Product I Love: 1Password

As the world continues to accelerate towards all things digital, security and its associated concerns have been growing on par. With malicious cyber attacks on the rise, password security has been a growing topic, specifically how good (or how bad) the average password is. The challenge is not in creating a unique password each time but remembering all of them. That is, until 1Password. 

Connectors prefer to work smarter, not harder. And that sentiment is apparent when we sat down with Craig Wilson, QA Automation Engineer, and Zack Freedman, Software Engineer, to find out why 1Password is a product they love.

What’s so great about 1Password?

Craig: So that would have to be the ease of it all. It’s an incredibly smart and robust product. I was impressed with how it approached different login flows. For example, say you have a multiscreen login flow, and you click on the field on the first page, and it auto-fills. The product is intelligent enough to know that when you click through and go to the next screen, it will detect that you’re in the same context, same flow, just a different screen and field, and it will autofill those as well. Plus, I get a lot of use from the password generation tool they offer, but I feel like that one is a given. 

Zack: I started using 1Password as a student, which was incredibly conducive to the lifestyle. That being said, and if I was to be completely honest – I think it boils down to the portability of it. I mean, if I didn’t have a fingerprint scanner on my phone, it’s tough to imagine I’d use it as often as I do. 

But I do have a fingerprint scanner, as do all my computers, so whether I am out and about or sitting at work, knowing I can retrieve any password relatively effortlessly is just plain helpful. I’ve got enough things to remember.

What’s one of your favourite features?

Zack: Does the fact that I don’t have to write down passwords anymore or keep using the same, or some variation of the same password count?

Aside from the obvious, I really like how they continually push new features. One that I am really enjoying as of late is the ability to “share” some of the functionality with friends and family. So, for example, I can share a one-time password via a link that will expire after a certain amount of time. I think that’s a pretty neat feature and certainly helps others get exposure to the product. But generally, the best part is just feeling more secure and having one less thing to remember or worry about.

Craig: I feel like I’ve already covered a few of my favourite features, but to add on to what Zack said about just generally feeling more secure, what I’ve really been enjoying as of late is how the value of the product someone extends past the obvious. Think of the term “password manager,” and top of mind is likely just that, something to help you organize and easily reference your login credentials. But to their suggestion, I store a lot of other really valuable information there, including my family’s social insurance numbers, health card numbers, and more. So it really can act as a secure enclave for all of your family’s personal information, and with everything moving digital, its practicality is on par with physical copies.

Have you recommended 1Password to anyone before and if so, what was the result?

Craig: I think the product sort of advocates for itself. I mean, when someone comes over and wants to use my wifi, and I give them a 50+ character password of pure nonsense, they either want to stop coming over or consider looking into it. 

More aligned to the question, I’d say my partner for sure. I don’t think anyone could argue that 1Password is Apple-first, and she’s an ardent Blackberry and Windows user. However, regardless of that fact, her main concern is that if she doesn’t have her computer or phone on her or they’ve run out of battery, she won’t be able to access her passwords.

Zack: Similarly to Craig, I’ve attempted to convince my fiancee, but she just really likes Google’s offering; you know, it works. She doesn’t have to think about it, or so she claims. And on there has been more than a few occasions where I’m like, “See, if only you had a password manager, you could share stuff with me or wouldn’t forget this password.” 

I haven’t apparently been able to provide a convincing argument to date.

Any areas where you think there’s room for improvement?

Craig: I guess it complements the previous point, but I think they could do a better job providing some more marketing material on educating users on the different use cases, putting people’s minds at ease that they won’t, in fact, ever be without their passwords. If so, our advocacy stories may have had another outcome. I never claimed to be good at sales. 

Despite how great it is, I do find a few awkward bits. Like, when it suggests a password for a new website, and you want to turn that into a full login, I just feel it could be a little simpler and seamless. 

But they have improved on past issues I’ve had. The scariest part was the uncertainty around whether it did or didn’t actually save the password and account information. Now, when you autogenerate, it asks if you’d like to preview it before clicking submit. I appreciate the continual improvement.

Zack: I think there’s definitely some room for improvement around the contingencies for account recovery. I don’t know if this has been updated, but the last time I checked, I couldn’t add my fiancee to be the emergency person on my account because she herself didn’t have an account. I think that could be reimagined a little better. 

Also, it would be nice to see them make a bit more of a push towards Android. Don’t get me wrong, there has been a lot of improvement in that area since a few years ago, but I think it still has a ways to go if it’s to grow in appeal to non-Apple users. However, that being said, regardless of which operating system you use, if you find yourself in need of a password manager, you would be making a wise choice in selecting 1Password.

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