Master Password change not syncing through Wifi

Hi @marcange,

I'm sorry you're having trouble with that! If you changed the master password on your Mac, the change should definitely sync to your iOS devices (it doesn't currently work the other way around). But you'll need to make sure you have the latest version of 1Password on your iPhone and iPad, which is currently version 5.4.2.

If you have the latest version on your iOS devices, this should work, but you'll need to follow these steps:

• Unlock 1Password on your iOS device with the old master password.
• Allow it to fully sync.
• Once the sync is complete, go to Settings > Security > Lock Now.
• Try to unlock 1Password with the new master password.

The reason you need to do this is because the 1Password app doesn't sync until it's unlocked. Once it syncs, the new master should work.

Please try that and let us know how it goes. If for some reason you're still having trouble with that, we'll continue from there. Thanks!

Hi @marcange,

This list should help a bit (I hope)

• 1Password for Mac (AgileBits Store) is at version 5.3.2
• 1Password for Mac (Mac App Store) is at version 5.3
• 1Password for iOS is at version 5.4.2

If you're checking the Mac App Store on your Mac then you won't find version 5.4.2 as the App Store application on your Mac only shows Mac applications. The easiest way to see what version of 1Password for iOS you are running is by checking out this link, Which version of 1Password am I running?. If you're not running 5.4.2 on your iOS device then it might be it needs updated via iOS' App Store app. Confusing as it uses the same name as the Mac but this one only shows iOS apps.

Assuming 1Password for iOS is up to date then the steps drew covered should force the 'sync' and acceptance of the new Master Password on your iOS device.

We don't recommend changing your Master Password on a regular basis it's true. I did try to find a page that explained this but we've been so busy migrating documents to a new system I can't see if it does indeed exist. I think this thread will do better justice than I can at the moment, How often do you change your passwords?. We recommend picking a strong Master Password once and leaving it at that. Now of course there are situations where maybe you need to change it. For example, somehow somebody has managed to obtain a copy of your vault. You would want to ensure not just that the Master Password has been changed but also the encryption keys are different (that doesn't happen with a simple Master Password change for technical reasons) as well as working through your vault to change all the passwords. Now given how long it would take to brute force a good Master Password some could argue there isn't any need to change all the passwords in your vault but for peace of mind it means that should the contents of your vault ever be obtained the information is already extremely out of date. That's something we can guide a user through if it's needed. Don't forget, your vault is very different from authentication on a site or a computer were access can be reset. Access to your vault is only by decrypting the vault and it cannot be reset. Does that help at all? and please do let us know how you get along with ensuring your existing Master Password is pushed to your iOS devices :smile:

If you change it frequently, you increase the risk of forgetting it.

Thanks @danco, that's a good point! :)

One thing I wanted to add to all this is that we do have some online documentation that might be helpful. Our User Guide article on Security Preferences mentions this:

A strong, memorable, and unique Master Password should generally not be changed. However, if your Master Password is weak and needs to be made stronger, or if you are using it for something else, we recommend strengthening and unique-ifying it.

In technical terms, your 1Password Master Password is an encryption password rather than an authentication password. Security advice that tells people to change passwords regularly does not apply to things like your 1Password Master Password. 1Password is like other high security tools such as SSH and PGP/GPG in this regard.

The links there lead to other helpful information about master passwords. And for more information about security in 1Password in general, I recommend taking a look at this knowledgebase article: Security and Privacy

I hope this helps! :)

Hi @jrhetts,

Much of what you said is correct, but there are a couple things I should clear up:

• Your master password is not the same as your encryption key. When creating a vault and choosing a master password, that password is used to encrypt a key, and that key encrypts the data in the vault. So, your master password doesn't actually decrypt your vault - it decrypts the key, and then that key decrypts your vault. That key doesn't change when you change the master password - 1Password uses the new master password to encrypt the same key.
• Your master password is never transmitted over the internet, because it's not stored in your 1Password vault. In fact, it's not stored anywhere at all. This is part of what makes 1Password so secure (and incidentally, it is also the reason why we can’t recover a master password for you if you ever forget it). Just to reiterate, your master password is not stored anywhere, not even locally.

By the way, you might also be interested in this article from our blog which was posted a couple months ago: How 1Password syncs changes to your Master Password

Hopefully that helps! It's a lot of information and can be a bit confusing, but we're here for you if you have more questions. :)

No problem at all, @jrhetts! I'm glad my explanation was helpful and clear - thanks for saying so! :)