone on the same platform, choices have to made and data has to be transferred. Hopefully as quickly, easily, and securely as possible. So, here's how we did it for everyone on our team with a Mac.

If you're running on a PC, be sure to check out our how to switch from LastPass to 1Password on Windows guide instead.

• 1Password and LastPass condensed comparison
• Create an encrypted disk image
• Export CSV file from LastPass
• Import CSV file into 1Password
• Delete the disk image
• Switch without encryption
• Switching from 1Password to LastPass

1Password and LastPass condensed comparison

*No Edge support yet.

Create an encrypted disk image

If you want to export your data from LastPass but don't want to leave the CSV file it generates—along with plain text copies of all your passwords—exposed on your local drive for even a moment, you can create an encrypted disk image first and save the file there.

1. Click on Finder.
2. Click on Applications.

3. Double-click on Utilities.
4. Double-click on Disk Utility.

5. Click on File and click on New Image.
6. Click on Blank Image.

7. Type in a name for the image and choose where to save it. I chose "LastPass" and Desktop.
8. Click on the Encryption row and click on 256-bit AES encryption.

9. Type in a password when you are prompted and click Choose.
10. Click on Save.

You now have an encrypted disk image on your desktop. You're ready to export your data from LastPass.

Export CSV file from LastPass

Whether you're using the added security of an encrypted disk image or not, you need to get your data out of LastPass and into a format 1Password can read. For that, there's the CSV file—comma separate values. If you're not familiar with CSV, think of it as a plain text file that can be exported and imported from spreadsheet software like Excel or Numbers.

1. Click on Safari in your Dock.
2. Click on the LastPass icon.

3. Click on More Options.
4. Click on Advanced.

5. Click on Export.
6. Click on LastPass CSV file.

7. Type in your Master Password.
8. Type in a filename.

9. Click on LastPass (or whatever you named your image file) as the destination to save your CSV export.
10. Click on Save.

Import CSV file into 1Password

Once you have the CSV file, you can import it, and all the login data it contains, into 1Password.

1. Click on 1Password in your Dock.
2. Click on File and click on Import.

3. Click on LastPass.
4. Click on Sites and Secure Notes.

5. Click on your CSV file located in the image file you created.
6. Click on Open.

Delete the disk image

Once you've opened 1Password and made sure all your login data was successfully imported you need to get rid of the CSV file. Even if you're securely storing it in an encrypted disk image, it's better to eradicate it than leave it lying around.

1. Click and drag the DMG file on your desktop to the trash.
2. Click on Trash in your dock.

3. Click on Empty.
4. Click on Empty Trash.

Note: Ensure there is nothing in your Trash you don't mind deleting forever.

Switching without encryption

If you're averse to creating a disk image or just don't have room on your hard drive, you can simply export the CSV file onto your regular desktop. Just follow these steps but replace the disk image save point with your desktop.

Do not save this CSV file to a cloud service or shared folder. When it is not saved in an encrypted disk image anyone can view its contents.

To import the decrypted CSV file, follow these steps but choose wherever your saved the CSV file (desktop is recommended) instead of the disk image.

Switching from 1Password to LastPass

If you'd rather switch from 1Password to LastPass than the other way around, simply perform the same series of steps but export from 1Password and import into LastPass instead.

The important thing is that you're using a good password manager that fits your needs.

Evernote, the popular note-taking application for iOS, Mac and many other platforms, has been updated to support 1Password's popular iOS App Extension.

The feature, which was added alongside iOS 8 in 2014, gives developers the tools to create extensions that allow sandboxed apps — in short, all apps on iOS — to communicate with one another without endangering user privacy or platform security.

1Password's App Extension is one of the platform's most popular, supported by over 100 developers. For Evernote users, this means the option of tapping the small 1Password insignia upon entering the app to allow auto-filling of usernames and passwords. According to Evernote's head of security, Rich Tener, "You should use a unique password for each service you use."

Evernote's blog post goes into why it chose to integrate with 1Password:

Other popular iOS apps that support 1Password's App Extension include Slack, Tweetbot, LINE, Day One, and eBay. You can grab Evernote's update with 1Password support from the App Store now.

• Free - Download Now

1Password for Mac has arrived at version 6.0, adding new features for vaults and better password generation. Customers who purchased 1Password directly from developer AgileBits instead of the Mac App Store can now also take advantage of iCloud syncing.

You'll now be able to view all of your 1Password vaults at once in version 6.0. This includes both your personal vaults and 1Password for Teams vaults. The All Vaults view is customizable as well, showing only the vaults you want to see. If you're part of the 1Password for Teams beta, you can also view all of the vaults for your Team.

1Password's strong password generator has gotten a boost with this update. You can now choose the Words option, which will generate a new password composed of random words from a 1Password-approved list. For a random set of letters and numbers, select the Characters option.

With 1Password 6.0 comes the addition of iCloud sync for all users, not just those using the Mac App Store version. However using iCloud is a bit different for those that purchase directly from AgileBits. From the AgileBits blog:

1Password 6 is available for download from the AgileBits website, and is a free update for 1Password 4 and 5 customers. New customers will need to pay $49.99 after their free trial period. The Mac App Store version of 1Password will receive the free update following approval from Apple.

• $49.99 - Download Now

Source: AgileBits (1), (2)

AgileBits has announced a new, collaborative feature for 1Password, its password and identity management software. 1Password for Teams are a new way to use 1Password with groups of people, allowing you to easily share vaults and items with colleagues, family members, and friends. With 1Password for Teams, you'll have an easier time deploying shared vaults, along with better signup and simpler billing.

Central to 1Password for Teams is the Admin Console. A central location for all 1Password for Teams activity, the Admin Console gives you complete control over the team. You can easily invite new members to the team, share and revoke team vaults, control who can access specific items, and recover locked out accounts.

1Password for Teams is now in beta, and during the beta, teams that sign up can use it completely free. Once the beta is over, 1Password for Teams will be available as a monthly subscription, starting at $4.99 per team member. Interested teams can find out more and sign up at the AgileBits website.

Source: AgileBits

Password manager 1Password has been updated, for the Mac as well as the iPhone and iPad. The iOS update focuses on making 1Password more powerful with tools like a new login creator and one-time passwords, while 1Password for Mac receives a lot of important updates to syncing, as well as other additions.

1Password for iPhone features a new Login Creator, which makes it easy to create logins for your favorite sites and services. Tap the '+' button in the top right corner, select Login, and you'll see the list. Type the login name, and you'll most likely be presented with the item that you're looking for. Select what you need, and the login creator will guide you through creating your login item.

For iOS users that have activated 1Pasword's Pro features, you'll now be able to use two-factor authentication right from the app. You can, for instance, open up your Google login item, hit Edit, then add a new one-time password. Tap the QR code to use 1Password with ever-changing authentication keys.

The iOS update also contains a number of other enhancements, such as syncing of Master Password changes made on a Mac to iOS, as well as changes to backups synchronized with iTunes for Windows.

On the Mac side of things, its mostly about syncing. You can now see all of your vaults, and their sync status, and easily setup new vaults for syncing. You can now decide which vaults will be included or excluded from Wi-Fi syncing, and secondary vaults can now sync to 1Password on iOS. You can even decide to exclude all or some of your secondary vaults from syncing at all.

Other enhancements include more clearer Watchtower alerts for changing your passwords, as well as proper formatting of credit card numbers. 1Password for Mac now also supports Portuguese.

You can download 1Password 5.1 for Mac from the Mac App Store, and 1Password 5.2 for iPhone and iPad from the App Store right now.

• Free (iPhone and iPad) - Download Now
• $49.99 (Mac) - Download Now

Source: AgileBits (1), (2)

If you own an iPad Air 2, the first thing you'll want to do is load up on great apps that take advantage of the all new A8X processor, Touch ID sensor, updated camera, and more. While all iPad apps available in the App Store will work perfectly fine on your new iPad Air 2, there are some that stand out from the crowd by taking advantage of the new hardware in some way or another. So if you're only looking for the best iPad apps, these are the ones we think you need to download ASAP!

Pixelmator

Pixelmator, originally available on the Mac, is now available for the iPad, and holy cow is it awesome. Not only can you do many of the same edits you can with software such as Photoshop, it runs smoothly on the iPad Air 2 and provides pretty much a desktop class experience. Shapes, shadows, fills, strokes, masks, retouching, and much more, all built specifically for a great touch screen experience on your iPad.

If you want a powerful image editor to take with you on the go, Pixelmator should be one of your first purchases on your new iPad Air 2.

• $4.99 - Download Now

iMovie

iMovie is Apple's own take on editing video, and it's a pretty powerful tool. Not only that, it's pretty simple to use but can become as advanced and as intricate as you want. You can add titles, transitions, and much more to create HD movie without ever having to touch a desktop computer. Once you're done, you can instantly share your creations on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and more.

If you plan on taking or editing video on your iPad often, you'll definitely want to have iMovie at your disposal.

• $4.99, Free with newer iOS devices - Download Now

Storehouse

Storehouse is one of my favorite platforms for turning photos and videos into amazing stories. Although it's now available for iPhone as well, it's still obvious that it was made for the iPad. And with the iPad Air 2's improved screen, your photos and videos really pop. With Storehouse you can add as many photos and videos as you'd like to a project, add text, and share your adventures in just a tap. You can also browse other people's projects for inspiration, or just because.

For a unique and creative way to share your memories, Storehouse is a must have.

• Free - Download Now

Photoshop Mix

Photoshop Mix brings some of Adobe's most popular Photoshop tools right to your iPad. With the ability to enhance, combine, cut out, and much more, there aren't very many limits with what you can do with Photoshop Mix. All the edits you make are also non-destructive too so you can revert back to the original any time you'd like. If you have a Creative Cloud subscription, you can hook right into your account to pull documents from the cloud in an instant.

If you want a lighter version of Photoshop that offers easy to use tools with endless possibilities, check out Photoshop Mix.

• Free - Download Now

1Password

1Password is a password management suite that stores all your logins, credit card information, and much more. You can also generate random strong password for more sensitive logins such as bank accounts or credit cards. And since 1Password is supported on pretty much any platform and has web browser extensions for desktop, you only need to remember one password, to unlock them all. Even better yet, 1Password supports Touch ID for instant access to all your passwords.

For a great password management experience that takes full advantage of Touch ID on the iPad Air 2, you can't go wrong with 1Password.

• Free with IAP - Download Now

Fantastical 2

Fantastical 2 is an amazing little productivity app that bundles your calendar and reminders into one beautifully put together package. The iPad version took a while to become a reality but it really looks stunning. Flexibits managed to get a week, month, and list view on a single screen without causing chaos. Even further, pull down on the week view to reveal a day ticker that shows hourly events. Swipe from the left side of your iPad to reveal your reminders. The layout was made for iPad and features all the same great features of its iPhone counterpart. It really is the calendar app Apple should have made.

For one of the best calendar and reminders apps the App Store has to offer, look no further than Fantastical 2.

• $9.99 $7.99 on sale - Download Now

PDF Expert 5

PDF Expert 5 by Readdle is one of the best PDF management apps available. When it comes to the iPad Air 2, documents look crisp, clear, and better than ever. Not only can you view PDFs, you can fill forms, annotate, mark up, and much more. My favorite feature of PDF Expert 5, and what I think sets it apart from the others, is a feature called Review Mode. While in Review Mode, you can mark up a PDF document like it's a normal text editor. Your changes automagically show up in a different color so the recipient can easily see changes without actually changing the original document.

If you plan to work with a lot of forms and PDFs on your iPad, you need PDF Expert 5 in your workflow.

• $9.99 - Download Now

iWork

Apple's iWork suite of apps include Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. All of which have been updated with iCloud Drive support and more. They also look great on the new iPad Air 2. More importantly, they're completely designed around providing a great touch screen experience that takes full advantage of the iPad's screen real estate. So whether you're working on a school project in Pages, putting together a presentation in Keynote, or creating charts for your next board meeting in Numbers, iWork lets you do it all on the go.

For a productivity suite that works great with every iOS device and Mac in your workflow, zero subscription fees required, iWork is a necessity.

• Pages - $9.99, Free for newer iOS devices - Download Now
• Keynote - $9.99, Free for newer iOS devices - Download Now
• Numbers - $9.99, Free for newer iOS devices - Download Now

Microsoft Office

Some folks just prefer the workflow and tools that Microsoft office offers. Nowadays, you can have that same experience on your iPad. Microsoft may have taken a while to bring Office to iOS, but as they say, sometimes a great product is worth the wait. In this case, that definitely holds true. If you use Microsoft Office on your desktop, you'll feel right at home on the iPad versions. The layout is almost a mirror image of its desktop sibling, but designed completely around a touch experience. Just keep in mind you'll need an Office 365 subscription to edit and create documents in any of the Office apps. Subscriptions currently start at $7 a month, or $69 a year.

If you're an MS Office fan and want the same experience on your iPad, Microsoft Office can give it to you.

• Word - Free with subscription - Download Now
• Excel - Free with subscription - Download Now
• PowerPoint - Free with subscription - Download Now

Your vote for best iPad Air 2 apps?

If you already have your iPad Air 2 in your hands, what apps have you found to offer an exceptionally great user experience? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

Today iOS 8 launches, and along with it, a whoooooole bunch of apps are being updated to support the new software. It's a veritable avalanche of updates, but we're going to dig up the very best ones for you. Give us a shout in the comments if you find any more!

iOS 8 app updates

• TextExpander - Set custom shortcuts (snippets) which expand to full phrases with this custom keyboard.
• Screens VNC - Use Touch ID and 1Password to unlock, and send rich text through a shared clipboard between devices.
• Transmit - Share files directly from your iPhone or iPad to your Amazon S3, FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV server.
• Epic Zen Garden - See what Metal graphics rendering can do with the tech demo.
• Slack - Share items directly to Slack channels and fellow collaborators from outside apps thanks to Extensions. Also gets 1Password integration.
• 1Password - Log into websites securely with a mere touch. Free for a limited time.
• Clear - View your latest tasks in the Today view.
• Camera Plus: Family Share pictures to other devices, haul in pictures for editing via Extensions, hop between devices for editing with Handoff.
• Instapaper: Read anything in a clutter-free environment thanks to Extensions. Saved articles show in Notification Center.
• TouchPal - A theme-friendly custom keyboard.
• Mint - Use Touch ID to access your personal finances.
• EyeEm - Follow friends and reply to comments on shared photos directly from notifications, and share pics for editing directly from the Photos app.
• OmniFocus 2 - Task manager lets you see what's next in the Notification Center. Also, shoot new tasks to the app through sharing Extensions.
• Facebook - Ubiquitous social networking app optimized for the iPhone 6's bigger screen.
• Color Keyboards - Stick close to the original keyboards, but add in your favorite colors.
• KuaiBoard - Use this custom keyboard to drop in chunks of preset text easily for those really repetitive e-mails and form letters.
• Yahoo Weather - Access the latest forecast from the Today widget.
• Dropbox - See latest activity in Today widget, plus new sharing controls for Pro and Business users.
• Minuum - A resizable keyboard perfect for those sticking with the smaller screen.
• Finish - Complete or stall tasks from the Notification Center.
• Swype - Another fantastic custom keyboard that focuses on gestures.
• Wdgts - A whole collection of useful notification tray widgets.
• Pocket - Handoff support lets you keep reading where you left between devices, and add new stories directly through Safari thanks to Extensions.
• Simple - Get access to your banking information through Touch ID.
• Find my Friends - Apple's location-sharing app can now move your friends list to iCloud.
• Find my iPhone - Now ties in with iOS 8 Family Sharing.
• iTunes U - Automatically add assignment due dates to calendar.
• Retro - Instagram viewer for iPad adds Today widget for keeping tabs on timeline and adds 1Password integration thanks to Extensions.
• Day One - Today widget offers flashback to previous entries, Extensions allow for easy importing from other apps, and Touch ID enabled to unlock.
• Evernote - Save notes with Notification Center widget, and clip content from all over with Extensions. Touch ID unlock for premium users.
• Badland - Visual optimizations for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screen size.
• Vimeo - Easier uploading and sharing thanks to Extension support.
• Asphalt 8 - Exclusive iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus season plus switch to Metal graphics engine.
• SwiftKey - Hugely popular custom keyboard finally on iOS.
• Fleksy - One of the first custom keyboards for iPhone.
• OpenTable - Notification Center widget to let you know about upcoming reservations.
• Fragment - Resume editing between devices using Handoff.
• Endomondo - HealthKit integration and interactive notifications for challenge requests.
• Microsoft OneNote - Clip all sorts of content to the cloud with new Share Extension.
• Buzzfeed - Catch the latest from the Today widget and bookmark from notifications.
• Box - Access Box files in other apps thanks to new Document Provider extension.
• Duolingo - Lesson progress widget added to language-learning app.
• pCalc - Quick calculation widget added.
• Snapguide - Recipe and home decor app adds iCloud Drive integration.
• Redfin - Real estate reference adds Today widgets.
• MyFitnessPal - Fitness tracker adds HealthKit integration.
• App in the Air - Flight tracker adds widgets.
• Amazon - Online shopping app adds Touch ID signin option.
• Carrot Fit - Fitness tracker adds HealthKit integration and iPad support.
• Pinterest - Pin to your collections from Safari, support bigger iPhone screens.
• Calendars 5 - Check your schedule with a new Today View widget.
• Scanner Pro - Can now scan photos directly from the photo library thanks to Extensions.
• PDF Expert - Zoom Writing, AirTurn support, bookmarks management and iOS 8 exclusive features.
• Documents 5 - Open, view, and edit files stored in iCloud Drive.
• Printer Pro - Wirelessly print documents from your iCloud Drive.
• PDF Converter - Save iCloud Drive files in other formats as a PDF locally.
• LastPass - Safari extension for remembering passwords and Touch ID integration.
• Sky Guide - Sunrise, sunset, and lots of other information available in a Today widget.

New iOS apps

• Goat Simulator: Achieve a trans-species nirvana in the greatest sim game of all time. - $4.99 - Download now

Discounted iOS apps

• Numerics: Business statistic visualizer. $19.99 Free - Download now

Other iOS app updates

• Ascension: New Darkness Unleashed expansion available for this dark fantasy card game. - Free, IAPs - Download now
• Rules!: Two new game modes added to this memory-testing puzzle game. - $1.99 - Download now
• Real Racing 3: Classic Lamorghinis added in this beautiful racing gaming. - Free, IAPs - Download now
• Snipp3t: Catch celebrity Tweets and Instagram pictures from within the app. - Free - Download now
• Twitch: Chromecast support added to help you watch live video gameplay on the big screen. - Free - Download now

Every day dozens and dozens of new and updated apps and games hit the iOS and Mac App Stores. It's impossible to keep up with them all, but it's not impossible to pick out the very best. Here they are! Today we've got a free unit and currency converter, a major update to 1Password, games and more.

New and updated iOS apps

• Vert 2.1: An elegant unit and currency conversion app, Vert hasn't been updated but is free for a limited time. If you haven't downloaded it, here's your chance to save yourself some cash. Free - Download now
• 1Password 4.5: Agile's popular password manager for iOS has been completely rebuilt in this new release, and now supports multiple Vaults and sharing. AirDrop is supported. a unified AutoFill tool has been added to 1Browser, and more. Through Friday it's 50 percent off. $8.99 - Download now
• FTL (Faster Than Light) 1.5.0: The spaceship simulator strategy game has been updated with fixes for various iPad sound problems, along with the ability to disconnect from Game Center when it's not working, and many other bug fixes. $9.99 - Download now
• Hotel Reservations by Booking.com 6.7: Book hotel reservations using this app. New and improved list of your bookings, importing a booking into the app is now easier, and more. Free - Download now
• MyGlass 0.5.0: Google's utility for managing and configuring the Glass wearable adds the ability to Control Glass from a screencast by swiping up on your iPhone screen. It also contains bug fixes. Free - Download now
• Plague Inc.: The strategy game about spreading diseases around the world updates to version 1.8 with a new "Mega-Brutal" difficulty, new cheat modes, challenges, new events, and performance improvements. $0.99 - Download Now
• Ember: The image organizer gets an update to version 1.2.2 with a new iCloud sync engine for increased reliability. $4.99 - Download Now

New and updated Mac apps

• 1Password 4.3: The Mac version of Agile's popular password manager is a massive update. Too much to list here, so go to the Mac App Store for the release notes. $24.99 - Download now
• Catan 1.3: A new version of the legendary computer board game optimizes graphics rendering, improves load times and stability, allows you to adjust terrain tile and character model texture quality and optimizes data exchange between the game and the editor. $16.99 - Download now
• Briefly 1.5: Briefly helps you create still motion (as opposed to stop motion) videos. The new release helps you sort photos by color, lets you loop the selected soundtrack and disables reduction of black borders. $14.99 - Download now
• ooVoo 5.0.1: Video chat software ooVoo got a huge update last week with the 5.0 release, which added HD video calling, easier group management and integrated messaging. The 5.0.1 update improves low-bandwidth video call quality. Free - Download now
• Ember: The image organizer gets an update to version 1.5.1 with a new iCloud sync engine for increased reliability. $49.99 - Download Now

More apps and updates?

If you try any of the apps or updates, let me know how they work for you. If you got any new or updated apps today that you loved, but don't see here, let us know about them!

Gotofail. Heartbleed. Target. Sony's PlayStation Network. The NSA. It seems like every few weeks, there's a new story circulating in the news about major security breach concerning systems that you rely on. What can you do to protect yourself?

The bottom line is that attacks do happen, so it's best to try to minimize the risk you face when these services inevitably are breached. Here are some tips to help you stay as safe as possible by changing your password habits.

1. Don't reuse the same password

It's easy to remember one password, more difficult to remember dozens. That's why many of us end using a single password for several different services we access. If you're doing this, don't. It's huge mistake. You're making it much easier for someone to get access to all of your accounts when you do this, especially if stolen information about you includes your e-mail address or other crucial identifying information you use across multiple sites.

2. Change your passwords...often

Get into the habit of changing passwords on a regular basis, at least on higher-risk sites and services like your bank or other financial institutions or anywhere sensitive data about you is maintained. Whether it's monthly, quarterly, whatever, make sure you don't use the same password forever. Many of these institutions may require you to change your password periodically already, but many (like my bank) don't. So make sure to shore up your security by filling in those gaps when necessary.

Use strong passwords

Don't use dictionary terms; hackers often employ word lists straight from the dictionary. That's why many services now require you to use a combination of letters, numbers and other characters.

Don't use the name of your spouse, pet, kids or any other information that might be gleaned from a potentially compromised personal profile.

The longer, the better. Some services have minimum password lengths they'll allow, but it's often a good idea to extend it even further. If your service requires an eight character password but allows up to 16, use as many letters as you can. Mix up letters, numbers, upper and lower case, punctuation — anything you can do to make it harder to crack your password.

3. Use two-step authentication if it's an option

Check to see if the services you rely on use two-step authentication. Google, many banks, even iCloud support two-step authentication.

The idea behind two-factor authentication is to combine something you know, like a password, with something you have, like your cell phone. While it does add a layer of complexity to interaction with services you depend on, it is very secure, because while a hacker might be able to get your password, they're unlikely to have access to your cell phone or another device you use for authentication.

4. Use a password manager or even just a notebook to keep track

Rotate passwords periodically. Use strong passwords. Use different passwords for every different service — it's easy to lose your mind with passwords. Make it easy on yourself by using a password manager.

Password managers are standalone apps that help you manage passwords for all the different sites and services you use. Some, like Mavericks' own iCloud Keychain and Agile's 1Password, work on both OS X and iOS.

If you can't afford a password manager right now or you don't feel comfortable using one, consider getting a dedicated notebook to keep track of your passwords, assuming you're a home user with relatively little security risk. It sounds counterintuitive: If it falls into the wrong hands, a notebook with your passwords can jeopardize your online safety, no question. (It pays to keep the notebook somewhere safe, that's for sure, to keep out prying friends and relatives).

But on the other hand, many of us aren't trying to keep friends, family and coworkers away from our online accounts, but hackers from the far corners of the globe who we've never met and are unlikely ever to meet. To that end, a notebook can be a relatively secure option.

5. Be safe

These are just a few common-sense tips to protect yourself online; there are a lot of other things you can do to keep your identity safe while you're online.

Your best tips for better Mac password security?

I suspect you have a few of your own that you're dying to share, so lay 'em on me in the comments!

Since there aren't a ton of iOS devices — like there are Android or smartwatches — the staff at iMore has traditionally shared our favorite apps instead. We didn't get to it at the end of last year, what with the best app awards and CES and all, so we decided to do it now, as a way to ring in the new year. Last week I shared what's on my iPhone for The Sweet Setup, so I'm going to focus on the iPad now. Here's my current iPad Air Home screen, and a few words on why I have it just exactly that way...

Okay. So... Yes, boring. My iPad Home screen is pretty much stock as the day it was unboxed. That's because I'm Captain Default. I keep all my stuff as close to stock as possible. It makes things simple when I reinstall, it makes things familiar for people when I do screen or hero shots, and, frankly, this way I'm never more than a new device or a reset away from knowing exactly where everything is. I have gotten in the habit of swapping the wallpaper occasionally, and filling the extra slots on the Home screen. Currently those include:

• Wallpaper: Recreation of Apple's 2013 iPad and Mac event invitation design by our own Derek Kessler.
• Entertainment folder: I watch a lot of video on my iPad. Netflix gives me all the catalog content, Global Go, the Bell-ruined-and-now-almost-unwatchable-CTV Go, and City Video give me the local broadcast stuff, and Air Video HD lets me stream just about anything from my Mac. With the exception of CTV Go, they're all easily beam-able to my Apple TV as well, thanks to AirPlay.
• Reading folder: My eyes weren't made for viewing alone! iBooks, Kindle, Comics, and Marvel Unlimited are where I read my —surprise — comic books. (Thanks to pricing and regional restrictions, they're spread all over.) Flipboard lets me read social, and Storehouse is new and interesting.
• iMore: Yes, it's not iPad optimized (yet!), but it's iMore!
• Tweetbot: Yes, it's not iOS 7 optimized (yet!), and I try not to Tweet from iPad, but it's still the fastest way I've found to triage Twitter.

To make up for the lack of excitement on the main Home page, I'll swipe on over to the right and share what's on screen two as well.

• Extras folder: An ode to the default Extras folder on iPhone, I throw the Apple utilities into here. Airport Utility to configure my router, Remote to control my Apple TV, Find my iPhone in case of emergency, and WWDC for the session videos. (Since Apple doesn't make Calculator for iPad, and Apple Store for iPad isn't available in Canada (yet!), it's a little under-filled for now...)
• iApps folder: I vastly prefer my MacBook for productivity but if I ever have to edit a file on my iPad, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, GarageBand, iPhoto, and iMovie are there for me.
• Social folder: I like Twitterrific as a reading experience, I have to use Google+ and Google Hangouts for work, and I keep Facebook around for friends and family.
• Podcasts: I mostly listen to podcasts on my iPhone when I'm driving between malls and coffee shops, but since it syncs, and just in case I want some late night listening material, it's here for me.
• Instagram: There's no iPad version (yet!) so I'm stuck with the iPhone version.
• Hue: Phillips Hue app lets me control the lights in my podcast studio, kitchen, living room, and hall, bulb by bulb, color by color.
• Sonos: My home theater, at my finger tips. (And in desperate need of an iOS 7 make-over!)
• TV Remote 2: Panasonic makes the app, and while it's not great, it's there in case I'm desperate to control my TV.
• Google Drive: Whether its for Mobile Nations's day-to-day management, or TWiT's podcast prep, or the stuff we partner with Geek Beat for, it all lives in Google Docs, which means I need the Google Drive app.
• Dropbox: My Document folder is in Dropbox. Mobile Nations' shared folders are in Dropbox. My synced files and databases are in Dropbox. Which... kinda makes it feel like, for better or for worse, a whole chunk of my life is in Dropbox... After logging into iCloud, it's the first thing I install on any new device.
• 1Password: All my web logins and licenses, all in one place. Security, meet convenience!
• Screens: For whenever I can't — or simply don't want to — get to my Mac, this is the VNC client that best takes me back. I've said it before, I'll say it again, you haven't lived until you've administered your servers from poolside!
• Editorial: Again, I prefer writing on my MacBook, but when I'm ultra-mobile, and I'm working in Text and Markdown, I'm working in Editorial.
• Flint: We use Campfire for our virtual office and Flint is the best client for it on iOS.
• Procreate: I like to pretend I still have time to draw, and Procreate has the most granular, deep drawing tools on the iPad.
• Paper: Goofy rewind control and a palette that pops up whenever I draw up not withstanding, the pencil tool in Paper by 53 is incredible.

And... that's it! At least for the first two pages! Is there more? Is my Retina iPad mini setup any different? What's on my Mac dock? If you're interested, let me know, and I'll address all of that, and more, in the future. In the meantime, do check out my Sweet iPhone Setup, and let me know in the comments — are your go-to iPad apps very similar or incredibly different?

1Password 4 for Mac is now live and available. The popular OS X security application was updated this morning, and completely rewritten with a simple new interface and a host of new features. You can now set up multiple vaults that can be shared with family members or coworkers, and each vault gets their own sync preferences. You can even set up a demo vault to show off 1Password to others. Open the demo vault from the app's lock screen with the password "demo". Switch between vaults by tapping the keyhole icon next to 1Password's traffic lights. You can also share individual items.

1Password mini is now a full menubar utility. Access all of your login information, credit cards, folders, favorites, and the password generator right from your Mac's menubar. The new 1Password browser extension works the same way. Completely rewritten in Cocoa, the extension behaves the same across the Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and now Opera browsers.

The syncing capabilities of 1Password have also been expanded. In addition to Dropbox, Mac App Store customers can also use iCloud to sync with other Macs and iOS devices. Wi-Fi sync has also returned, giving you the option to move your data directly between devices, rather than rely on cloud storage.

1Password 4 for Mac is a free update to customers who purchased 1Password 3 from the Mac App Store (MAS). New customers will pay $39.99 right now as part of a launch sale, down 20% from the regular price of $49.99. Customers who purchased 1Password 3 from the AgileBits website in 2013 are also eligible for a free upgrade, while website customers who purchased in 2012 or earlier will get an upgrade price of $24.99, down from the regular price of $34.99. 1Password 4 will is currently only available on the Mac App Store, but will come to the AgileBits store very soon.

(If the upgrade pricing sounds complicated and lopsided, once again it's a great developer trying to do their best for as many customers as possible, while still trying to feed their families, given the incredible restrictions placed on App Store Pricing. Buy it. Don't buy it. Realize that if we don't support great indie software, people will stop being able to make it.)

• $39.99 (Mac App Store) - Download Now

No doubt secreted away in multiple, remote, undisclosed -- likely underground, Batcave-esque -- locations, AgileBits has been working on an all-new version of their highly-rated security app, 1Password. Re-coded and re-designed, 1Password 4 brings a simplified design language and experience to iOS, yet also manages to ramp up the power and convenience. Unfortunately, I can't show you everything -- they're protecting it with hockey sticks and cattle brands and I can't take that kind of pain -- but I can show you some of the new vault view on the iPhone version.

Master password

If you've used previous versions of 1Password for iOS, you're no doubt familiar with the double-barrel protection scheme that's pin code lock + master password. Well, it seems they had a tussle for dominance and pin-code lock lost out, because it's gone. Now, like the desktop version, you have but one master password to rule them all. (You can, however, set a quick unlock pin-code for use when switching back-and-forth between 1Password and other apps.)

Favorites

Once you've unlocked 1Password 4, you're in the vault view by default. There are several tabs in the vault view, in standard iOS fashion, the first of which is Favorites. You can mark any login, secure note, credit card, generated password, software license, or bank account as a favorite and then get to that subset of really important items quickly and conveniently via the Favorites tab. (Just like Favorites in the Phone app.)

Categories

The next tab over is Categories, and that's where the vast majority of your secured information lives. Sub-categories include logins, secure notes, credit cards, generated passwords, software licenses, and bank accounts. Everything is sorted alphanumerically, as you'd expect, and you can easily add an item to any category. Depending on the type of item, you can have as little information stored as username, password, and login URL, or as much as complete bank or credit card account, branch information, limits and rates. There's also an all items view... with search!

Folders

If Favorites is a single list of your most frequently and urgently needed information, and Categories is the fire hose of everything, Folders sits somewhere in between as a way to group items that's likely be used together based on specific projects or contexts. For example, a work folder could keep all the items you need for routine portal and services access, and a New Thing sub-folder could keep all the items you want handy for that super-secret app you're developing, etc. A Financial folder could hold all your money-related logins and accounts. On the personal side, if you're taking care of a loved one who can't manage their own accounts any more, you can likewise collect them all in one place so you can more easily help them out without having to search through long lists every time.

Settings

Settings is, as always, where a lot of the awesome geeky stuff is hanging out. You've got sections for security, sync, and data, a news feed, and quick access to Help. Some of the goodies here include the aforementioned quick unlock code, a way to automatically clear the clipboard so your copied passwords don't stay in memory, and iCloud as a sync option. Dropbox is, of course, still there for cross-platform users and -- wait for it -- you can use iCloud and Dropbox at the same time.

1Password 4

Security is perpetually at war with convenience, and password managers are the front line troops that help us stay safe and still live our lives. 1Password 4 has been redone from pixel to bit with just that focus in mind. There's no word yet on when 1Password 4 will be released, but AgileBits certainly appears to have all engines well past the redline. Hopefully we'll get to see more soon...

In the meantime, if you want the current version of 1Password, you can grab it here:

• $14.99 - Download now

Update: AgileBits sent us a statement on pricing:

I'm really happy to hear this. Apple should implement upgrade pricing in the App Store, but in the meantime, this is the only solution developers are afforded. Offering a discount at launch is a classy way to mitigate upgrade cost for existing users, similar to upgrade pricing. Bottom line, I like it when developers can afford to feed their families, and make successful, long-lasting businesses that can create more great apps and updates in the future. Most of us don't work for free; neither should developers.

Security is constantly at war with convenience. Having unique, strong passwords for all your online accounts sounds great until you realize how tedious it is to implement them and how impossible it is to remember them. Because your iPhone is always with you, however, and because it has some truly great password management apps like 1Password, LastPass, and mSecure, it can be the ideal way to maximize security and minimize convenience. Not only that, password managers can be a great place to store all your secure information, including credit and debit cards, private notes, software licenses, and more. They can also help you generate and help you implement all your super strong, super secure passwords.

Considering the serious hacking attacks we've seen recently, you should absolutely start using a password manager, but which one should you use?

1Password vs. LastPass vs. mSecure: Interface

At launch, 1Password will ask you to set a master password and a 4 digit pin. After you've picked them, you'll be brought to the main menu. Here you'll see some default tabs along the bottom for logins, accounts, wallet, add, and settings. These may change based on what kinds of items you have programmed into the app. You can also change the sort order of these tabs by editing and dragging them into whatever position you'd like.

Under logins you can toggle sorting between title and domain. This is convenient for times when you have multiple passwords for the same domain. Once you find the item you're looking for you can tap into it. If you've got 1Password configured to protect certain or all items with pin access, you'll be asked for your pin or master password before any data will be shown.

Once you're viewing a credential for a particular site you can load it automatically by tapping the arrow next to the URL. The website will load and 1Password will plug in your credentials you have stored for you. The accounts tab will work in a similar way. If you've required master password access, you'll be asked before the app will show any sensitive information. I recommend this for any password management app. Next you've got a wallet tab that you can use to store things such as credit card numbers, bank account information, and more.

The settings panel of 1Password is straight forward enough and allows you to change things like sync options, master password, pin, how often the app should ask for a password, and more.

LastPass is configured similar to 1Password when it comes to layout. All your main tabs are along the bottom and you can easily toggle between sections by just tapping them. How you interact with the app is a different though.

The tabs in LastPass are sites, favorites, add new, notes, and settings. All of your regular site logins will show up under the sites tab while any other types of credentials will show up in the notes tab. This is a similar section to what 1Password calls Accounts.

When viewing sites or notes in the LastPass app, tapping on one will bring you a list of options which provides super quick access to the command you want. Examples are copy username, copy password, edit, launch, and more. Tapping launch will load the site and automatically fill in your credentials for you within an in-app browser.

mSecure's main layout and interface is different than both 1Password and LastPass. At launch you'll be asked for a master password and then presented with the main menu. This will contain lists of your logins that you can toggle by either name or type view. Name view will list all your items in alphabetical order based on what you set for the description. Type view will sort them by what kind of login they are. Where 1Password and LastPass have different sections for each account. mSecure combines them instead.

Tapping the lock button in the lower bottom right corner will lock mSecure instantly requiring a password for re-entry. Clicking the info button will launch settings. From here you can do things such as change lock timeout, set up sync, change fonts and themes, and more.

The other menu items are a sync button located in the lower left corner and a plus sign in the upper right which is what you'll use to add logins and accounts. When adding an item you can choose between several categories and give them names and descriptions. You can also use built-in lists to organize them or add your own through settings. Once the item is added it will appear in your main list. You can use the search bar at the top of the main menu to search for logins by keywords.

When it comes to interface and ease of use, mSecure and 1Password sort and manage passwords and credentials in the most efficient and user friendly ways while LastPass needs some organizational work.

Tie, 1Password and mSecure.

1Password vs. LastPass vs. mSecure: Accounts, logins, and auto-fill

1Password allows you to add several types of credentials, logins, and forms. Logins, namely web logins, are the ones you'll likely use the most. You can sort them by domain or title, and 1Password can use them to log you into your sites using the embedded web browser.

At first glance the accounts tab may appear to be similar to the login tab, and in some ways it is. The main difference is that the accounts tab can store information that isn't necessarily a web login. This is where you'd want to store things like Wi-Fi router passwords, POP or IMAP information for e-mail accounts, FTP accounts, or any other info that may not depend on just a URL, username, and password.

The wallet feature is similar to the accounts tab but is used for items such as banking and credit card information. I'd highly recommend requiring a master password or pin in order to access any of the individual items in this list.

While the desktop version of 1Password supports auto-fill with forms, the iPhone app does not currently utilize the feature.

LastPass supports the creation of many items. Adding an account can be done by adding a new item and selecting site. If you want to add another type of credential you can do so by selecting the type. The iPhone version of LastPass supports adding site logins, notes, bank accounts, credit cards, database info, driver's license info, e-mail accounts, IM accounts, insurance credentials, software licenses, auto-fill forms, and much more.

Once you're done adding the type of credential you need to, it will show up in the main sites section under its own heading. This is one feature that I don't necessarily like about LastPass. Everything seems to aggregate under only one tab. The reason it seems confusing is that the main tab is called sites. Something like accounts seems more appropriate if it is going to encompass every type of login you have. 1Password uses different tabs for different kinds of logins and the names of the sections make more sense and describe what they are more accurately.

Once something is added to LastPass you can tap it to bring up a menu with options on how you can interact and utilize that item. Though LastPass does contain the option to use auto-fill, tapping into an item will only allow you to view and edit it.

mSecure takes the good approach to organizing your data within one menu that you can sort. When adding a new item you'll be asked for the type and whether you want to sort it into a list, adding an extra layer or organization. If you are over compulsive about organizing data and being able to find it quickly, mSecure will satisfy those needs rather well.

From the main screen you can choose an account or login to view or copy the information to clipboard. You can also share it through e-mail. The one feature mSecure doesn't offer that may be a deal breaker for some users is the ability to launch a login from within the app and have it autofill for you. The only option currently present is to copy the data to a clipboard. You will then need to enter Safari or the iPhone web browser of your choice, navigate to the URL of the login, and use the pasted information where needed.

Even though it can't add or auto-fill forms from iPhone, LastPass only allows you to edit and view form data while mSecure doesn't support forms via the iPhone app at all.

When it comes to organizing and using accounts, logins, and forms, 1Password does the best job.

1Password vs. LastPass vs. mSecure: Generating passwords

1Password, LastPass, and mSecure will all allow you to generate strong passwords within the app. Each will also give you some idea of how strong the password is based on how many characters and what kind of characters. Once you're happy you can tap save and it'll ask you to name and fill in more information about what the password is for.

To generate a random password with 1Password you can just go to add item and scroll down and select generated password. You can move the slider in order to change the amount of characters. You can also choose to include or exclude numbers and special characters.

LastPass works similar to the way you would generate a password with 1Password but adds a few more options to the mix. You'll also generate them through settings instead of adding an item. You can toggle not only numbers and special characters but capital, lowercase, numbers, special characters, and more.

Most notably, LastPass allows you to enable options that make the password pronounceable or to avoid ambiguity. It doesn't have a feature showing how good the password is but provides many more options to suit any password requirement you may have to meet.

mSecure also allows you to generate random passwords but through an individual login. When adding a login or credential you can choose the key icon in the password field to be taken to the random generator.

From here you can choose to toggle between upper and lowercase, numbers, special characters, and password length. Just move the slider to change the length and a password preview will be shown in the box. Once you're happy with it you can tap save and it'll automatically insert it into the field.

When it comes to generating random passwords, all three have the ability to generate great passwords that are strong and virtually uncrackable without a tiny army of servers and years of time.

Tie.

1Password vs. LastPass vs. mSecure: Cross-platform syncing and browser support

When it comes to sync support, 1Password has built-in support across all their apps for Wi-Fi sync as well as Dropbox. For Wi-Fi sync, just have your devices connected to the same Wi-Fi networking and launch sync. For Dropbox support, 1Password will create a keychain item within your Dropbox that stores all your data for sync across all devices. This information is, of course, encrypted.

1Password has not only an iPhone app but an iPad app. The pricing and apps are a bit confusing as you can get an iPhone only version or a universal pro version that will work on both iPhone and iPad for just a few dollars more. There is also support for both Mac and Windows PC, and Android. The Mac version is available in the Mac App Store and the Windows version can be downloaded from the Agile Bits website. If you've got any Android devices you'll be covered in that arena as well. 1Password also has browser plugins across Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

LastPass will sync automatically with its own encrypted servers. To sync simply go into settings and choose the refresh option and you're done.

LastPass has a huge array of offerings across many platforms including Windows, Apple, and Linux for desktops and WebOS, Android, iOS, Symbian, and Windows Phone for mobile. LastPass also supports browser extensions for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera.

mSecure, like 1Password, will sync over Wi-Fi or via Dropbox. Upon initial setup you can just choose the method you'd like to use and then you're good to go.

mSecure also offers apps for both iPhone and iPad as well as Android when it comes to mobile platforms. They also offer support for both Mac and PC users but don't appear to have any native browser plug-ins.

If you're looking for a solution that provides support across almost all major platform, LastPass and 1Password are the best choices. While LastPass supports a few more platforms, 1Password supports the ones that matter the most.

Tie between 1Password and LastPass.

1Password vs. LastPass vs. mSecure: Pricing

1Password has a few versions available for iOS. If you're only looking for support on your iPhone, you can pick up the standalone version for $9.99. For $14.99 you can pick up the universal iPhone and iPad app. The desktop version will cost you an additional $49.99.

LastPass is a free download for iPhone and also has universal support for the iPad but will require a premium subscription which will cost $12 annually. The desktop version for Mac or Windows PC is also a free download and won't require an additional fee.

mSecure's iPhone app will cost you $9.99 but is a universal app for both iPhone and iPad. If you've got a Mac or Windows PC, the desktop variant will cost an additional $19.99 to complete the suite.

While it can add up over time, LastPass' subscription can't be beat for first time users. You can get started for only $12 a year.

• 1Password for Mac - $49.99 - Download Now
• LastPass for Mac or PC - Free - Download Now
• mSecure for Mac - $19.99 - Download Now

1Password vs. LastPass vs. mSecure: The bottom line

1Password, LastPass, and mSecure will all store your logins, credentials, and accounts securely but the way they do it and how you can interact with each app is different.

1Password provides a great product with support for almost any type of credential you can think of. It's also the suite that works the most fluidly across desktop and device. I've used a lot of password apps in the past several years and 1Password just works the absolute best.

In this case, you really do get what you pay for and if you're looking for a quality password manager that'll work across virtually every platform, look no further than 1Password.

1Password - $14.99 - Download Now

LastPass - Free - Download Now

mSecure - Free - $9.99 - Download Now

Apple has updated their MobileMe News "blog" with a helpful tip for added security, and for when that security necessitates the need for a helpful little reminder.

First up, Apple reminds everyone that even good passwords, left static for too long, grow old and stale.

You can change your MobileMe password via the Account icon, and Apple provides some suggestions for picking good passwords. (Here's ours -- use something long and with lots of numbers and symbols thrown in. Pseudo-random is the best. Use GRC.com to generate it, or use a good password manager (I use 1Password on the Mac, my PC friends recommend RoboForm) to both generate and store lots of logins).

Next up is what to do if you forget your MobileMe password, and it's fairly standard stuff, involving a secret question:

Pro tip: If you're even a semi-public figure, or just "don't trust anyone" make up a fake history, with fake maiden names, pet names, etc. or anyone who knows your background can hack your account as easily as they did Salma Hayak's.

I know Dieter hearts 1Password and it's probably the first thing I load up any time I install -- or re-install -- a Mac. They've got a great FREE iPhone app, but you really need the big desktop brother to get the full functionality, which includes Keychain password filling integrated right into any Mac browser, as well as wallet storage, and a personal favorite -- super-strong pseudo-random password generation.

They had a great special on Halloween, but Thanksgiving? Frankly, they're blowing us away. Anyone who currently has a 1Password license can GIVE away up to 3 FREE licenses to their friends! Those who haven't got 1Password, or friends with 1Password to give them this awesome gift, can buy a license for 15% off, and still get in on the FREE give away!

Offer's good until Sunday, November 30th, so if you want it, go grab it.

Confession: I use 1Password on the Mac a lot. I just used it to login so I could write this preview. I use it (synced via keychain) to my desktop at home, and I've used the various incarnations of the 1Password javascript bookmarklet on the original iPhone 2G. But now they've gone native, baby!

Internet security is a a huge concern, and with mobile internet security we ain't seen nothing yet. Browsers the caliber of MobileSafari make it possible to do our transactions on the go, be it logging into our favorite social network, or doing some emergency banking on the road. But what if we get out of the cab and leave our iPhone behind? If it gets snatched? What if someone else takes possession of the tiny little device with all our precious logins on it?

Read on to find out!

The good: 1Password has us covered, proving as innovative on the handset as they've always been on the desktop. Breaking things out into 2 categories, they provide a simple 4-digit PIN to access lower security logins (i.e., for a forum), and a full blown master password for high security items (i.e. your credit card account). And the interface? Gorgeous.

If you haven't previously used 1Password, just start entering your credentials and you're good to go. If you've already built up a 1Password store on your Mac, setup looks a tad more involved, favoring security over convenience in the age old battle, but given the focus of the app that's certainly understandable. If you're familiar with how Apple's Remote app works, this isn't dissimilar -- search for networked 1Passwords on your Mac, establish trust, and then sync.

The bad: Due to Apple's SDK restrictions, 1Password doesn't work with MobileSafari the way it works with regular Safari on the laptop. Basically, Apple doesn't allow plugins. To get around that, 1Password has built in it's own web browser. That means you may end up using a different app to access your secure sites than you use for casual browsing. Not a deal breaker for some -- and there doesn't appear to be an alternative approach -- but it's something to consider.

Also, they apparently let their programmers sleep, so we won't get features like wallet items, identities, password history, folders, search, etc. until version 1.1. What about my pseudo-random password generator? I use that all the time on the Mac! (Or did I just answer my own sync-enabled question?)

The unbelievable: According to the fine folks at Agile Web Solutions, for a limited time the 1Password App Store app will be given away FREE!

Not able to try it out first-hand yet, I'll have to wait for Apple to clear 1Password for App Store launch to see if the reality lives up to the concept, but they've sure made it a no-brainer to download and try out.

Check out their Switcher's Blog for detailed screenshots and setup instructions.