Feature request for 1Password Provide PIN opening on TouchID enabled devices | Dafacto
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Feature request for 1Password Provide PIN opening on TouchID enabled devices

10 July 2015

The passcode to unlock my 1Password keychain is longvery longand typing that in on an iOS device is time consuming and error-prone.

Fortunately, Agilebits provides two short-cuts:

  1. For iOS devices that support TouchID, you can open 1Password simply through recognition of your fingerprint, in the same way you unlock the device itself.
  2. For iOS devices that do not support TouchID, 1Password allows you to set a four-digit PIN that can be used to unlock 1Password after youve initially authenticated once with your passphrase. This option remains secure, in that you only get one chance to enter your PIN; if entered incorrectly, the app again requires full authentication with your passphrase.

Either from having naturally sweaty fingers, or living in a humid, costal environmentor a combination of bothTouchID does not reliability work for me. In fact, it only works about 10% of the time I try to use it. From scan-setup of the same finger multiple times, to complete resets, Ive tried every recommended approach to improve TouchIDbut all to no avail; it simply doesnt work for me.

As a consequence, while 1Password is usable for me on my iPad mini via the PIN mechanism, its awful to use on my TouchID-enabled iPhone 6. Every time I need to open 1Password, I have to type in that very long passphrase.

For that reason, I wish that 1Password would offer the PIN access mechanism on TouchID devices, as an option.

Speaking with the support staff at Agilebits, theyve communicated that this isnt possible, because the current implementation is to offer TouchID on supported devices, and fall back to offering PIN access on devices that dont. But thats just the way its currently implemented; there shouldnt be any technical reason why 1Password couldnt offer both options on TouchID devices.

I understand that Im in the minority, and that for most people, TouchID works just fine. And I know that many product decisions are made considering trade-offs related to the size of affected groups. My hope, however, is that the people at Agilebits can consider that the cost in usability of this particular problem, for those in the minority like myself, is huge, and creates a situation encouraging the use of a shorter, less-safe, passphrase.

And perhaps considered in that light, they’ll add both options to 1Password running on TouchID devices as well.

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