No, I haven’t screwed things up just yet, but in trying to connect to all my devices I realised just how ‘locked out’ of just about everything I’d be (both locally and online) without access to 1Password!

I’ve been listening to all the scary cyber security stories, and whilst I’ll admit that many years ago I probably used 2-3 passwords for just about everything, I’ve been using 1Password for quite a long time now and almost every password I use is unique and relatively complex.  Where possible, I’m also using 2-Factor Authentication (2FA)  which makes me feel a little more secure but also raises the issue of what would happen if I couldn’t access 1Password.

In macOS and iOS 1Password is pretty well integrated, and on the new MacBook Pro’s with the fancy Touch Bar, you can even use your fingerprint to unlock it.  I was planning to upgrade my MBA for one of these until Apple announced the pricing a month or so ago, at which point I decided that a MacBook (the small 12″ machine with only 1 USB-C port) would be my next Mac.  The MacBook Pro I would have bought was about twice the price, and whilst it would have probably been about twice as powerful, I just couldn’t justify spending £2489 on a new Mac, especially when my 3-year-old MBA was still working perfectly.

Anyway, somewhat off track!  I need access to 1Password to be able to do anything that requires a password, and whilst I could just look them up on my phone or MacBook and type them in, this really isn’t ideal when I’ve been used to simply clicking an icon!

Unfortunately, 1Password doesn’t have a Linux app (Mac and Windows only) and whilst it’s possible to install the extension in Chrome, it doesn’t work as the 1Password helper app isn’t running in the background.

Fortunately, I can access my 1Password account online so can copy and paste them rather than having to retype 16-20 characters!  Whilst this isn’t great, it could be worse and would probably be a deal-breaker if the alternative was keying them in.

I’d need to find a much better solution to this if I were to contemplate moving to a Linux environment full time.