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What happens to my data if 1Password one day ceases to work or exist?

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rb25
rb25
Community Member
in Memberships

I'm not a 1Password user but I am thinking of signing up. I am trying to understand the platform and how it works. I understand the concept behind it, but one thing that isn't clear to me is this (I really do mean those questions honestly and not as a joke):

Let's assume something happens and the 1Password server/app stops working (the reasons could be varied). How do I log on to my accounts then, if I can't access the master password and therefore all other passwords generated by 1Password?

Similarly, what happens if 1Password as a company closes down and the app no longer is maintained. I know this sounds dumb, but let's assume it happens, what happens to my data, and how do I access my accounts then?

It feels risky to put everything in one place. Having things written down in a notebook is of course annoying, but at least I know where that notebook is in my house, and I can make other backups of that. But if a digital app that stores all my data fails, and I'm locked out of my accounts, that feels troublesome.

Thank you.

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Comments

  • Ben
    Ben
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    Hi @rb25

    It is a valid question; thanks for asking. Hopefully I can help aleviate some of the concern here. In part because of the possibilities you've mentioned we feel it is incredibly important to give people options to export their data into plan text, such that no one is ever 'locked in.' Both our 1Password for Mac and 1Password for Windows apps offer exports to CSV (a common plain text format that can be read by essentially any spreadsheet program or text editor).

    Additionally when using any of the 1Password apps your data is cached on your device. Our data format is open, so that even if somehow every copy of 1Password suddenly stopped working, tools could easily be written to do this. In fact, while we don't recommend their use (because we recommend never putting your Master Password into any tool other than 1Password), such tools do exist. You have secrets; we don’t, why our data format is public

    We also have our own in-house command line tool which can help make getting data out of 1Password even easier. You can read more about that here: 1Password command-line tool: Getting started

    1Password is a long standing company with over 15 years in business. The company is growing and healthy. I certainly wouldn't anticipate what you're describing happening, but it never hurts to have a backup plan. :+1: I hope that is helpful. :)

    Ben

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