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81Tiger04

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 11, 2009
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I currently use Keychain to keep my passwords. However, I hear a lot of people rave about 1Password. They seem like the same product to me. What's the big deal about 1Password? And how is it different from Keychain?
 
They are very similar and Keychain provides most of what 1PW can do for free. Like you, I never have seen the value given what 1PW costs. I can see the appeal if you need PW sync cross platform like to an Android device for example.
 
Simply, if all you use is Safari in Apple devices, Keychain is exactly what you need. If you use multiple browsers or multiple platforms you'll need 1Password because how will you get your passwords on both Safari & Firefox?!
 
I have a different viewpoint and use both Keychain and 1password. There are quite a few passwords I don't store in keychain for example banking, iCloud, dropbox. Also I store all my software license information there too.
 
I have a different viewpoint and use both Keychain and 1password. There are quite a few passwords I don't store in keychain for example banking, iCloud, dropbox. Also I store all my software license information there too.
Just curious why you would not store those things in Keychain? I use a secure note in Keychain for software license info.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I genuinely curious why you would pay for 1PW to do what Keychain already does free. :)
 
Just curious why you would not store those things in Keychain? I use a secure note in Keychain for software license info.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I genuinely curious why you would pay for 1PW to do what Keychain already does free. :)

Simple...
Anything cloud based is stored elsewhere like on apple or microsoft servers. Ipassword is stored on local. Elsewhere means it can be accessed by whomever controls the server if desired or needed.

General rule: keychain is good for sites you don't care about (like macrumors) and financial, software licenses etc. should be stored locally or externally (even real paper). This is why people get ipassword or other programs.

Unless of course you use Sierra and do not turn off the saving everything in cloud option....good move apple to be like microsoft to get your data....
 
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Simple...
Anything cloud based is stored elsewhere like on apple or microsoft servers. Ipassword is stored on local. Elsewhere means it can be accessed by whomever controls the server if desired or needed.

General rule: keychain is good for sites you don't care about (like macrumors) and financial, software licenses etc. should be stored locally or externally (even real paper). This is why people get ipassword or other programs.

Unless of course you use Sierra and do not turn off the saving everything in cloud option....good move apple to be like microsoft to get your data....
If you do not turn on Keychain sync in iCloud settings, everything is stored local and nothing at all is in the cloud, exactly like 1PW. So I'm not seeing the difference.
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1Password gives me an added level of security.
In what way?
 
I use 1Password for a ton of stuff beyond what KeyChain will do. I store all logins/passwords for websites, both personal and work-related. I keep credit card numbers in 1P. I keep a ton of secure notes in 1P for all sorts of personal information. I store all software registration and license keys in 1P. The part I really like is that it's always available on my Mac at home and on my phone wherever I might be. I also use it as the password generator for new websites and it automatically catches nearly 100% of any password changes/updates that I'm required to make.

There are several synch options -- locally maintained or out in the cloud somewhere. That part is a personal choice depending on how much you trust Apple or DropBox, even though the data file is seriously encrypted.

I haven't bought into the subscription model yet but it seems interesting. I may take another look at it in the near future so that my wife can store all of her info in the same family plan.

It probably comes down to your personal need for password management and secure storage of a large number of small pieces of information. Just my $.02.
 
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I've used 1Password for years and don't use Keychain for passwords. Reasons:
  • Also works on Windows box at work.
  • Works in multiple browsers, not just Safari
  • Multiple password vaults so passwords can be shared -- my wife has a vault, I have a vault, and we have a shared vault. (Subscription is not required to do this.)
  • Can easily store other information such as software licenses, credit card info, personal data. This can automatically paste into appropriate fields in web forms or manually copy/paste anywhere.
  • Entries can have file attachments like license files
  • Very nice password generator which will even update the 1Password entry if you change passwords.
  • Auditing to warn about duplicate passwords (although if you use the password generator this won't happen), old passwords, and passwords on compromised sites.
 
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I use 1Password primarily for the multiple device and browser support. I also like the extra security of the 1Password encrypted vaults.

Another convenience is storing a Login with the site URL, username, and password so I can open a web page and login by just clicking the desired Login in 1Password. This feature is great for checking bank accounts.
 
Keychain Access databases aren't fully encrypted while 1Password and the others are totally encrypting the databases you create with their apps.

Basically, if you take your keychain database, add a .txt, open it in whatever, you can see that the passwords and secure notes are nonsense, but the names and login fields themselves are there in plaintext.
 
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Simple...
Anything cloud based is stored elsewhere like on apple or microsoft servers. Ipassword is stored on local. Elsewhere means it can be accessed by whomever controls the server if desired or needed.

General rule: keychain is good for sites you don't care about (like macrumors) and financial, software licenses etc. should be stored locally or externally (even real paper). This is why people get ipassword or other programs.

Unless of course you use Sierra and do not turn off the saving everything in cloud option....good move apple to be like microsoft to get your data....

if you only store local then how do you sync it all across all your platforms?
 
if you only store local then how do you sync it all across all your platforms?
DropBox does sync all your contents between computers and saves it to a "DropBox" folder on each computer so that you can access it at anytime while not connected to the internet. Anything you save to that local "DropBox" folder will automatically be uploaded (encrypted) and saved to all your member computers when next connected to the internet.

It is also very useful with 1Password to auto-fill your name & address, credit card info, passwords, etc. to documents you encounter, all synced to each of your computing devices.

I find DropBox and 1Password to be among my most used apps on OS X and Windows.
 
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Got it but what I was getting at was the comment about keychain using iCloud and it being on a server where it can be compromised. So how is 1password different if it has to be synced across a cloud service also?
 
Got it but what I was getting at was the comment about keychain using iCloud and it being on a server where it can be compromised. So how is 1password different if it has to be synced across a cloud service also?
It is a AES-256 encrypted file vault that can only be unlocked with your password for 1Password. It is encrypted before it leaves your computer to whatever supported cloud sync service you choose.

Here is a link that explains the sync and security features:
https://1password.com/security/
 
I haven't done it for quite a while since I switched to a cloud-based synch process, but the local synch was extremely easy as I recall. As you might expect, it requires connecting your devices -- with a cord or on the same wireless LAN. Again, it's been a while so the specific details are a bit sketchy... but the 1P app on my Mac would recognize that my iPhone was connected and I'd simply click a button to start the synch process. It took seconds to do the two-way update. I was slightly hesitant to move my password database to the cloud as well, but with the encryption and the reputation of the company, I gave it some thought and realized that my 1P file is probably the least of my worries for being hacked or having my personal info stolen.
 
In past year I stopped using 1Password and now use just iCloud Keychain, which seems reliable and does all that I need. I was syncing 1Password across a cloud server to all my devices, so I see no security difference to using Keychain with iCloud.
 
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I have found several of my passwords for websites not autofilling due to it being over several pages i.e. userID on one, photo confirmation of site on another, password on the third. Some do not allow autofill from keychain. Does 1PPW have any holes in coverage like this?
 
So I use Keychain ... It stores to iCloud and I cannot access passwords on my Mac, iPhone, etc.

If I were to use 1Password, does it only store using Dropbox? And I guess I'm getting mixed up in how this works with my iPhone?
 
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