If You're Courageous Enough to try a Password Manager that is still in Beta
On Wednesday, 1Password released an early access version of 1Password 8 for iOS, which features a new backend and a redesigned interface for iPhone and iPad users. The updated version of the program has been accessible in early access mode for Mac since August and was released for Windows in November, according to 1Password.
When I first opened the beta version of 1Password 7, the change was instantly apparent to me as a long-time user of the program. Almost every icon has been altered to be a little more fun and colorful, and the UI now feels more modern, as far as I can tell.
1Password 7 opens to a favorites screen with a few passwords that had been used recently. There wasn't much you could do to personalize the screen aside from marking or unmarking logins as favorites. This was always a little annoying for me because I rarely used the screen and would instead go straight to searching.
In comparison, 1Password 8 offers a home panel that allows you to access your vaults, categories, and lists of recently created or modified passwords. You can also customize it to match your password organization and access needs. You can move categories, favorites, and tags to the top if you use them frequently. You can conceal everything except "All Items" if you drop everything into one folder.
The old (well, current) version of the app would notify you if one of your passwords had been hacked and if the login you were viewing had a reused password, but there was no one area where you could adjust your overall security. The new iOS app adapts the Watchtower part from the desktop version for mobile, as well as providing an overall security score.
After the firm stated that its Mac app's user interface would be driven by Electron (the web browser technology driving apps like Slack, Evernote, and Discord) rather than native code like SwiftUI or AppKit, there was some backlash.
Some users were concerned that the move might make the password manager more resource-intensive to use or make it feel less like a genuine Mac application. Whatever your feelings are on the change, it won't affect this iOS app, which uses SwiftUI for the interface and Rust for the core, according to 1Password.
Of course, there are a variety of other reasons why you might not want to utilize an early access password manager. While it's worked well for me thus far, there are bound to be a few errors that testers may find.
It's generally best to wait until an official release if your phone's password manager is extremely vital to your business and/or life, especially as this update is a substantial shift from the prior version. If you're willing to risk more flakiness and want to try out the new look right away, you can sign up for the TestFlight using the link in 1Password's blog post.
