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A
AZBigdog
January 2, 2026
Solved

Mac versions

  • January 2, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 149 views

 

I’m new to the MAC world so have a stupid question. When I look in the App Store I see two versions of 1Password for Macs. One appears to be a full version and the other just the plug-in for Safari. What does the full “macOS” one offer over just the Safari plug-in?

Does one work better than the other? There seems to be several posts regarding v8 not working well with Tahoe.

Thanks

 

Best answer by Tom

Oversimplified; The desktop version is the main app, the safari app is just like for chrome/edge an extension interfacing with the main app to more easily capture/edit/auto-fill in the browser.

it is obviously more nuanced than :)

3 replies

Tom
TomAnswer
January 2, 2026

Oversimplified; The desktop version is the main app, the safari app is just like for chrome/edge an extension interfacing with the main app to more easily capture/edit/auto-fill in the browser.

it is obviously more nuanced than :)

    Tom
    Tom
    January 2, 2026

    And no issues with it on my Mac’s 

    A
    AZBigdogAuthor
    January 10, 2026

    Timothy and Tom, thanks for clarifying this. I wasn’t sure if I needed both, or if just the desktop download would handle both. Right now I just use Safari on this computer, but may add Brave as I use it on my Windows computer as I get more familiar with MacOS. 

    1P_Timothy
    1P_Timothy
    Community Manager
    January 8, 2026

    Hi @AZBigdog! Just adding on to what Tom shared, the Safari plug-in would be our browser extension which does most of the filling and saving as you navigate the web. The desktop app offers a full interface for managing your items, and can also be used to fill credentials in other apps using Quick Access or Universal Autofill. The 1Password desktop apps can also be linked to the browser extensions so that they share a lock state. That means if you frequently close your browser, or switch between browsers you won't need to unlock 1Password as often. While not strictly necessary, we typically recommend using the 1Password desktop apps alongside the browser extension. 

    You can download the current version of 1Password for Mac from our website. You can download 1Password in your browser from our website as well.

      A
      AZBigdogAuthor
      January 15, 2026

      I will say I did think it was odd that v8 of the desktop app was NOT in the App Store and had to be downloaded directly from 1Password. Like I said I’m new to the MacOS world and thought that was verboten. I guess it’s not as strict as it is with the iPhones 

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