Sharing Vaults with spouse

Kevin O'Shea
Kevin O'Shea
Community Member

I read some posts from last year indicating that:

  • Multiple vaults is a Mac only feature
  • Sharing your primary vault with another user (spouse) may cause problems if you use the iOS version (it might try to merge the two vaults)

Can someone indicate if this is still the case? Disappointing as we just bought 1Password because of the multiple vault support thinking we'd be able to do this. Having one master vault with folders isn't as attractive an option.

Comments

  • hawkmoth
    hawkmoth
    Community Member

    Multiple vaults are not supported on the current release for iOS. It will be supported in an upcoming update, but they are not forecasting a release date for that.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi Kevin,

    I do apologize for the inconvenience here. I know there are a lot of users who are excited to see multiple vault support rolled out across our other platforms (and I'm certainly one of them!) It is a top priority for our developers, and we'll release it just as soon as it is polished up and ready. As @hawkmoth says though, I can't provide any details about a date.

    In the meantime, Folders can help keep you organized so that once multiple vaults are available on iOS, it will be a simple matter to move from a folder set-up to a multiple vault set-up. :)

    I wish I had a better answer for you here, but I'd be happy to help if you had any further questions.

  • Kevin O'Shea
    Kevin O'Shea
    Community Member

    I'm OK waiting on multiple vault support (it would be fine if, for now, we could only see each other's vaults via the Mac app). I'm more curious to know whether setting that up will/won't screw things up using the iOS app.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi Kevin,

    Thanks so much for your patience here. The trouble here is that the iOS app isn't yet smart enough to differentiate between vaults, so there is a chance that if you have multiple vaults synced via Dropbox, the iOS app could latch onto the wrong one, and you may end up with a merged database (which would undo all of your great multiple-vault organizing!)

    However, if you and your spouse are Apple-only, we might be able to get around this:

    • Each of you would sync your primary vault to iCloud (you would need to have separate iCloud accounts for this), and sync this database to your iOS devices.
    • Then, your secondary vault could be shared between the two of you using Dropbox.

    I'd be happy to give you some more detailed directions on how to set up or switch sync solutions here, but I'll need a bit more information on your 1Password ecosystem. If you let me know the version numbers of 1Password and your operating systems for all computers and devices currently using 1Password, as well as who belongs to which computer/device and which data needs to go where, I can write up some instructions. :)

  • Kevin O'Shea
    Kevin O'Shea
    Community Member

    Thanks for the followup. We're both Apple-only, and on the latest versions of OS X, and both the Mac & iOS apps. We could do the iCloud primary mechanism you describe, but I'm not sure how that solves the problem. The goal is to be able to share our primary vaults with one another - if that means only being able to access our primary vaults via iOS, that's fine, but it sounds like the scenario above still may not accomplish that.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi Kevin,

    I apologize for misunderstanding here! Generally we don't recommend sharing primary vaults. There are some differences to how primary and secondary vaults are designed which could complicate the process. It's usually best to keep your primary vault for items that only you need (even if it's only a few items), and then share a secondary vault.

    However, If you and your spouse want to share your entire password databases, your other option is to just merge the databases into one primary vault and the same database that between the two of you.

    I'd be happy to help with either of these scenarios. :)

  • Kevin O'Shea
    Kevin O'Shea
    Community Member

    Disappointing, but understood. Please feedback to the developers the desire to share your primary vault. The spouse scenario seems very common - similar to how my wife and I share calendars. We don't want to merge everything into one, but want to have the ability to refer to each other's from time to time.

    Sharing one vault would functionally work, but organizationally is a lot messier. The multiple vault model is great. It's just annoying to have the primary vault be limited in this way.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi Kevin,

    I am sorry that I don't have a better answer for you here, and I'm happy to pass your thoughts along to our developers.

  • macjustice
    macjustice
    Community Member

    I was trying to set up a shared vault for my wife to use in the wake of the Heartbleed news, and I came across this thread. I'd like to second the request, as the use case Kevin describes is just what my wife and I would like to do. It looks to me like the problem was that the iOS app was looking for files named 1Password.agilekeychain, maybe give it the option to look for anything in your Dropbox with the *.agilekeychain extension, then let the user select which vault to add, provided they have the password, of course.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @macjustice (and Kevin),

    Our developers have been listening! We've heard from many users such as yourselves who want to share their primary vaults. While it is important to remember that secrets can't be unshared, we are looking into ways to make it possible to share a primary vault in a multiple vault set-up.

    I can't say much more than that right now, so we do appreciate your patience (and your feedback!)

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @rstrauch‌

    I do apologize for the confusion here. There is a lot of information to sift here on the forums, and it can

    Are you advising against each of us sharing our primary vault with the other as a secondary vault, or against creating a single primary vault that we both have access to, or both?

    At this point, the complication comes in when you turn your primary vault into your spouse's secondary vault and vice versa. As I mentioned above, our developers are working on making this simpler in the future. :) Creating a single shared primary vault is a fine idea.

    The single shared primary vault is what I’d like to set up.

    This should be an easy process to set up, and it sounds like you've got the instructions pretty much sorted out as well!

    The only potential problem I see here is getting 1P to recognize the shared folder as the database location, rather than the dropbox top level.

    To share the 1Password database, here's what you'll want to do:

    • Go to Preferences > Sync and select Dropbox
    • Select the 'Choose vault' and click your Dropbox folder
    • Confirm, and 1Password will create a 1Password folder at the root of your Dropbox and store your 1Password.agilekeychain inside
    • Go to the Dropbox website and log in
    • Share the 1Password folder with your wife (not the 1Password.agilekeychain itself)

    If you need some help getting this keychain loaded into 1Password on your wife's computer, please let me know if she already has 1Password installed with any data in it or if we're starting fresh. I'd be happy to help!

  • On behalf of Megan, you're welcome. Please let us know if you have any other questions! :)

  • OlMike
    OlMike
    Community Member

    Is there a walkthrough you have for setting up a second vault?

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @OlMike‌

    We've got instructions on Multiple Vaults and how to share a non-primary vault. These should get you all sorted out, but we're here for you if you have any further questions. :)

  • Kevin O'Shea
    Kevin O'Shea
    Community Member

    Any change on sharing primary vaults in the latest Mac/iOS updates?

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi Kevin,

    Thanks for checking in on us! You're right, the recent update of 4.3 for Mac and 4.5 for iOS brought some pretty great changes, including (finally!) multiple vault support for iOS.

    Now, I've spoken with the developers, and we might be able to get this set-up working for you! It will involve storing each keychain in a sub-folder of the 1Password folder in Dropbox. Before I give you instructions on just how to set this up though, I'd like to take a closer look at your system, to be sure I'm providing the correct steps for you. Could you please send us a Diagnostics Report?

    http://learn.agilebits.com/1Password4/diagnostic-report.html

    Then attach the entire file to an email to us: support+forum@ agilebits .com

    Please do not post your Diagnostics Report in the forums, but please do include a link to this thread in your email, along with your forum handle so that we can "connect the dots" when we see your Diagnostics Report in our inbox.

    A short note here once you've sent the Report in will help us to keep an eye out for it. :)

    Once we see the report we should be able to better assist you. Thanks in advance!

  • Kevin O'Shea
    Kevin O'Shea
    Community Member

    Wonderful. I just sent the email and referenced Comment_120133 in both the subject line and in the email body.

  • sjk
    sjk
    1Password Alumni
    edited April 2014

    We've received your email with the report, Kevin - thanks! Someone from the support team will get back to you as soon as possible to help you with this setup.

    .

  • StretchGSK
    StretchGSK
    Community Member

    Hello...
    Well I am delighted that I have successfully setup a secondary vault for my wife using the OSX app and got is syncing using drop box to our iPad.

    The OSX app works perfectly in that I can choose which vault to unlock before being prompted for a password.
    So my wife never needs to know my master password or have access to my passwords.

    The iOS version on the other hand is always looking for the primary vault password first which defeats the purpose as my wife uses the iPad mostly.
    Am I doing something wrong or is this a function that still needs some work?

  • pawo
    pawo
    Community Member

    Sharing with your wife SOME of the passwords for the common internet accounts and not revealing the master password of your primary vault is something many would like to do, including myself. Now as you have implemented the multiple vault functionality in iOS, couldn't you agilebits guys issue a sort of tutorial how to set things up properly. Would be great if you could distinguish between OSX and Windows users as the Windows version does not (yet?) have the functionality. Thank you.

  • PeteTh
    PeteTh
    Community Member

    @StretchGSK‌
    My thoughts entirely see discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/comment/120028/#Comment_120028 where I suggested having an option where when set : the iOS App would prompt for the individual Vault's password when you switch vaults. In this way an Empty vault can be set up in iOS with a different master password to gain initial access - then switching Vaults to mine or my wife's would prompt for the corresponding password.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @StretchGSK‌,

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts here! At this time, as you noted, the iOS app will always ask for the Master Password of your primary vault. We've heard from many users, (including @PeteTh‌ ), who would like more versatile options here. I'm happy to add your vote to the existing feature request!

    Hi @pawo,

    We do have a tutorial on how to share a non-primary vault! I hope this helps you to get set up, but if you do have any further questions, we're here for you. :)

  • StretchGSK
    StretchGSK
    Community Member

    Hi Megan

    Any update on this feature?
    I have finally managed to get my wife to create and start using a decent master password so she is ready to get started on 1Password.

    If this is still some time away would you be able to arrange a retro purchase of a family license?
    I purchased through the app store by the way.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @StretchGSK‌

    Unfortunately I don't have any updates on this feature at this time. This isn't to say that we're not working on it, we just make it a point to never make promises on unreleased features - there are just too many factors involved that could affect a feature's release, and we don't want to promise something that later becomes impossible. :)

    If this is still some time away would you be able to arrange a retro purchase of a family license?

    Unfortunately, family licensing is not available through the Mac App Store. The licensing terms of the App Store however are very similar to our Family License. From Macworld's Mac App Store FAQ:

    "You can install apps bought from the Mac App Store on any and every Mac that you personally own and use."

    "Apps don't check to see if you've using an iTunes-authorized Mac. They can ask you to verify your Apple ID and password, but that's a single check and it's just to verify you are who you say you are. Once your identity is verified, that's it. There's no authorizing or deauthorizing or counting of different Macs."

    "Apps are purchased for and owned by a user linked to a single Apple ID. But if you log in with that ID on all the Macs in your household, you can download and install your apps on each one."

    In short, you can use the same AppleID to install 1Password on the computers of your family members, just remember that they will require the password for this AppleID to take advantage of any updates. :)

  • StretchGSK
    StretchGSK
    Community Member

    I feel pretty dumb not thinking of that myself... i'll get her onto her own setup tonight

  • Not a problem. Please let us know if you have any other questions :)

This discussion has been closed.