misleading update procedure

npp

I just did a fresh reinstall of my Mac’s hard drive where I’ve been running 1Password 3.8.22. I enjoy and rely on 1Password so it was one of the first things I reinstalled. Thank you for this great piece of software, first of all. But I’m writing to complain about the deceptive way that the update procedure worked.

I downloaded the legacy 1Password 3.8.22 (listed now as being for Lion and Snow Leopard, despite the fact that it has worked perfectly well for me all the way up to Yosemite) and (after some Googling because it's difficult to find) the older Chrome extension that's compatible with that version and that doesn't require 1Password 4. Immediately on opening it tells me I should “update" to a new version of 1Password. But it does not mention that I am moving from a paid to an unpaid license. So I updated but then I look at my license and now it says I’m on a 30-day trial. So it just silently stripped away my paid license and put me on a demo without my knowledge or consent.

I understand that it costs money to develop software. I understand that you’re going to design UX to “steer" people somewhat towards purchasing upgrades rather than sticking with old versions forever. But there should always be a clear and obvious distinction between a free software update and a paid software upgrade. It is not ethical to confuse the two in order to better your conversions. It is not ethical to silently strip away a users’ paid license without telling them.

With a product like 1Password, trust is everything. I intended to upgrade eventually anyway, but now I’m hesitant to give my money to a company that seemed willing to deceive me.

Perhaps this absence of notification was not intentional in this case. I look forward to hearing your response.

AGAlumB

@npp: Thanks for reaching out. I'm sorry for the confusion.

I downloaded the legacy 1Password 3.8.22 (listed now as being for Lion and Snow Leopard, despite the fact that it has worked perfectly well for me all the way up to Yosemite) and (after some Googling because it's difficult to find)

The easiest way to get the extension installed in your browser is to open 1Password, click on the 1Password menu, and go to Install Browser Extensions, though you can certainly search for it manually (since it's just a page on our website).

Immediately on opening it tells me I should “update" to a new version of 1Password. But it does not mention that I am moving from a paid to an unpaid license.

I believe this is the notice you're referring to:

Unfortunately, 1Password 3 has no way of knowing whether or not you have a license for 1Password 4 (or 5). For this reason, clicking 'Upgrade Now' actually takes you to the AgileBits Store, which kind of covers all the bases, since -- again -- there's no way to tell if a purchase is required or not at this stage. From there you can go straight to 'Downloads' at the top, have your license(s) resent, check for upgrade eligibility, or buy 1Password outright if you haven't purchased the appropriate license already:

We've actually had the opposite complaint from many customers: that 1Password 3 will tell you you are on the newest version if you're already on 3.8.22, since we don't want to offer someone an automatic update that requires a purchase. As it stands, clicking 'No Thanks' means that 1Password 3 will never even mention 1Password 4 again, and not even tell you that a newer version exists after that.

Customers write to us all the time, asking why we're not telling them that there is a newer version to pay for even, since it's easy to dismiss that window and forget about it entirely. We try to strike a balance here, and I'm sorry that you feel like you've been misled as a result of 1Password 3 informing you that there is a newer version available.

So I updated but then I look at my license and now it says I’m on a 30-day trial. So it just silently stripped away my paid license and put me on a demo without my knowledge or consent.

1Password 4 in no way invalidates your 1Password 3 license; however, 1Password is is a separate purchase, and therefore your 1Password 3 license won't be able to register 1Password 4. Additionally, we include a 1Password 3 license with 1Password 4 (and 5) purchases, so the vast majority of AgileBits customers can start using 1Password 4 (or 5) just as soon as they update to a newer version of OS X (as you did).

I understand that it costs money to develop software. I understand that you’re going to design UX to “steer" people somewhat towards purchasing upgrades rather than sticking with old versions forever.

Indeed. We believed that 1Password 4 (at the time of it's release, when we added the upgrade notice to 1Password 3) is 'worth the price of admission', so to speak. If we didn't believe we could make a product that was worth charging money for, we wouldn't have been able to justify putting all that hard work and thought into it to rewrite it from the ground up. But more significantly, the upgrade notice isn't there to 'steer' but rather to inform.

With a product like 1Password, trust is everything. I intended to upgrade eventually anyway, but now I’m hesitant to give my money to a company that seemed willing to deceive me.

I couldn't agree more. If our intention was to nag you into paying for an upgrade, we wouldn't put up a one-time notice; we'd just offer you an automatic update to 1Password 4 and lock you in, only hitting you up for money after the fact -- once you're already hooked. And I don't feel like this is an exaggeration, as I encounter software products and web services like this all the time.

I appreciate that you have no reason to trust AgileBits by default; and as a matter of fact, if your experiences with other companies have been anything like mine, you may actually be predisposed to mistrust. While this is understandable, I feel like this may be a case of projecting a negative perception onto us and putting a poor construction on something that, on its face, is not heinous or intentionally misleading.

If you're seeing something else, please let me know. But I believe that the fact that 1Password 3 still works on Yosemite speaks to the quality of our software (we have a fantastic development team) and our integrity, because many companies in a similar position choose more coercive methods.

That said, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on the experience you had. I have no doubt that there will be another new version of 1Password someday which will be a paid upgrade, so if you have specific ideas for how we can strike a better balance between informing customers of new releases without being a pest, we'd love to hear them! :)

npp

Hi Brenty,

Thank you for the detailed and considerate response.

I believe this is the notice you're referring to:

I do remember that notice from before, and that to me is clear. No issues there. But that's not the notice I'm referring to. This was something different - it was more along the lines of "update to the latest version" and, if memory serves, it may have had a long list of bugfixes, etc. But it wasn't clear that I was upgrading to a new product.

AGAlumB

@npp: You're most welcome! I'm glad to help in any way I can. :)

This was something different - it was more along the lines of "update to the latest version" and, if memory serves, it may have had a long list of bugfixes, etc. But it wasn't clear that I was upgrading to a new product.

Hmm. I'd love to see a screenshot. That sounds like the autoupdater, with the inline changelog...but I've never seen that offer anything for the next major release. If you're on 4.4.3, for example, 1Password won't even tell you that version 5 exists, even 9 months later.

While it is our intent to be clear about this, I do apologize for any confusion we might have inadvertently caused you. Thanks again for your feedback!

npp

Hi Brenty,
I've tried reproducing the screen but haven't been able to. Maybe it was a combo? Perhaps I got the upgrade screen and autoupdater with inline changelog in succession? I don't know how else to explain my impression. Anyway, at this point I'm satisfied that it was either something unintentional or simply a misunderstanding on my part. Either way, my apologies for jumping the gun and thank you for taking the time to set me straight. As you said, there are a lot of companies who pull this sort of update/upgrade bait-and-switch and I'm glad to be reassured AgileBits isn't one of them. Thanks again for 1Password and for your great communication.
All the best.

littlebobbytables

Hi @npp,

Of course it may be that we have a rarely seen page where we didn't communicate ourselves as well as we could have. What I do feel confident in saying is we never want to be that kind of company. Everything I've witnessed in my brief time here screams one thing, we want happy users. We might not always make the perfect decision but everything is directed at making great software that our users love.

Our job here in the forums is to do our best to help when what you expect from 1Password doesn't seem to match what you're seeing and to try and resolve any issues you have. I'm glad @brenty was able to leave a good impression :smile: