The holy grail of password managers on the Mac has just got its biggest upgrade yet. 1Password is near and dear to many a Mac user. It automatically collects and fills logins to your websites, allows you to generate complex passwords, store confidential information within its secure vault, and access all that info on the go with the iPhone app. The new 3.0 update sweetens the deal further. It’s not a final release yet, which will be later in the year, but it’s most probably as feature complete as can be. And since it’s a public beta, we can talk about it no end.
The first apparent change, is the lickable new user interface. Moving from the flat list view, 1P 3.0 features a more 3D driven look, simulating wooden shelves and cabinets—very Delicious Library like. It will also grab the favicon or website preview of all the logins, so they all look cute sitting on their respective shelves. It’s very fancy, but since one hardly spends time within the 1P window, it’s almost immaterial after the first week of lusting over pixels is done with. For those who are aversed to beautification of pixels, you can toggle between three modes, one of which is the traditional list view. But that’s just about the looks. The bigger changes are in the features.
1Password 3.0 debuts 1PasswordAnywhere, something that I’ve longed for in a password manager. The lack of which was the one reason I never used the password generator and instead used memorable passwords based on objects around me. What 1PasswordAnywhere does, is it allows you to access your passwords from any computer in the world with a browser. All you have to do is enter the url for your machine, the master password, and the entire local database is available to you, through (what I assume is) a secure connection. It’s not a simple ‘click to enable’ option however. You have to manually rename the keychain from “.agilekeychain” to “.agilekeychain_folder”. That will allow you to get inside the keychain, and access the “1Password.html” file. Now use your preferred IP-port mapping method to access the URL on the remote machine. The ideal solution is to use something like Dropbox. That said, it’s a slick web app, looking very much like the iDisk web view.
Another big change: Software licenses. This isn’t a groundbreaking feature, as there are tons of apps that manage software licenses, but it means it’s one less application in your apps folder. 1Password goes further and pulls the app icon if that app is installed in your apps folder. It didn’t work for me, but dragging the app into the icon area worked just fine. I personally manage licenses in Bento, but that’s a different story. Software licenses support also brings along with it file attachment support (for those licenses that come in as an attachment). Every data type supports attachments including Notes, Wallet Items, or even regular ol’ passwords. I haven’t found any specific uses for this yet, but it’s there when you need it.
The iPhone sync UI is also vastly improved, and borrows heavily from iTunes 9 in terms of UI and functionality. You can manage multiple devices and selectively sync only particular folders if you don’t want to crowd your iPhone with unnecessary noise. The 3.0 release also features tons of little changes, most of which are actually noticeable in your daily workflow. You can now easily copy logins, better sync with internet services, and be able to use your iSight camera to add new identities. Oh, and for what it’s worth, it’s all 64-bit now.
All this of course is in addition to a whole lot of goodness that 2.0 represented—I’d suggest you check our review if you aren’t using 1P already. I’m not sure whether I’ll be using the 1PasswordAnywhere feature though, given that I don’t use Dropbox. Perhaps I’ll just send it up to a web server once every few weeks. As an all round upgrade, 1Password 3.0 is a worthy upgrade. 1Password costs $40 for a license, and early bird upgraders get it for $20. As usual, it’s a beta, so be as careful as you need to be.
