Add the Search Icon or add a shortcut.

Hello @birchmeier! 👋

Thank you for the feedback! Having a persistent search bar in 1Password for iOS, rather than a button in the navigation bar, has been one of our most frequently requested features. That being said, the team will continue to iterate on the search experience in the 1Password app based on customer feedback so that we can provide the search experience that works best.

Can you tell me a little more about what makes tapping on the search field more difficult? Are you using a larger phone and having trouble reaching the field with one hand? If you are then have you tried using the reachability feature that's built-in to iOS: Reach the top of the iPhone screen with one hand - Apple Support (CA)

-Dave

ref: PB-44752996
ref: dev/core/core#33976

I use an iPhone 15 Pro, so a typical screen size. Depending on what page you are on it is the same number of screen touches. e.g.

if already on the items screen than 1st touch is reachability, 2nd touch is the search bar or x to clear.

Anywhere else it is 3 screen touches.

All of the current workflows are significantly more error prone because they require precise presses/gestures it also creates an awkward workflow.

Where as before you could quickly double tab the search icon to achieve the same result and maintaining the same number of screen taps.

Can you help me understand why this functionality was removed? Were users having a poor experience because they were double tapping when they didn’t mean to? Was the functionality somehow confusing?

Could there not be another icon added? Was 4 icons really too many? Do users use watchtower more than search? Wouldn’t watchtower primarily used when a user signs up and goes through and changes all re-used or weak passwords? Than occasionally to see if a password was has been part of a data leak? Could both of those be part of the tutorials than optional notifications for data leaks? Or could watchtower be a tile on the Home Screen?

Could the 3rd icon be a customized option? Default is watchtower? And search icon is another that is a user preference? When double pressed it highlights the current text in the search bar or if empty places the cursor there.

I am all for streamlining an experience. I am also in disbelief that the previous experience with the search icon was so dysfunctional it had to be removed.

@birchmeier

Thank you for the feedback, I've shared it with the team. One of our Product Designers had this to say:

We're exploring an interaction to allow you to swipe down to activate search, e.g. like you would to access Spotlight search on iOS.

Would something like this fit your needs? I've made sure to file your suggestions regardless but I wanted to know if a pull down to focus search workflow would address some of your concerns. 🙂

-Dave

I agree with the comments above. I use search all the time, but Watchtower rarely. It’s so much easier to open search from the bottom of the screen. That of course is where the keyboard is located. And Apple notably moved their search bar to the bottom of Safari a few years ago.

Hey @1P_Dave thank you for passing along the info. To answer your question a swipe down may work. I can’t visualize how it would work well because most of the pages in the 1Password app need to be scrolled to view all info. Where as with iOS that gesture is only on a screen where you don’t scroll down. So I just don’t see it working well, especially for re-searching/searching again. I could be wrong, I’d have to see a preview.

I’d still really like an answer on why this change was made. Without an explanation it seems like 1Password made a decision that negatively affects user experience in a silo. Which is odd because 1Password Markerts how much they are an experience/apps build around users.

Thanks for the support @nycyclist

I can't believe I actually created an account to comment this, but this is a big usability issue. Searching is the number one thing I do when I am in the 1Password app. I NEVER once used Watchtower on the app - only on the web as I am typically taking action on the Watchtower items. Ideally, please replace back the Search button and remove Watchtower.

It's really not as useful to have the search at the top especially when the previous Search button was incredibly easy to use (tap to get to tab, tap twice to immediately start searching/highlight search query). By the way, having search in three separate tabs means you might have three separate searches happening, not confusing at all!

This is a huge step backwards and really makes me question product design decision-making especially also in wake of the recent forcing users to have click through a new-user tour - I've been a user for 7 years!

I’d still really like an answer on why this change was made.

The team received an overwhelming amount of feedback from customers that search wasn't as easy to use as it should be in the mobile apps. Many customers found the search tab confusing and a search field at the top of the app (similar to other popular apps like Apple Mail, Notes, Contacts, Gmail, and more) has been one of our most frequently requested features.

This was also how search worked in previous versions of 1Password, where a search field was located at the top of the app (screenshot from 1Password 7 for iOS) rather than having a dedicated search tab:

The team is continuing to listen to feedback from customers, including the feedback in this thread, and is working on continuing to improve how search works in the 1Password 8 app. Thank you for raising your concerns and specific use cases, I've made sure to share all of your feedback with our team internally.

-Dave

ref: PB-44937207
ref: PB-44937269

Hey Dave, congrats! Nearly 3 years later and search is still difficult to use. Surprisingly it took nearly three years to listen to "overwhelming amount of feedback" and still can't solve the problem. No wonder the app has a 3.7 star rating.

@insecuretoffee

I'm sorry for the impact that this change has caused to how you used search in the past. I know how important it is for search functionality to be intuitive and effective, and how intrusive sudden changes can be. I've shared your feedback with the team.

For the time being, long-pressing on the 1Password app icon from your home screen and then tapping Search will allow you to open search quickly without having to first open the app and then tap on the search field at the top of the screen:

This is a huge step backwards and really makes me question product design decision-making especially also in wake of the recent forcing users to have click through a new-user tour - I've been a user for 7 years!

I apologize for missing this part of your previous comment, thank you for sticking with 1Password for 7 years. That's a long time and we're glad to have you with us.

We'll be rolling out a change with our next stable release to remove the guided setup for any users older than 2 years, we'll also be improving the guided setup with additional skip buttons in future releases.

-Dave

I also can't believe I need to create an account here to address this but, that "overwhelming" amount of feedback 1P received 3 years ago was from a place of privilege even then. Those users preferred less accessibility for all in favor of familiarity for them, except now that it's been so long, there is no familiarity for them either. Especially because favoring a bottom tab bar for all essential functionality is so ubiquitous and the standard now. Not to mention, because it took 1P so long to revert the original changes, the feedback complaining that progress in accessibility and usability of mobile UI is a bad thing is 3 years old. I've been a user since 2016 and when 1P8 came out, I remember laughing to myself about these users. They're everywhere, refusing change/progress just because it's different. It's only recently that tech companies have started giving in to those types of people and the world is worse for it.

I have an iphone 13 mini and can't reach that tiny thin search bar at the top of the screen. I guess I have to keep this phone forever now, I can't imagine how much more awful this will when I'm forced to forsake my own needs with a larger screen. I don't even have anything that people would consider to be an accessibility need and it's unusable. It's not like my hands are tiny or anything. I can only imagine how much worse it is for someone with "real" accessibility needs. Although, I guess if I can no longer reach that search bar now, 1P is making me have real accessibility needs as well.

A swipe down gesture (emulating spotlight/siri search in ios) to focus the search bar will also NEVER be as accessible as the search icon in the bottom tab bar. Why do you think Apple themselves added the little search icon/text at the bottom of your ios home page? So many users out there don't know and will never use features that aren't immediately obvious. This is even evident from the response just above me mentioning that you can long tap on the 1Password app icon get to search. We're currently in 1Password forums, if 1P's power users and the people interacting here don't know or use a feature like that, no one will. Coincidentally, this is the reason Apple removed 3d/force touch as well. It was too expensive to include when the majority of users never used it. With gestures, you're immediately alienating users with accessibility needs as well as those who don't RTFM. (which is almost every end user?) At this rate, 1P will need a new user tutorial for mobile too.

The response in this thread that Apple makes a reachability feature is also pitiful. Does 1P think they're absolved of dealing with accessibility issues because of this? These changes have quite literally de-prioritized accessibility and modern familiarity in favor of reverting to 2012 design for the loud privileged users of 3 years ago.

On a personal note, I don't actually need ANY of the bottom tabs EXCEPT for search. Certainly not in the mobile UI. Watchtower could live in the "profile" icon up top, items tab is pointless when search exists, home tab is useless as well. In the time it takes to figure out which section of the home tab the thing I'm looking for is in, I could have already found it with search. Funnily enough, I left this feedback in some of your surveys recently asking about how to make home tab useful. Imagine my surprise when 1P decide to eliminate the 1 useful thing in the app for me, in order to prioritize all of the parts I don't need.

Since home tab is customizable, maybe 1P could add a search module there? For example, if I could add a search module to the home tab that changed functionality if I removed all other modules so that when I navigate there, the search/keyboard would open with the old search functionality? Or ya know, just put search back in the bottom tab like 95% of modern apps.