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Sneak peek: 1Password iPhone pics

by Brett Terpstra Jul 8th 2008 at 7:30AM

We stumbled upon some preview pictures of 1Password for the iPhone (see our WWDC chat with Agile Web Solutions), which were deleted almost as quickly as they surfaced on Dave Teare's photostream. Since we are, for the moment, playing by the rules of finders, keepers, we (gently) persuaded Dave to give us a little more info on what we were seeing.

It looks like the PIN field shown will allow for quick access to "less sensitive" information, such as your Digg or Flickr logins. For more secure sites, such as your bank account, the usual Master Password is implemented. Dave says they considered using gestures and other creative methods for unlocking, but in the end a "PIN feels more natural and is a well-understood concept, and you can't beat a real password for security."

Interesting to note is that the 1Password iPhone application will, itself, be a browser. Because of Apple's rules regarding "hacking" existing applications, they couldn't modify Safari to integrate 1Password. But Dave says that they're adding some "cool features" that will "make users not want to use Safari directly anyway." Personally, I'm more than willing to switch browsers for added security and convenience.

It looks like the 1Password team is going to miss the big App Store opening day, but they plan to be in there shortly after.

1Password iPhone sneak peek

  • The main PIN screen
  • Logins screen



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We stumbled upon some preview pictures of 1Password for the iPhone (see our WWDC chat with Agile Web Solutions), which were deleted almost...
 

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14 Comments

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Ultim8fury

Well, I'm sold.

I couldn't live without 1Password as a part of my browsing experience.

July 08 2008 at 12:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
editedby

Does TUAW get compensation from Agile for these mentions?

July 08 2008 at 10:55 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to editedby's comment
David Teare

You mean other than having exciting news that draws readers to TUAW?

July 08 2008 at 11:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Slartibartfast

You expect them to what, ignore them? This is an Apple/Mac related web site. Of course they're going to report/mention good Apple/Mac related software.

Besides, I think these guys are onto a pretty cool concept by integrating their own WebKit browser into their app on the iPhone.

Maybe they could include an adblocker, I've found some ads on certain sites seems to really choke up the mobile browsing environment. ;) ;)

July 08 2008 at 11:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
peter.boysen

cool. weird about the browser though. wonder how that'll work.

July 08 2008 at 10:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to peter.boysen's comment
David Teare

The work flow will actually be a lot better with the built in browser.

Currently you launch Safari, browse your bookmarks (or type the url), tap to open, then to login you need to select the 1Password Logins bookmarklet, enter your password (each and every time) and then select the Login you want to use and then you are (finally) logged in.

In the new approach you will launch 1Password, enter a short PIN code, tap the login you want, and you will be taken to the site and logged in. When you want to change sites, you are still logged in to 1Password, so there is no need to re-type your PIN or password, you just need to select the Login you want.

July 08 2008 at 10:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Devon

I wondered how they were going to do this. It's based on Webkit so it'll be pretty similar to Safari no doubt. It's too bad that Apple won't allow select plugins for Safari on iPhone because there are many things you can't do and not just Flash.

July 08 2008 at 9:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tamerlane

I feel that Apple should have included a fingerprint reader for addiotional security anyway, preferrably bhind the display, so the UI can throw up a dialog, with an area where the user can place his fingerprint.

July 08 2008 at 8:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Tamerlane's comment
David Teare

I'm hoping a fingerprint reader will be in iPhone v3 :)

July 08 2008 at 10:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ed

Uh-oh, not a good idea re separate browser. I hope this is just one of those quirky ideas from these guys (like the visual licenses), and doesn't actually make the final cut

July 08 2008 at 8:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Ed's comment
Roustem

Ed, visual licenses did make the cut. Although they were recently replaced by regular text licenses ;)

Unfortunately, it was the only way to get it done since there so many restrictions on what the 3rd party application can do.

Also, it worked well in our internal testing. The iPhone usage patterns are different and in most cases you need quickly login to online account and then close the application or turn off the phone whereas on desktop Safari is open pretty much 24x7.

July 08 2008 at 9:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JR

Not liking the browser idea.. I realize there's no way around this, but I can see one major problem:

1) When you open a link from another application, it won't open 1password (I don't believe you can change the "default browser"). Since there's no copy and paste, if you're opening a link to a page where you need to login, you will need to remember that URL, exit Safari, open 1password and retype the address. PITA.

I'm a huge 1password fan and have bought licenses for myself and family. I believe it's actually one of the top 5 mac apps available and I wouldn't be caught dead using OSX without it. However, if this is the path they chose to go down for the iPhone, I probably just won't get it.

FWIW, the current implementation to sync a javascript encoded bookmark into Safari works just fine. Hope it stays.

July 08 2008 at 8:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to JR's comment
Roustem

JR, don't worry, we have this covered as well.
You won't have to re-type the url to switch between Safari and 1Password.

July 08 2008 at 9:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Slartibartfast

It's own Browser? That's pretty cool. It could possibly pave the way for Firefox or Opera to release there own mobile browsers for the iPhone. Theoretically, with options built in-to the browser itself, such as Flash, so long as it was self contained within that browser only.

July 08 2008 at 8:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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