Most great products start with a question in the mind of the consumer being heard by some opportunistic, clever designer or inventor. 1Password is a perfect example of a great development team answering a call; the call in this case being, “Why can’t I just have one password for everything?” The end result of their hard work is a beautiful, practical and elegant application on both Mac and iPhone/iPod Touch that does all the leg work for you when it comes to storing and simplifying all your web logins, banking information, software registrations and user account information (and more), and making access to these details available via a single master password. They’re not the first to store your private information in a password-protected database, but they’re certainly the first to come up with such an elegant and powerful UI for it, and such brilliant browser integration that puts all that data into action, which makes filling login boxes and forms a breeze to an extent that surprised even me (having used similar tools before).
I love and recommend 1Password highly. Now that I’ve taken the time to set it up on Mac and iPhone, I don’t know how I managed my personal data without it. It’s one of those apps that just makes sense and is beautifully executed from every angle. Hopefully Agile Web Solutions will be quick to add the promised MobileMe/WebDAV sync feature in the Pro application on iPhone, which will promote this to killer app in my view, by making it even easier to sync between multiple macs and iPhones (avoiding the wifi sync issues experienced by some).
Setting Up
If you’re starting with 1Password from scratch, the place to start is on the Mac. There’s some considerable data entry involved in getting all your logins and software keys into the application (depending on how many web logins and software keys etc you have, of course). The keyboard is a much better place to do all this data entry, and once you’re done on the Mac, a single sync to the iPhone application will push it all through to the iPhone app, saving you at half a trillion thumb-clicks. Let’s get started.
Mac Setup
After purchasing 1Password from the Agile Web Solutions web site (no cheapie at USD $40, but worth every penny) and installing it to the Applications folder, launch the app and you’ll be greeted with the welcome screen below:
Click New Data File to get started. Here you’ll have to choose and enter your Master Password. Make this a strong one, and make sure you can remember it. This is the password that unlocks your whole database and you’ll be prompted for it not only on launch of the app, but every time time you first use 1Password in a browser session to access logins (note that if you have the app open and unlocked in the background, you’re considered authenticated and don’t have to re-enter master password in your browser). Because of this, you don’t want it to be too long, just make sure you mix it up with capitals and throw some numbers in there for extra strengthening.
An old trick I use is to recall a favourite piece of gear’s model number (nothing as simple as iMac... more like DSP-A780), something you use quite regularly in the real world and can refer to if you ever forget, and throw in a single variant just to be sure. For this example, I might choose DspA7800. This method works very well for me, but I guess not everyone cares to remember the model numbers of their electronics...
After entering your master password, you’ll need to use it for the first time, to allow access to your now-empty database from the reassuringly safe-looking unlock screen below:
After login, you’ll see the beautiful blank canvas below, just begging you to throw everything but the kitchen sink into its bottomless piggy banks:
As hinted by the help bubbles, click the ‘+’ button to add a new record for each sidebar category. For this guide, I’ve focussed on Logins, Software and Wallet entries, as they are generally most useful. As you fill each category, you’ll be filled with warm fuzzies and joy as you watch your collection grow. If the feeling takes you (as it did me), you can even dump your own images into Logins entries to give them more attractive preview icons* if the auto-populating ones don’t take your fancy, by dragging a new image over the preview at the top right.
A handy feature from the Logins screen is the ability to click the arrow icon next to the site’s hyperlink (in the blue header bar) to not only take you to the link, but pre-fill the login info and log you in automatically. Nice!
Keep entering data until your Software, Wallets and other sidebar categories are filled to taste. More warmth ensues.
[caption id="attachment_5738" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The 'Software' screen"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_5731" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Secure storage of your banking info in the 'Wallet' screen"]
[/caption]Browser Integration
During installation, 1Password automatically installs the 1Password Plugin into your browsers. Safari is my weapon of choice, so let’s take a peek at how 1Password integration works in said sexy app.
Restarting Safari will bring a new change to your toolbar - the 1Password button:
This button controls the retrieval and submission of all your 1Password logins. When pressed, the 1Password info for the domain you’re currently visiting will automatically be available. The example below is me visiting the MacTalk forums:
Clicking the relevant login from the drop-down autofills (and auto-submits) the login credentials for that site. That’s all there is to it.
If you’ve just started your browsing session and 1Password.app is closed/locked, you’ll be prompted to enter your master password the first time you use 1Password in the browser. Subsequent logins can be called without the need for password entry in a single session. If you’ve finished browsing and you want to lock 1Password, click ‘Lock 1Password’ from the button menu.
Now that you’re using a more secure autofill solution, make sure to turn off Safari’s built in username and password autofill if you’ve been using it. Leaving this on basically negates the extra security layer you gain from using 1Password, so click into Safari > Preferences > Autofill and remove the check next to ‘User names and passwords’:
iPhone Setup
There’s very little to speak of on the iPhone side if you’ve already entered all your data into 1Password on Mac. Once installed, you’ll be syncing your data from desktop to iPhone, then you’re ready to go.
First, download 1Password or 1Password Pro form the App Store (AUD $5.99 and $9.99 respectively). The differences between these versions are detailed in the description, but basically you get more copy/paste functionality for Mobile Safari and the promise of a WebDAV/MobileMe sync service in the near future. Hanging for that!
Syncing Data
For some, this part of the 1Password experience is a bit like watching Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin host an awards ceremony; every now and then you get a glimmer of hope that things might work out, then it all falls over again. When things work the way they should, the sync setup is pretty much a zero-config operation, and it’s beautiful. You open the iPhone app, allow external connections, then go to your Mac app and your iPhone will magically appear in the sidebar under the Sharing menu (read on for a proper walkthrough). Unless it doesn’t.
The issue for some is that under the hood, 1Password uses Apple’s Bonjour service to find the iPhone, and depending on your network setup, Bonjour may not be very good at it. Agile Web Solutions haven’t put much info on their web site about what those network setups/configs actually are which cause issues, they seem to prefer dealing with user issues on a case-by-case basis. I, for one, had a staggeringly easy time getting sync up and running on 2 macs and iPhones across 2 different WiFi networks. If you do have problems with syncing, the best place to start is with these ASW links:
Basic Sync Setup Steps
Intermediate Sync Setup Steps
Advanced Troubleshooting Steps
But let’s not jump ahead. If you don’t experience any malfunkery, it’s a very straightforward process to pull these 2 platforms into sync nirvana. First, close 1Password on your mac and open 1Password onto your iPhone/iPod Touch. You’ll be welcomed with the following screen:
From this screen, set the unlock code to a memorable 4 digit code (this is used for login and lower security items that don’t require Master Password entry) and enter the same Master Password you set in the Mac app.
Once you’re in, click into Settings and tap Allow External Connections if prompted. You’ll be given pass codes (‘Secret 1’, ‘Secret 2’) to enter on your Mac, which will allow a permanent pairing between the 2 apps:
Open the Mac app and you’ll see a new sidebar item called Sync, which will list your iPhone as an available device:
Enter the Secrets codes into the fields provided and click Sync Now to kick off your first sync. If you select the option for Sync With iPhone to ‘Automatically’, the sync will occur any time both applications are open at the same time on a common WiFi network. Note that the iPhone app will NOT sync to the Mac app when the iPhone app is closed. It requires both applications to be open, and any time this is the case, your data will sync automatically. You’re up and running!
Just Buy It!
Let me finish by saying that for the purposes of writing this article, I’ve migrated freshly to 1Password from a *cough* competing platform (sounds a lot like eWallet on iPhone), the developers of which have left their users waiting for a Mac version to sync their personal data to for just over two years now. Yes, people years. With occasional blog update throughout this time, assuring mac users that their app is ‘coming soon’, the developers tried hard to convince me that my countless hours of punching in literally hundreds of logins and accounts with my dextrous thumbs wouldn’t go to waste. But they have. The Mac version of their software has simply been too long in coming, and I’m done. Best of british luck to them.
Agile Web Solutions, on the other hand, have their eyes set on the future. A couple of weeks back they posted a preview for 1Password on iPad, and boy does it look nice. The more I see of this developer, the more impressed I become. So now, with this guide to hold your hand through the setup, you’ve got no excuse not to whip out your credit card and grab one of the handiest apps for Mac and iPhone!
Storing And Syncing Your Private Data With 1Password