AgileBits Denies Reported 'Acquisition Talks' Between Apple and 1Password [Updated]

[TriBruin]

It’s the same with Keychain...you need your face/finger/passcode to get into the phone, and then again to get into the passwords section or autofill. On a Mac, you need the master password twice to access passwords.

You may need the master password twice, but it is the same password. With a third party utility, you ideally would have two different passwords which is added protection.

AT MINIMUM, 1Password's security is no LESS than Keychain. To get to your data, a thief would have to access your computer/device (with a password/passcode) and then have access to your 1Password password.

If keychain is enough for you, by all means, keep using it, but for many of us, 1Password offers enough added value over Keychain to make it worth the cost.

 

[femike]

$4/month to keep track of passwords?

Exactly my thoughts. I just use the browser password feature or Keychain to auto log in. And passwords and other info are all in KeePass, all nice and secure and easy to get to and edit, no mess no fuss. Subscription fees for passwords is like paying for bottled tap water.

 

[wiffle]

Hopefully this will mean API integration of 1Password directly into iOS 12.

 

[profets]

This should piss off a lot of folks. Expect development to slow a lot if they acquire them, though it will likely be free.

After seeing what they did with the Workflow acquisition I think there’s a chance of something good coming from it.

 

[springsup]

If there is a deal here, I think it is because Apple sees pushing employees toward using a password manager to make Apple more secure, and if they are giving away subscriptions then it is also a nice employee perk to let them add their families as well.

The question then becomes: well, if Apple has all of these features already, why offer 1P subscriptions? How can they expect their customers to be happy with iCloud Keychain if their own employees would rather use 1Password?

Interesting to see where this goes, if true...

 

[manu chao]

What does 1password do that Apple's Keychain doesn't?

1. Works in Safari, Firefox, Opera, Chrome
2. Works on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android (and syncs between)
3. Allows for shared vaults in group plans (make a subset of your entries accessible to other people)
4. Can store (and help filling in) 2FA codes
5. Password 'audits': show weak passwords, re-used passwords (Keychain is gaining that in Mohave), show when a website with a stored password has suffered a security breach, passwords that have surfaced from successful hacking attacks, show websites that offer 2FA
6. Offers nine categories to group things (Keychain offers only 'Passwords' or 'Secure Notes')
7. Allows you to add tags (and thus easily find a subset of your stored entries), group a list of important ones under 'Favourites'
8. Can store attachments (eg, a photo of your Passport)
9. Password history (ie, passwords previously used for a site, including when it was changed)
10. Can sync across other things than iCloud (eg, Dropbox)

 

[Bin Cook]

Will Tim need to raise a support ticket to get the link to the standalone version as well?

 

[barnyard]

"...happily independent and plan to remain so."

for now!

 

[FromJamRock]

“Happily independent”
LOL

Sure, everybody says that until another zero is added to the check and then being part of the empire isn’t such a bad idea.

 

[Azzin]

Support for 2FA/1TP.

https://support.1password.com/one-time-passwords/

Great info, thanks for posting.

 

[digitalexplr]

Does anyone seriously think Apple would, if true, install an "inferior third party" product corporate-wide? There are a lot of options Apple could do without fully purchasing 1P.

 

[Combi06]

If true this is looking a lot like the Workflow acquisition. Sort of how they incorporated Workflow into Siri shortcuts. Having 1password's functionality natively on the Apple ecosystem would be great.

I actually use Dashlane for my password manager needs and I am doing the 30 day trial for 1Password to see what the fuzz is all about and honestly I haven't seen anything that will make me keep it and replace Dashlane at this moment but if it was to come built-in with Apple software then it would be good enough for me and can save some money by not having to pay the dashlane subscription (or 1Password for that matter)

 

[paulcons]

The issue I see is their cloud. For years I have used their messaging platform on both my ios and macos devices, they were always (ALWAYS) been in perfect sync. After they "switched" it to going through their cloud, I have LOST the ability to keep any conversation running as it should on both devices. i.e. I have 20 lines of texting appearing 24 hours LATER on one device because it was made on the other device... AND it appears NOT in the correct spot in the timeline, but in a spot up to 24 hours later. More and more, every day there is another thing that USED to work 100% that is now broken...

 

[manu chao]

I
How does Apple keychain incorporate 2 factor app authentication support? It's well known that 2 factor sms is not nearly as secure as app authentication.

Apple supports 2FA for its own services, eg, logging into iCloud on a new computer can send a code other Apple devices (eg, iPhone) associated with the same AppleID.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Apple supports 2FA for its own services, eg, logging into iCloud on a new computer can send a code other Apple devices (eg, iPhone) associated with the same AppleID.

Right. Otherwise all they do is automatically copy codes from text messages for you.


Which is hardly support.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

$4/month to keep track of passwords?

Exactly my thoughts. I just use the browser password feature or Keychain to auto log in. And passwords and other info are all in KeePass, all nice and secure and easy to get to and edit, no mess no fuss. Subscription fees for passwords is like paying for bottled tap water.

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/browser-password-manager-probably-isnt-enough/

4.99 for a family of 5, sharing vaults (for bills), storing VIN, program license, network info (not just the password, but custom settings), reward cards, and so much more. I’ve used keepass, but they are far from user friendly and the UI isn’t great. For a non-techie person, 1Password is far easier to use.
Because iCloud Keychain is useless on anything that isn’t Apple, and more:

1. Works in Safari, Firefox, Opera, Chrome
2. Works on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android (and syncs between)
3. Allows for shared vaults in group plans (make a subset of your entries accessible to other people)
4. Can store (and help filling in) 2FA codes
5. Password 'audits': show weak passwords, re-used passwords (Keychain is gaining that in Mohave), show when a website with a stored password has suffered a security breach, passwords that have surfaced from successful hacking attacks, show websites that offer 2FA
6. Offers nine categories to group things (Keychain offers only 'Passwords' or 'Secure Notes')
7. Allows you to add tags (and thus easily find a subset of your stored entries), group a list of important ones under 'Favourites'
8. Can store attachments (eg, a photo of your Passport)
9. Password history (ie, passwords previously used for a site, including when it was changed)
10. Can sync across other things than iCloud (eg, Dropbox)

 

[imronburgundy]

What does 1password do that Apple's Keychain doesn't?

It's not platform agnostic for one. Also, the user interface is leaps and bounds over Keychain.

Edit: Meant is platform agnostic.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

The question then becomes: well, if Apple has all of these features already, why offer 1P subscriptions? How can they expect their customers to be happy with iCloud Keychain if their own employees would rather use 1Password?

Interesting to see where this goes, if true...

iCloud Keychain is useless on Windows that Apple uses to make iTunes and other stuff for Windows. They also make Apple Music for Android. You can also give employees access and revoke access when an employee is terminated. You can’t do any of this stuff with iCloud Keychain.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Pac-Man really was a prophetic game..

 

[Iphtashu Fitz]

What does 1password do that Apple's Keychain doesn't?

Well, among other things it lets me store MFA tokens (Google Authenticator) and generates the one-time MFA values. So when I'm on my desktop/laptop I can submit an MFA value with a single mouse click, rather than digging out my phone, launching Google Authenticator, and manually typing the code.

 

[826317]

What does 1password do that Apple's Keychain doesn't?

Cross platform support?

 

[avanpelt]

So glad that AgileBits has denied that there is any truth to this acquisition rumor. 1Password is one of the very few software programs that is a requirement for my family. It fundamentally changed how we approached passwords years ago. AgileBits makes quality software; and I wouldn't want to see their work get swallowed up by the behemoth that is Apple.

 

[Azzin]

I wonder if the same people that are bemoaning Apple's rumoured acquisition of 1P, will be the same ones shouting about how great Siri Shortcuts are in iOS 12?

 

[ipponrg]

Imagine if Apple acquired 1Password and added Siri on top of it. It'd be what everyone had been asking for. Better yet, let's leverage Workflow/Shortcuts with 1Password and Siri

 

[stoopkidblues]

I guess we should have seen this coming but not sure how I feel about it yet. Keychain is a decent starting point but I’d be interested to see how/what Apple implements from 1Pass. Have to admit that I didn’t know much about password managers (or their usefulness) until I downloaded 1Pass years ago but now it’s one of my most used apps.

Hopefully it’ll just be a re-branding like Apple did with the Workflow app for Shortcuts.