Unlock with Apple Watch [feature request; not currently possible]

MarioTi
MarioTi
Community Member
edited January 2018 in Apple Watch

It's possible ?

You will be implemented in the future?

this


1Password Version: 6.3.2
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: MacOS Sierra
Sync Type: iCloud

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Comments

  • Hi @MarioTi,

    Thanks for taking the time to ask about this. It would indeed be a "killer feature." We've done a little bit of research on it, and it appears it may be possible. We'd obviously need to spend some time investigating the security implications. I can't make any promises, but we all definitely agree it would be a great feature to have if possible.

    Ben

  • XIII
    XIII
    Community Member

    Unlock what? Unlocking the 1Password App on another device or unlocking your Mac?

    The latter can already be done (https://macid.co) and will be a built-in feature in macOS Sierra (https://www.apple.com/macos/sierra-preview/).

  • khad
    khad
    1Password Alumni

    Ben was referring to unlocking the 1Password app on a Mac. As you mentioned, the other feature is already in macOS Sierra. :)

  • XIII
    XIII
    Community Member

    Ah cool! Do you also plan to unlock the Mac App using the iPhone (Touch ID sensor)?

  • "Plan" is definitely a strong word (even for the Apple Watch unlock), but it certainly would be cool. :)

    Ben

  • rochak
    rochak
    Community Member

    Am I missing the point - what is so cool about unlocking the Mac app from apple watch? I keep the app unlocked all the time - except for the first time when Mac is rebooted and I have to enter the master password?

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited September 2016

    @rochak: It could be useful as a security feature. Much like it's more secure to leave 1Password locked on an iPhone and use Touch ID to make it faster and more convenient, if we're able to do it, leaving the app locked on the Mac and unlocking it with your Watch will save us the trouble of entering the Master Password frequently. As I'm sure you know, leaving 1Password unlocked is convenient, but isn't helping in the security department. Cheers! :)

  • angela_childs
    angela_childs
    Community Member

    Having the Apple Watch unlock the 1Password app on the Mac would be amazing. Then you wouldn't need to leave 1Password open and unlocked in but could still quickly access it.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Agreed. I hope we'll be able to offer that capability in a future version! :)

  • 78e
    78e
    Community Member

    I am wanting this feature as well...
    How soon can this show up in the beta?

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @78e: I don't have a date to share with you. Given that the "unlock with Apple Watch" feature is brand new for both iOS and macOS, we're not in a hurry to churn something out in a beta; rather, we'll take whatever time is needed to make sure we can do it in a way that meets the security expectations we all have for 1Password, and take the time to develop and test it thoroughly as well before releasing it "into the wild".

    Many features are created that never see the light of day, so while we're excited about the possibilities, I don't want to give you false hope that this is something 1Password is guaranteed to do someday. But if we can, we probably will. But only time will tell. ;)

  • Russellkling
    Russellkling
    Community Member

    That would be very cool, please implement this feature!

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thanks for letting us know you want this feature too! :)

  • MarioTi
    MarioTi
    Community Member

    I am grateful that this feature is taken into consideration.

    regards

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    :) :+1:

  • loanhighknight
    loanhighknight
    Community Member
    edited October 2016

    I'm a longtime user of 1Password, and I created an account for its forums specifically to mirror the comments above. If it is indeed possible, it would be a major perk for 1Password users and, frankly, a major reason to own an Apple Watch too.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @loanhighknight: First of all, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on this! Personally, I've really been enjoying the new Unlock with Apple Watch feature between iOS 10, watchOS 3, and Sierra. It's been quick, reliable, and easy to use. And while I don't know all of the implementation details, it also seems secure. Apple has set a high bar there, but if we can match that in 1Password, then that would be simply wonderful. Here's hoping! :chuffed:

  • cbt3
    cbt3
    Community Member

    Just wanted to chime in here and say I also think this would be an awesome feature. Just like loanhighknight I made an account just to post this...

    Having recently purchased an Apple Watch and used the Watch to unlock my Mac...my next thought was how cool it would be to extend this functionality to 1password as well as other apps. As a backup/alternative, being able to unlock 1pw with Touch ID on the phone would be a great feature as well :)

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thinking the same thing. Thanks for taking the time to let us know! I'd love be able to unlock 1Password with my Apple Watch someday too. :)

    ref: OPI-3747

  • tmchow
    tmchow
    Community Member

    +1 for this feature. I'm using apple watch unlock to unlock my Mac (which is on Sierra) and finding it super convenient.

    One possible way to increase security would be to prompt notification on apple watch to approve the unlock.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    +1 for this feature. I'm using apple watch unlock to unlock my Mac (which is on Sierra) and finding it super convenient.

    @tmchow: I hate what this says about me, but I am still just waiting for this to fail for me. It hasn't yet, and that is totally awesome. But how many times does it have to work before I fully expect it to? :lol:

    One possible way to increase security would be to prompt notification on apple watch to approve the unlock.

    That's a great suggestion! Now that I think about it, that's how MacID works. And now that I think about it, MacID is probably why my faith in "Unlock with Apple Watch" is unfairly low. I really hope we'll be able to do this with 1Password itself in the future. So great. :)

  • antonius_pius
    antonius_pius
    Community Member

    I realize with the new touch bar/touch ID MacBook Pro's this may take a back seat. I personally hope this is not the case. As it is unknown whether Apple will add touch id to other Mac's in their lineup, such as the 12" rMB or their desktop lineup, I would still love to see this functionality introduced.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited November 2016

    @antonius_pius: I wouldn't say "back seat". There simply isn't an "Unlock with Apple Watch" seat that Apple makes available to 3rd party apps. So unless Apple adds something like that in the future themselves, we're on our own when it comes to finding a way to implement a feature like that; whereas Apple has added frameworks for developers to use Touch ID and Touch Bar on macOS.

    It would certainly be preferable to have a similar option that worked for more people, not just those with a brand new MacBook Pro (and presumably others in the future). I'd love that myself. But in this case, Apple is providing hardware, software, and developer tools to not only allow Touch ID on these Macs, but to ensure security.

    The reason Touch ID is something we can get behind on iOS is because it's built in to the security model on the deepest levels using the Secure Enclave and native APIs. With Touch ID on Macs, Apple is doing the same, with a physical ARM chip similar to that used on our iOS devices to provide secure biometric functions. No other Macs have that, and it isn't something 3rd party vendors can add. Only Apple can.

    This is why using and iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock 1Password on a computer is problematic, and we haven't done so yet: how can we securely store a shared secret that the two devices can use to authenticate each other, which cannot be compromised? Since the iPhone 5S, it's been possible to store a secret in the iOS Keychain which is unlocked only using Touch ID, and authenticated with the Secure Element. With Touch ID Macs, this is similarly possible. But on every other Mac, this is so far a real problem without a good solution. Hopefully we'll be able to come up with something, but it's a much bigger problem to make it bulletproof without hardware and frameworks to support it.

  • antonius_pius
    antonius_pius
    Community Member

    Thanks for the response! I greatly appreciate the insight around the challenges to bringing this functionality to 1Password. I am in the market for a new mac (non-touch bar), and got my hopes up when I saw this thread. Hopefully, there is a solution to this that makes sense and keeps 1Password secure.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    You're very welcome! I'm glad you appreciated my ramblings there. I love talking about this stuff, but not everyone enjoys listening. ;)

    And I hear you. I'm not sure I'll be buying a new Mac any time soon, and there's no guarantee that when I do one with a Touch Bar and Touch ID will be the one I choose, so it would be awesome for both of us (and many other 1Password users) if we can find a way to bring these kinds of convenient security features to more people. Using Touch ID on my iOS devices has really spoiled me. :lol:

  • Valentin
    Valentin
    Community Member

    Dear 1Password team, I would like to know if you could develop the capability to unlock 1Password with Apple Watch, akin to how MacOS Sierra allows the user to unlock the computer if he/she wears an Apple Watch on the same iCloud account as the Mac user. This would be exciting for me. I will not buy a new MacBook Pro with the fingerprint sensor but I would like the comfort of unlocking when I wear my Apple Watch. Thoughts?

    Valentin.


    1Password Version: 6.3.5
    Extension Version: Not Provided
    OS Version: 10.12.1
    Sync Type: iCloud
    Referrer: forum-search:apple watch

  • utrph77004
    utrph77004
    Community Member

    I second this, or take it a step further and introduce full Continuity into both Mac & iOS devices.

  • JamesHenderson
    JamesHenderson
    Community Member

    +1 ...I was just about to create a thread on this myself.

    It seems odd to me that 1Password have already released an update to use the fingerprint scanner on the new Macbooks, but not done this - there must be a lot of users out there with Apple watches by now.

  • Drew_AG
    Drew_AG
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @Valentin, @utrph77004, and @JamesHenderson,

    Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your requests to add the ability to unlock 1Password for Mac with Apple Watch!

    I've merged your posts with an existing thread in our Apple Watch forum about the same topic. As you can see, there are other customers who would also like this feature. We think it would be really cool, too! :) Please feel free to take a look at previous replies here from some of our other team members. I don't want to repeat what they've already said, but in short, this is something our developers have been looking into. It's not as easy as it probably seems, though. There are lots of things to consider, especially regarding the security of your data.

    Although I can't make any promises about if/when we might add a feature like this, I'll be happy to add your comments to our internal tracker so our developers know you're also interested. Thanks again for letting us know! :)

    ref: OPI-3747

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @JamesHenderson: That's an important question. You may want to read my post above which goes into some of the challenges with adding such a feature. It's certainly something we'd love to have ourselves, but it certainly isn't as simple as using Apple's existing APIs only if it can be done securely and conveniently. Cheers! :)

This discussion has been closed.