Don't remove the 1Password keyboard on Android

deepdvd
deepdvd
Community Member
edited November 2019 in Android

Removing the keyboard will cripple Android users when the Autofill option doesn't work properly, which is far too often. This page doesn't even explain why you would do such a ridiculous change. https://support.1password.com/cs/android-keyboard-removed/

I always use the Autofill option when I can. The times when I can't, it's incredibly useful to have the 1Password keyboard as a backup. Please don't force me to use an older version of the app to keep this functionality. Here are some times I have to use the keyboard.

  • The Autofill popup doesn't come up on some username fields when they aren't on the same page as the password field.
  • The Autofill simply doesn't fill the entry box.
  • Autofill isn't available for whatever reason

1Password Version: 7.3.3.BETA-3
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Android 9
Sync Type: Dropbox

Comments

  • m_c
    m_c
    Community Member

    +1 from me. I remember far too many times even in the last few weeks, where I had to revert to the keyboard. Badly designed apps exist, and they won't go away.

    I can see, how the keyboard was designed as a full-fledged keyboard to be used all the time, and sustaining that is not viable, when comparing it to GBoard/Swiftkey. Therefore, one idea: You can vastly simplify the keyboard by removing the keys, and leaving the filling as the only thing it can do. The keyboard is only a backup, and even I only use it to fill in certain fields, and then move back to my normal keyboard.

  • Hey @deepdvd and @m_c. Thanks for reaching out! For cases where Autofill and Accessibility don't work, you should be able to fill using drag and drop.

    That said, please have a look at mverde's response here.

  • m_c
    m_c
    Community Member

    Hey @peri. Thanks for the quick reply! Drag and drop, as well as manually using copy and paste are definitely an option, and I have already used the latter in the past, so they are a often a good workaround. However, just switching out the keyboard is usually quicker and works more consistently (some apps auto-close the sign-in window, when leaving them, so copying and pasting is not an option there; I haven't tried that with drag and drop yet, but my experience with split screen has not always been great).

    It would be great, if the team could have another look at the decision to remove the keyboard entirely, keeping in mind the idea of simplifying it into a password-only keyboard, that is not designed to be used as an everyday keyboard.

  • I'll definitely share your feedback with our development team, @m_c. For now, I strongly recommend getting acquainted with drag and drop, as I've found it fills in where Autofill and Accessibility fail and it's helped me eliminate the need to ever use the keyboard.

  • @deepdvd Did you read mverde's comment that I linked? In it, he describes why we're removing the keyboard.

  • mwheeler
    mwheeler
    Community Member

    +1 for keeping keyboard use. I've used this 3 times today for various reasons! I understand that better options exist now, but removing this lovely feature is frustrating. Have you run any form of analytics to see if people are still using the keyboard?

  • Hi @mwheeler. Would you be willing to share the apps or sites you needed to use the keyboard in? Our goal is to improve Autofill, Accessibility, and drag and drop, so that switching to the keyboard shouldn't be necessary, so we'd appreciate getting reports on cases where these options aren't working.

  • mwheeler
    mwheeler
    Community Member

    Sure thing. I'll try and keep note of apps and sites where it's a problem. One that's been annoying me at the moment is KiwiBrowser. Sure I can use the app and copy/paste or the drag and drop but the 1password keyboard is a much easier flow imho.

  • arifjusoh
    arifjusoh
    Community Member
    edited November 2019

    +1 from me. there are lots of app that auto fill wont work. It always show floating message "Contents can't be auto-filled".

    These happened to tumblr app. Same happened to several apps.

    You can see that when i try to click auto fill, im getting such message.


    just as @deepdvd said, it's incredibly useful to have the 1Password keyboard as a backup whenever auto fill fails to do the job.

    For example, in certain websites, It does not allow you to paste & the auto fill is not working properly. So if 1password is suggesting to use copy paste, I don't think its a good idea. Most of this website are local banks, which most of them are pretty slow in technology or having dumb ideology about securities.

    Having android keyboard solve all of these issues

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @arifjusoh, @mwheeler: Thanks very much for the examples! We have some ideas of different fallback options that might be useful when dealing with poorly-maintained 3rd party Android apps, once the keyboard is gone. :+1:

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @SomeFancyName: I'm not sure why you couldn't use a web browser on your device, but I'm sorry for the trouble there. It would be funny if it wasn't such a pain in the ass, from the sound of things... :blush:

    The issue with apps getting "reset" or killed in the background when multitasking sounds more like something that needs to be addressed by their developers, or perhaps some settings on the device or updates might help with, but it's a good point. Anyway, if you can shoot us an email at support+android@1password.com with URLs for the specific apps/websites you're having trouble with, we can test those as we continue to develop Autofill, Accessibility, and fallback options for when -- not if -- the keyboard is removed. Thanks!

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Closing this discussion so we're not having the same conversation all over the place. Continued in "Keyboard end of life. :) :+1:

This discussion has been closed.