1Password for Mac vs. 1Password X: What'S the difference?

BenBob

Thank you very much Brenty. And many thanks to Lars and Arturoaubry in other threads. Between all of you, I think it may be slowing sinking into my thick skull.

See if I have got this right.

1. 1Password7 is a desktop app for Mac that works in Safari via an extension. It will also work in Chrome and Firefox as long as you install the corresponding extension for those browsers.

2. 1PasswordX is a completely different animal and I do not need to use it if I have the desktop app installed which will allow me to use 1P across the 3 browsers as mentioned in #1 above.

3. To use 1P on my iPhone and iPad, I need the 1P app installed on those devices (which I currently have and use). 1PasswordX does not work on those devices.

4. Regarding a membership subscription: Previously people would purchase the stand alone 1P app, version 1, 2, 3, ...., 7 and not have an account subscription. When a new version came out they would have to pay to upgrade to the newer version. With a membership subscription (annual fee) I am assured I will always have the latest updated app (currently version 7.3.1).

AND LASTLY A SEPARATE QUESTION: When I subscribed, I subscribed to the family plan, hoping I could convince my wife to also use a password manager and create secure passwords. At present I do not think I am going to convince her. If so, is it possible to switch my membership to a single user and get a partial refund of the family plan or do I just switch it over and when it renews it will renew at the single user plan?

Again, many thanks!

Ben

@BenBob

That all sounds right: yes. :) It is possible to change plan levels but how exactly that happens depends on if you are subscribed directly through 1Password.com or if your subscription is through Apple. For the latter, in order to change, you'd need to switch to direct billing. In any event our billing team would be best positioned to assist you with that. I'd encourage you to reach out to them. They'll be able to look up your account and see what the best path forward is, depending on how you are currently set up. You can reach them at support+billing@1password.com. Please email in from the email address associated with your membership.

Thanks!

Ben

BenBob

Thanks Ben.

I subscribed directly with 1P using direct billing.

littlebobbytables

Hi @BenBob,

That does make things a lot easier :smile: If you sign into your 1Password account in your preferred browser and visit the Settings page (should be visible in the sidebar on the right hand side) you should be able to convert to a 1Password Individuals with just a few clicks. This does assume that you are currently the only active member of the 1Password account, if there are two or more active members the server won't allow you to make that conversion as it would place any other member in a state of limbo.

BenBob

Thanks lttlebobbytables. The conversion is complete and have spoken with your billing dept for a prorated refund.

Ben

Excellent. Thanks for the update @BenBob. I'm glad to hear that worked out. If there is anything else we can do, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Ben

himaniyadav

Hi y'all. I am not yet a user of 1Password but am looking to start, and am confused on whether I should get the old 1Password or the new 1PX. I am leaning towards getting 1PasswordX since I am a student and occasionally I have to log onto my accounts on a friend's laptop or school computer - this would mean I could have access to my password just by logging in to my Chrome account rather than downloading some app on a computer that's not mine (if I'm understanding correctly). Since 1PasswordX is used through a browser extension, will I be able to have access to my passwords through the extension if I am offline? For example, there may be a situation where I need a password to log in to some website on my phone but only have cell service, no wifi for my laptop to work. Also, will the mobile integration still work fine if I have 1PasswordX instead of the app? Sorry for all the questions! Looking forward to starting with 1P soon :)

AGAlumB

@himaniyadav: Thanks for asking! If you're just starting out with 1Password, I do think 1Password X is a good option...but not for the reason you mentioned.

With 1Password X you can have the same experience in Firefox or Chrome (-based browsers) on all your computers.

But I can't stress enough that we can't ever recommend using 1Password (or, really, accessing anything sensitive) on someone else's computer. Even if the owner of the computer is not malicious, you're essentially opting-in to whatever they have installed on it. I haven't been a student for a while, but I wouldn't trust classmates for a second to not go to shady websites and get malware. Everyone makes mistakes, and by using someone else's device you're kind of signing up to be impacted by all of theirs.

Fortunately, as you mentioned, unlike when I was in school, most of us have really powerful personal computers (as opposed to PCs) in our pockets now. So you'll have something with you where you can use to access your 1Password data -- 1Password for iOS, or 1Password for Android -- which is available offline because it's cached locally. I realize that you will probably need to sign into an account on an untrusted computer for classwork at times, but instead of signing into 1Password there, you can sign into only the account you need to. That way there's just one password you need to change later, not all of them.

I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions at all be sure to ask! :)

himaniyadav

Okay, that's fair and makes a lot of sense! Thanks for a prompt response. I'll make sure to not use 1Password to sign into random computers then, haha.

Henry

On behalf of brenty, you're very welcome, @himaniyadav! Let us know if we can help you more with getting started with 1Password, and we'll be right here for you. :)

jaylindell

So 1Password 7, and its future brethren, are a one-time purchase (with incremental upgrade charges, depending on the beefiness of the release, like maybe 1Password 8 might be), whereas 1PX is a subscription model (which I am not keen on.) Does Agilebits (Dave) plan to go subscribe-only at some point?

Lars

@jaylindell - 1Password X isn't "a subscription model," it's just that 1Password X is designed to work without a local 1Password native app, which means it can go where 1Password hasn't been able to in the past, such as onto Linux machines, or even something like a Solaris workstation -- basically anywhere you can install either Firefox or Chrome (desktop, not mobile). But because 1Password X works without a local app, it requires direct communication with the 1Password.com servers, which does require a 1Password membership/subscription.

When you subscribe to a 1password.com account, you get all four of our native applications (Mac, Windows, iOS and Android) as part of your subscription at no extra charge, including all future upgrades for as long as you maintain the membership. So you can literally have one or more devices on each of those types of platforms all running their respective native 1Password apps...without worrying about purchasing separate licenses for each, upgrading costs, installing license files, keeping track of license keys, etc.

Standalone licenses, by contrast, are what they've always been: they grant the buyer a "forever" license to install and license the version of 1Password for which the license was purchased. So if you buy 1Password 7 for Mac, you can install and use it on as many Macs as you own/use that can run versions of macOS with which 1Password 7 for Mac is compatible. But your license for 1Password 7 for Mac doesn't entitle you to future upgrades, or other platforms like 1Password for Windows. Make sense?

I don't have a crystal ball regarding what the future holds in terms of standalone licenses and subscriptions, but I'll reiterate that purchased licenses never expire -- you can use them forever if you still have hardware and versions of OS and browser(s) that are compatible. They don't include updates for compatibility or new features, but your license(s) never expire. Hope that's helpful.

reboot81

@brenty

…1Password X exists primarily so that people who can't install the desktop apps can use 1Password in their browser. It runs entirely in the browser, so it works in situations where a desktop app cannot be installed, like Chrome OS, Linux, and restrictive corporate machines. It can be used inside the browser.

This is the info that should be presented on https://support.1password.com/getting-started-1password-x/ and in the video "Get to know 1Password X".
It took me quite some time to find this forum thread do really understand the reason why X exists. Don't me wrong, I love 1P. I advocate it weekly to friends and family. But this new product is not well explained; why it exists and how it differs from the traditional app.
The page https://1password.com/downloads/windows/#browserswhere extensions are offered also explains fairly clear what differs X from the standard extension.

Ben

Thanks for the feedback @reboot81. :+1: I agree - it would be better to be more clear about the differences. Part of the problem is that there are a lot of changes happening now, so by the time we write, approve, and push updated documentation there is a chance it is already out of date. For what it's worth we do recognize that offering two very similar, yet slightly different, browser extensions is less than ideal. Hopefully we're able to bring more clarity in this regard in the future.

Ben

drneutrino

All this confusion would be better served if the company concentrated on VIDEO's that were less for SALES and more for USERS, especially those who have used 1PW for years and are upgrading. It's appalling IMO. The mix of terms and expectation that every user is the same is horrific. How about explaining things instead of selling them and define the terms in the videos and slow them down. You folks live, sleep and breathe your products, so don't expect us to do the same at the get go. I know this is job security for you all but having used a computer everyday of my life since 1967, Ive been confused until I read Brenty's comment above. David TEARE - read this!!!

Ben

Hey @drneutrino,

Thanks for sharing your insights. You make some great points. We don't currently have any videos that explain the differences between 1Password X and 1Password 7, and that's unfortunate, as it is a confusing topic. Video is a very powerful educational tool. Unfortunately part of the difficulty is that there is a lot happening right now, particularly with 1Password X, and so a video would potentially very quickly become stale. It takes quite a bit to plan, produce, record, edit, and publish a video, only for the info contained within to be outdated by the time any customers actually get to watch it. And it isn't super easy to go back and update the contents of a video. Text is quite a bit more flexible in that regard. We'll continue to brainstorm about how we can best get clear information out in various forms (including video) quickly so folks can keep up. Thanks again.

Ben