Before we start, tell me where you keep your passwords? a notebook, an excel file, or your brain. Yeah, now I think it’s about time, we learn how to use a password manager.
As far as password managers go, 1Password has plenty of good things going on from the high-level 256-bit encryption to the more simple stuff like interacting with their community.
The most important factor is great security and that’s something all the best password manager options should have.
Features of 1Password
One of the coolest things about 1Password is the multiple vaults feature. We could just dump all my sensitive information into one place or could have it properly organized. Plus if I have to share a bunch of things at once, well putting them in a vault and then sharing that one little vault is way easier than just sharing them one by one.
The travel mode feature of 1Password is cool. We can mark which vaults are travel-safe. It’s nice to be able to keep it locked up while you’re abroad.
On the topic of securing data, the “watchtower security check” is another thing. The best thing is, it points out everything, that might go wrong weak passwords, and compromised logins.
One more feature I want to cover in this 1Password review is the web version of this product. which is called 1Password X., unlike the regular 1Password browser extension which is still available to use. by the way this can only be used on chrome, firefox, and edge. so yeah a little bit limiting but these are the most popular browsers anyway.
Their App is well made easy to set up, and easy to navigate. the user interface is clean and looks pretty nice too. I’ve also set up a mobile app which brings me to this quick little piece of advice.
Enable the autofill function in settings. because that is a lifesaver. otherwise, you could always copy and paste stuff in general though whether you want to use a desktop application a mobile app, or the browser version. all this is just going to come down to your particular preference.
Pricing
1Password offers mainly 5 plans. 2 for personal and family and 3 for Team and Business. For personal, which is USD 2.99 per month or USD 35 per year. For your family, it’s USD 4.99 per month for up to 5 members. There are also two versions for business there is their team’s plan at around USD 19.95 per month. For bigger businesses at 7.99 per user per month.
Advantages of 1Password
One of the advantages of using a password manager is that, when you have a password manager helping you create passwords, they will be more secure. They will be stronger passwords. that are longer, they use more different characters than you would probably use on your own. And there are several different password managers available on the internet. Compared to Nordpass, 1Password is little expensive. but its worth.
One of the biggest differences between using a dedicated password manager and just using your browser as a password manager is.
Something like Keychain for Safari, or even Chrome can save your passwords for you. And I don’t like having my browser have that kind of power over my data. I would much prefer to separate it, but one of the advantages of using a password manager is that you can store more than just passwords.
Watchtower: Every password manager calls it their own thing. Watchtower is just an algorithm that looks out and makes sure that your passwords are as strong as they should be.
Anytime that you have a password as your password, you are doing something very wrong. And you can have it shown in large type. That’s one of the things that I like, especially about the mobile app, is showing that in large type.
2FA: Another thing that you can do is use two-factor authentication within 1Password. You’ve got your password as one, and then you’ve got your second factor of authentication as another separate means of authenticating that you are who you say you are.
All right, and finally, if you were to have any type of expiring passwords, Watchtowers gonna let you know, if there are any compromised websites. So any websites that have had a hack since you’ve changed your password, then they’re gonna let you know which ones those are. So that’s what the software itself, at least on the desktop, looks like.
Disadvantages of 1Password
- No Live Chat Support: The downside to using 1Password, which we mention for just a moment before we dive into my mobile device, is that there is no live chat support. So if you have an immediate problem or an immediate question, or you can’t get into your account, they’ve got tons of just articles and help articles that could get you through that, hopefully, but if you do have a unique situation where you’re just having to figure something out, they won’t have live chat available for you, even if you’re paying subscriber.
- No Free Tier: They don’t have a free tier, so, whereas you’ve got a lot of these other password managers that give you a free version, 1Password doesn’t do that. They just give you, a 14-day free trial.
The 14-day free trial for 1Password gives you access to the whole thing so that you can upload as many. You can take an export from your Chrome browser or Keychain and import it into 1Password. and see how it works, and use all of your online logins and not just 50 of them, or, you know, some of the free password managers restrict you from being able to sync between your devices. You can use it on your computer, but you can’t use it on your phone unless you pay.
Is 1Password Secure?
First of all, the number one thing that you need to understand is that, when you’re using a password manager, this is true, not just for 1Password, but for most all the password managers that I know of, you’re using what’s known as a secret key, zero-knowledge encryption. So what that means is, you are encrypting your vault with your master password, and then that vault gets uploaded.
1Password, even if someone were to come in and just, at gunpoint, tell somebody in the 1Password offices to unlock so and so’s password vault, they literally cannot do it because they don’t have your secret key. So that secret key, that’s different from your master password, but both of those together are what secure your accounts so that as it’s being moved through the cloud into your different devices. you don’t have to worry about losing access, or at least giving over access to your vaults, to somebody that may be hacking 1Password.
So the idea of, what if 1Password gets hacked? That shouldn’t worry you, because if they get hacked, which they haven’t, and I don’t see why they would, it wouldn’t be a problem because they don’t have your secret key, and that secret key is what really gives access to that vault.
Alby Abraham is an technology enthusiast, published blogger, and a content marketer who spends his time on building a career in the digital marketing industry. He also writes a blog on The Last Words for tech lovers.