1Password is trying to solve the situation where you go to log on to a website and wonder something like “did I sign in with Google, Apple, or an actual email and password combo” or “which of my five Google accounts did I use for this?” The company has announced that its password manager will let you save which single sign-on (SSO) service you used on a site, so it can automatically log you in with that same account when you return. This feature comes as big companies are gearing up a campaign against passwords as a concept.
According to a blog post, the feature is currently available in the beta version of 1Password for the browser and currently supports logging in with Facebook, Google, and Apple. 1Password says it’ll add more providers in the future.
If I go to a website and there isn’t a login for it saved in my 1Password vault, I can be reasonably sure I used one of the SSO options — but not 100 percent sure. I’ve definitely wasted my fair share of time trying to figure out whether I just hadn’t added something to my vault or if I had signed into it with either Apple or Google. (And sometimes the problem is that I’ve done both, but only one of those accounts has the right user data associated with it.) In theory, this feature could go far to solve that issue, assuming I remember to actually save the logins.
1Password has been rolling out and announcing a few useful features recently and is working on launching a redesigned 1Password 8 experience across several platforms. The company also announced that it’s making it easier for its users to securely share passwords and documents, even if the person they were sharing with isn’t a 1Password user.
Big companies are trying to get rid of the need for apps like 1Password. Apple has announced that the next version of iOS and macOS will include an authentication system that uses the passkeys standard developed by FIDO. Microsoft and Google have also said they have plans to integrate the standard as well.
However, support for those types of systems will rely on individual websites and services, which can be very slow to support new login tech (I regularly visit several websites that don’t even support the SSO services that 1Password is trying to make it easier to use). For a while, many of us may have to use our browser’s built-in passwordless tools for some sites and a password manager for the rest — given that 1Password has already said it’s planning on including support for passkeys as well (it recently joined the FIDO alliance that built them), it sounds like the company wants to make sure its password manager is omnivorous, storing all your authentication no matter what form it takes.
