Windows Hello / Fingerprint reader support [Available now in 1Password 7]

shadowplayer
shadowplayer
Community Member
edited April 2023 in 1Password 7 for Windows

Any update on support for Windows Hello or fingerprint readers for Windows? I would love this feature and switch to a subscription account just for this feature. Thanks!

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Comments

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @shadowplayer: It's something we'd like as well, but it will require a Windows Store app. That's something we're working on, but I can't say for certain when that will be ready. Thanks for letting us know this is something you're interested in! :)

  • sniem
    sniem
    Community Member

    Count me in. As a Surface Book user I like Hello very, very much and am very eager to see it implemented in 1Password :)

  • Greg
    Greg
    1Password Alumni

    @sniem: We are waiting for it ourselves! :chuffed: Please stay tuned. Thanks!

  • KenBonny
    KenBonny
    Community Member

    What is preventing you from getting into the store? I would love to have this feature. :) Keep up the great work. :+1:

  • @KenBonny: For now, our focus has remained on the desktop app, at least in part because we still have a fair number of customers using Windows 7. We've worked on developing a Windows Store app on and off, but until Windows 7 goes the way of XP, we'll still need a traditional desktop app and won't be able to fully focus on a Windows Store app, if that is even ultimately the best way to accomplish this. The engineering team is better suited to make that call than I am. At the end of the day, we do know we'd like to support Windows Hello down the line, but how and when are still up in the air, so we'll all just have to wait and see. :chuffed:

  • MikeT
    edited October 2017

    Hi @KenBonny,

    Technically, nothing is preventing us from getting 1Password in the Windows Store, we actually had a pure native UWP app in the Windows Store as an alpha build for a year. It's the question of what you expect 1Password to do; a lot of our users wanted 1Password to support integrating with web browsers, not just be a simple window app with no integration. Having 1Password in the Windows Store 2-3 years ago wouldn't allow this, it was only this year that Microsoft added Native Messaging support to Edge and expanded with the Windows Desktop Bridge to allow various system tasks to be done.

    Even then, when we went back to do both UWP and Edge, there were too many issues trying to make 1Password (UWP) app work with the 1Password extension locally and having various types of 1Password windows (1Password mini, 1Password main window, and so on) were causing a lot of focusing, instability and other type of issues that UWP (in my opinion) was never originally designed for. It was designed for single full-screen apps that runs on various platforms like Windows mobile, desktop, Xbox, and Halo Lens. There are only so much compromises you can tolerate on each platform.

    Microsoft is growing and expanding the APIs for UWP to add more features ever year but back then, it just didn't have enough to allow for 1Password's type of deep integration with the web browsers and OS. The development of a complex app like 1Password are often done in years, not months, and we can't neglect desktop users to focus solely on 1Password for Windows Store.

    Who knows what will happen in a year or two, anything is possible.

  • KenBonny
    KenBonny
    Community Member

    Thanks for the extensive reply. :) Honestly, I don't care if 1Password is a store app or not, it's the Windows Hello integration that I'm interested in. At the moment, it looked like only store apps could interface with Hello, which would be weirdly limiting for such an important part of the OS.

    Is there an ETA on Windows Hello integration?

  • Hi @KenBonny,

    As per our policy, we do not share any ETA or future plans. At the moment, all we can say is that we do want to have this support but when or if it is coming, that's something we don't have.

  • KenBonny
    KenBonny
    Community Member

    Ok, thanks for the update and I hope you get around to it soon. :) Keep up the good work.

  • You're welcome and thanks.

  • TravelSD
    TravelSD
    Community Member

    I really hope Windows Hello support can happen sooner rather than later. I couldn't care less about a Windows store app (although that seems to now be out). I have a iPhone X and FaceID is quite handy. If 1Password could use Windows Hello facial recognition the same way, I'd be in heaven. I hate typing my 1P master password 50 times a day....seriously aggravating.

  • Hi @TravelSD,

    I really hope Windows Hello support can happen sooner rather than later.

    We hope so too but this isn't one of the quick fixes for us. We're more capable on macOS/iOS for sure but on Windows, it's a long trip.

    I couldn't care less about a Windows store app (although that seems to now be out)

    We have 1Password for Edge extension available in the Windows Store but there is no Windows Store version of 1Password app anymore.

    Windows Hello is designed for the Windows Store apps to build with quickly. In fact, we had support for Windows Hello in the alpha/beta builds of 1Password in Windows Store a few years ago, it was implemented from day one for the Windows Store version.

    Even with the Windows Store app, majority of the feedback we got was that 1Password extensions were far more important. Even to this day, it is still is.

    I hate typing my 1P master password 50 times a day....seriously aggravating.

    I'd suggest changing the security settings to fit your workflow. No one should have to unlock more than a few times a day.

  • Cartman
    Cartman
    Community Member
    edited November 2017

    Perhaps do what Enpass did recently and offer the desktop app through the Windows store. They have a blog post about it on their site. I am migrating away from Enpass but it was neat how they took their desktop app and had an exact version offered through the store.

    They used Desktop Bridge offered by Microsoft to port their Win32 desktop app to the Windows Store.

    Easier said than done :)
    Would rather the Windows version look as nice and clean as the Mac version.

  • @Cartman: We've given that a ponder at times, but the reality is that would leave us maintaining an extra app at best as we don't want to take 1Password away from the not insignificant number of folks still using Windows 7. This is, of course, assuming a straight port would even be workable and I'm not about to make that assumption on behalf of the development team. We Windows people are notorious for sticking with old operating systems (even I only updated to Windows 10 from 7 within the last few months because I apparently dislike change as much as the next person), but as folks continue to move over to Windows 10 giving stronger consideration to Windows 10 specific features (in particular those which require the Windows Store) will become a more viable option. :+1:

  • @Cartman thanks for the suggestion, indeed we have tried that internally few months ago. Unfortunately even with Full Trust permissions and Desktop Bridge (which is actually used to enable 1Password-Edge communication), main app can't be visible to Chrome/Firefox/other desktop browsers. It's a limitation of Universal Windows Platform (UWP) - very little chance of integration. The only way it could work is if we ask every user to do a bunch of developer/admin level tricks, which might go against Store policies. With that being said - I'm still trying to find some way to get it done.

  • Cartman
    Cartman
    Community Member
    edited November 2017

    Thanks for taking the time to respond with such insight into your efforts. I know this is a difficult situation for all of you but continually see exceptional development coming from your company that I trust you will provide a solution eventually.

    I also own an iPhone X and FaceID is not quite as good as Windows Hello at this point. I know they are different platforms and Windows Hello has the benefit of (arguably) better hardware used is generally ideal environments.....but Widows hello continues to amaze me every time I use it. I don't recall ever having frustration with it not working as expected and it continually exceeds my expectations. Not the same can be said for FaceID....far from it.

    It is such a killer sleeper feature that will get overshadowed by FaceID due to Apples superior marketing strengths. I have only used Windows Hello with Surface devices so I can not say if it works as well with other hardware vendors.

  • @Cartman: I've actually wanted a Surface for some time in no small part to give Windows Hello a try. It does seem like a cool feature and I wish we had the ability to utilize it in the existing app. Beyond just marketing, though, I think Apple giving developers appropriate tools to utilize the features they introduce is a biggie. Adding Face ID to the iOS app was easy. We already supported Touch ID and that allowed Face ID automatically. We just had to add some UI elements.

    Microsoft, on the other hand, seems to make things complicated, whether intentional or no. @SergeyTheAgile will have better examples I'm sure, but his point about integration with non-Edge browsers is a good one. That sort design decision makes it seem like Microsoft believes developers won't develop apps to work on their platforms unless we're forced to use them exclusively. The reality is more the opposite -- we want to offer our customers options so we need the freedom to integrate with non-Microsoft products. They're giving us an either/or choice when there's really no good reason we shouldn't be able to have both.

  • TheDave
    TheDave
    Community Member

    Maybe this is a dumb question, but couldn't the Windows Store version of 1Password (currently providing services to Edge) also interact with Windows Hello and communicate directly with the locally installed 1Password to handle the unlock/authentication process?

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @TheDave: It's a good idea. But at that point it would end up being a full app...and then we're kind of back to square one again — a bit of a Catch 22. Right now the Windows Store "app" is literally just an Edge extension, which needs to communicate with the desktop app to function, and isn't capable of doing something fancy like that. But as Sergey and the rest of the team continue looking for creative solutions and Microsoft hopefully opens up even more opportunities, things may converge in time. :)

  • @TheDave you speak my mind on this :) We are reviewing how that can be done safely, it's relatively easy with UWP-UWP app and there are ways to abuse desktop-UWP communications. As soon as we get it done right, I'd be more than happy to share. Arguably I'm the one who is unlocking 1Password most of all, at least 50-80 times a day.

  • Jiminy68
    Jiminy68
    Community Member

    +1 on Windows Hello support.

    Using 1Password with a Family subscription on all our devices (iPad, iPhone, Mac et PC) I would really love to get easy auth on my PC desktop like it is FaceID on my iPhone. Windows Hello is working fine with face recognition, having it with 1P would be a killing feature !

    Happy Xmas to all.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thanks for letting us know! It's not something that's possible right now given the browser situation, but it's something we'd like to do in the future. I hope you're enjoying your holidays as well. Cheers! :)

  • niico
    niico
    Community Member

    I pay for 1 Password - fingerprint authentication is a huge time saver.

    The Kensington USB Password scanner works on LastPass fine - if they can do it you can do it. When will you? Or should I just switch over now?

  • Hi @nilco,

    We only support Windows Hello. If your USB scanner supports Windows Hello, then 1Password will work with it too.

    If it is not supporting Windows Hello, then it is using a custom scheme that 1Password isn't aware of. We have no plans to support all third party scanners that does not use Hello.

  • MikeT
    edited July 2018

    Also @nilco, this is one of the reasons why we're not going to support random third party scanners: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/lenovo-fixes-hard-coded-password-and-weak-crypto-in-fingerprint-manager/

  • niico
    niico
    Community Member
    edited July 2018

    LastPass has a Chrome plugin - and it supports fingerprint scanners. So you can technically do everything you need now no?

    The time has come guys - 2018 is the year of fingerprint authentication on desktops. This is a huge advantage to LastPass over 1Password, it's enough for me to switch if you have no timeline?!?!

  • Hi @nilco,

    We've already been supporting biometric devices as long as they support Windows Hello. Windows Hello includes support for fingerprint, facial recognition, security keys, and more; here's a shot of it in action.

    We will only support the built-in native solution from Windows, we're not going to support all third party authentications because they may not be secure enough for us. If you want to use a third party scanners that have their own method for storing your encryption keys that may not be secure, then you're more than welcome to switch to the other solution.

  • danmeyer
    danmeyer
    Community Member

    What about using the 1Password App on the iPhone to unlock the 1Password App and Chrome Add-In on the Mac? would that be safe?

  • Hi @danmeyer,

    Thanks for writing in.

    Considering that you have to transmit a secret from your smartphone in a wireless network to your computer, it is not safe by default.

    In case someone ask, the reason Wi-Fi sync is okay is that you have to unlock on both side and authenticate it. This situation is different; 1Password is locked on one side and to unlock 1Password on the other side with your biometric system, it has to send a form of your MP over the air to the computer to unlock 1Password. That's something we have to be very confident about and it is not something we're planning to do any time soon.

  • TheDave
    TheDave
    Community Member

    Couldn't this be done by having both sides generate a public/private key pair and share their public keys, allowing them to verify the opposing partner's identity in the future?

This discussion has been closed.