Watchtower discrepancies between 1Password.com and 1Password on macOS

[Deleted User]
[Deleted User]
Community Member
edited April 2019 in Mac

Hello,

I've noticed that the Watchtower for my Personal vault in 1Password.com (or I actually use the 1Password.ca one) online is different than viewing my same Personal vault (same account too) in the 1Password macOS app. Watchtower database has been updated on macOS just 36 minutes ago, so it's definitely up-to-date. For most of the Watchtower categories, it's the same (for example: the reused password count and unsecured websites count). But I see the following discrepancies which I cannot explain:

  • Vulnerable passwords: count of 8 on 1Password.ca, but only a count of 5 in the 1Password macOS app.
  • Weak passwords: count of 7 on 1Password.ca, but only a count of 5 (again) in the 1Password macOS app.

The five items for each type in the macOS app are different, by the way, not the same ones so it isn't like a copy in both or something.

I naturally would expect the results to mirror each other in both platforms, so this strikes me as a bug of some kind. If someone from the 1Password team can kindly point me in the right direction to either workaround it / fix it myself (if it's something I'm doing wrong somehow), or let me know what's needed of my account to try and confirm a bug so it can be fixed for a future release, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

ref: apple-3557


1Password Version: 7.2.5
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 10.14.5 beta
Sync Type: 1Password.ca

Comments

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @dustinddotca! Welcome to the forum!

    I have asked internally to see if someone else has seen this already. I don't think you are doing anything wrong here, if the items are the same, so I will get back to you once I have received an update :)

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @dustinddotca! As promised, here I am with an update :)

    I was told that currently there are some differences in the Watchtower implementation on different clients, so while this is not a beautiful user experience, there is currently nothing wrong with your account or with your settings.

    I hope this helps!

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Community Member
    edited April 2019

    Hello @ag_ana,

    Thank you for the update. Glad to hear there isn’t anything corrupt or wrong with the account.

    Naturally though, as a user who’s concerned about their security online and tries to keep an eye on Watchtower results for that reason, I’d expect the logic behind Watchtower to be the same across the platforms. I’m assuming you can’t really give me an estimate on when they’ll be built consistently across platforms, but are you at least able to confirm that there is the intention to make them consistent so that there will be no more discrepancies in the future? I just want to make sure before closing out this discussion that it’ll still be addressed so the the results are the same across platforms in the near future. :-)

  • I just want to make sure before closing out this discussion that it’ll still be addressed so the the results are the same across platforms in the near future. :-)

    Unfortunately I can't promise that. I can say that more broadly it is our intention to build cross-platform consistency wherever possible and sensible, but I can't comment specifically beyond that. We tend to keep what we're working on fairly close to the chest until it is ready to release, as development priorities are subject to a lot of different variables. We'd much rather find ourselves in a position of under promising and over delivering rather than the opposite.

    I'm sorry I don't have a more concrete answer for you.

    Ben

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Community Member

    Out of curiosity, “not able to promise” which part, that it’ll be fixed in the “near future”, or at all? Because if it’s just not soon, that’s totally understandable as it isn’t critical by any means (though it does kind of devalue the whole Watchtower feature IMO). If it can’t be promised to be fixed ever though... that’s a bit harder to swallow.

    As long as it’s listed internally there as a defect to be fixed, that’s the main thing for me. That’s what I want to confirm. I just don’t want to see it dismissed as “well that’s the way it is” as it is definitely a defect from a user point of view, there should never be a time when the same feature for the same account gives different results depending on what client is being used.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @dustinddotca - I think Ben summed it up pretty succinctly when he said

    I can say that more broadly it is our intention to build cross-platform consistency wherever possible and sensible, but I can't comment specifically beyond that.

    That's exactly it: we intend to build cross-platform consistency wherever possible, and this is certainly no different in terms of being an area where we agree such consistency makes sense and would be valuable...but we won't be able to offer anything more specific than that. We just don't normally pre-announce release dates or the certainty of new features, as many factors (some beyond our control) affect them.

    To be as clear as possible, following such a practice of not offering specifics on such things is quite different from "dismiss[ing them] as 'well that’s the way it is'." I can say this much: if we knew for certain we wouldn't be working on this (or indeed any feature/bug fix/user request) for whatever combination of reasons, we would a) say so forthrightly and b) try to give as detailed an explanation of why we elected not to do it as possible; in fact we do that whenever appropriate here. I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but I hope it's illuminated a bit of our thinking and general approach.

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Community Member
    edited April 2019

    Hi @Lars,

    I think what I'm saying may not be getting across the way I'm intending it. I apologize if I'm not conveying myself very well today. I also didn't mean to imply it was being dismissed, I used that term but meant more that it may get lost if not properly filed internally with your Engineering team as a defect, so was looking for confirmation that it was filed.

    As someone in software support myself, I'm usually having to make sure that something that is raised to us needs to get fixed or improved (or a new feature request) is filed in the internal Engineering system for tracking defects that need to be addressed or improved in the future.

    And that's really all I'm looking for since @ag_ana's very friendly follow-ups on the main topic. @Ben's response was a bit more high-level on the matter and at least in my own opinion didn't really confirm for me if a defect was filed internally for addressing this specific concern. And even your own now still doesn't quite confirm this for me other than agreeing that it's something that should be improved upon.

    All I really want to know at this point is - now that we all agree on the fact this needs to be improved - is this specific issue filed internally in a ticket for your Engineering team so that it doesn't get lost in all the other items that need to be worked on? I guess I could infer from the comment about receiving a reason why it wouldn't be done that this will indeed be on the list for improving, but I was just hoping for confirmation of that, mostly wanting to make sure this concern isn't lost.

    Once that's confirmed, I'm all good to close this out. :-)

  • Ben
    Ben
    edited April 2019

    If it can’t be promised to be fixed ever though... that’s a bit harder to swallow.

    None of us here are in a position to make such promises. As mentioned... we'd much rather find ourselves in a position of under promising and over delivering rather than the opposite.

    I was just hoping for confirmation of that, mostly wanting to make sure this concern isn't lost.

    Confirmed. Internally it is being tracked as "apple-3557."

    Ben

    ref: apple-3557

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Community Member

    Perfect, that’s what I was looking for - the defect number of apple-3557. Thank you for confirming it’s been filed. I would consider this thread closed then. :-) I appreciate the confirmation.

  • :+1: :)

    Ben

This discussion has been closed.