[macOS] 1Password automatically locks after 5-10 seconds

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For me, the macOS 1Password app (not the extension in the browser) automatically locks after 10 seconds of being unlocked - even though under the password (to unlock 1Password) it says “1Password locked after 10 minutes of activity”.

I’m running macOS Golden Gate 27.2, and 1Password for Mac 8.12.42.

Even when (after unlocking) I immediately go to 1Password settings to see/change any options, the 1Password app automatically locks - and the settings window disappears.

Fortunately, the 1Password extension in Safari stays open, so I can copy the password from there (for doing things with different macOS apps that require a password). However, I don’t have access to my Favorites, cannot create a backup .1PUX file quickly enough, and other tasks where the browser extension isn’t appropriate.

macOS

Pinned Reply By 1P_Dave

Hello folks,

I’m sorry that 1Password is locking unexpectedly on your Mac. We’ve received reports of this behavior from a subset of customers, and our development team is currently investigating.

In the meantime, setting Auto-Lock to “Never” is the best available workaround:

Open and unlock 1Password for Mac.
Click 1Password next to the Apple logo in the menu bar.
Select Settings.
Click Security.
Set Lock after the device is idle for to Never.

This is only a temporary workaround, not a permanent solution. We’ll continue investigating the issue and work to resolve it as soon as possible.

-Dave

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F

fremoo

Can’t do that. All fields are greyed out even though 10 minutes in set. Must be a Golden Gate bug as it works on my older iMac that is running Golden Gate.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@fremoo

Try restarting your Mac and then immediately opening and unlocking 1Password for Mac before opening the Settings > Security screen. That should prevent the issue from occurring long enough to set “Lock after the device is idle for” to “Never”.

Let me know if that doesn’t work.

-Dave

F

fremoo

Seems to have worked. Must be “glitches” associated with recent updates to Golden Gate. Odd how my older iMac is find and the brand new one has the problem. Thanks. I’ll let you know if I have any more problems.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

I’m glad that the workaround helps for now!

-Dave

B

bonamigo

I think I've found what's going on, at least on my two Macs. Posting the details in case it helps the dev team.

Setup
- MacBook Pro (Apple Silicon, lid closed, external display), macOS 27.2 (26B123), 1Password 8.12.44
- Desktop Mac, macOS 27.2.1 (26B131), 1Password 8.12.44
- Both use a Bluetooth Magic Keyboard; the laptop also uses a Bluetooth Logitech MX Vertical

What the 1Password log shows

Every lock happens exactly 10 seconds after a successful unlock, always with the idle reason, even while I'm actively typing:

16:27:14.576 Lock state changed: Unlocked
16:27:24.571 event=account.lock data.cause.kind=idle data.cause.idle_seconds=3600
16:27:24.584 Locked. Reason: Automatic(Idle(3600)).

The cause: macOS's window server reports the Mac as idle for hours

macOS has two hardware idle counters, and on 27.2.x they disagree:

	Laptop	Desktop
ioreg -c IOHIDSystem → HIDIdleTime	0.4s	2.3s
CGEventSourceSecondsSinceLastEventType(.hidSystemState, kCGAnyInputEventType)	59,899s	5,340s
CGEventSourceSecondsSinceLastEventType(.combinedSessionState, …)	<1s	~9s

The kernel's `HIDIdleTime` resets normally whenever I type or move the mouse. The window server's `hidSystemState` value never resets: I sampled it every second for 90 seconds while typing and moving the mouse, and it only kept counting up. On the desktop it had barely reset since the reboot for the 27.2.1 update about 90 minutes earlier.

So if 1Password's idle check uses the `hidSystemState` event source, it will always see "idle longer than the setting" and lock on its next check, about 10 seconds after unlock. That matches what everyone here describes. It also explains why setting idle auto-lock to Never works around it, and why a restart only helps for a while.

Things I ruled out
- Screen sharing or remote access: none active on the desktop.
- Input remappers and keep-awake apps: quitting BetterTouchTool, Logi Options+ and Caffeine made no difference, and the desktop runs none of them.
- Event taps: `CGGetEventTapList` shows only Apple's own listen-only session taps (universalaccessd, ViewBridgeAuxiliary, Siri). Nothing is intercepting input at the HID level.

To reproduce the check (Swift, run in Terminal):

import CoreGraphics
let any = CGEventType(rawValue: ~0)!
print("hid     ", CGEventSource.secondsSinceLastEventType(.hidSystemState, eventType: any))
print("session ", CGEventSource.secondsSinceLastEventType(.combinedSessionState, eventType: any))

ioreg -c IOHIDSystem -d 4 | awk '/HIDIdleTime/ {print $NF/1e9 " s"; exit}'

On an affected Mac, the `hid` value will be large while you're actively using it, and `HIDIdleTime` will be near zero.

Suggestion: this looks like a macOS 27.2 regression, and I'm filing it with Apple too. In the meantime, could 1Password read the kernel's `HIDIdleTime` from `IOHIDSystem`, or fall back to it when `hidSystemState` is implausibly higher? That would fix the lock loop without users having to turn idle auto-lock off.

I'm happy to send a diagnostics report if that's useful.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@bonamigo

Thank you for the detailed technical breakdown. You’re looking in the same direction as our development team, and we’re exploring an alternative way to identify system idle time in response to recent changes introduced in macOS 27.2. I hope to have more to share soon.

For the time being, you can find a workaround here.

-Dave

G

gmcnc2025

I reinstalled a Time Machine backup (from about 4 days ago) on MacBook Air last night. Today, 1Password seems to be working fine. Without a lot of scientific evidence, it seems that the upgrade to OSX 27.2.1 may be the culprit. Running 27.2 (26B123) seems fine. Because of the Time Machine restore I’m now “pre 27.2.1” and don’t plan to install that update until Dave’s team can see if they find the issue.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@gmcnc2025

Thank you for the report. With macOS 27.2, the way that macOS reports system idle time appears to have changed and our team is working on a fix. The issue affects 27.2.1 as well. See my post here for details and workaround.

-Dave

A

ametyx

I have the same problem. 1Password (app and floating window) locks after 10 seconds.

MacBook Pro 16 M1
latest version of macOS 27.2.1
latest version of 1Password 8.12.44
activating/deactivating hardware acceleration does nothing
activating/deactivating auto-lock does nothing

This is super annoying.
Do you have any clue how to fix that?
Thanks!

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@ametyx

I’m sorry for the disruption, this is a known issue that our team is investigating. Please see my post here for details and a workaround.

-Dave

G

gmcnc2025

Dave – just to be clear, when I rolled back to OSX 27.2 from 27.2.1, the issue went away. I’ve been running on the prior version of OSX since yesterday, and everything is working fine. this, of course, doesn’t conclusively prove the issue is caused by 27.2.1, but it may be helpful in evaluating the issue on your side.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@gmcnc2025

Thank you for sharing what you’re seeing on your Mac. The issue can disappear for a few days after restarting your Mac, so the improvement you’re seeing may be temporary and related to that. Internally, we’ve reproduced the issue on both macOS 27.2 and 27.2.1, and we’re working on a permanent fix.

-Dave

D

dmoor

MacOS 26.2.1 1Password 8.12.44

Every time I need 1Password to fill in fields I have to re-authorize it. At one point going in Security preferences it kept asking for authorization before I could even change anything.

I have a case open with support but haven’t heard anything for 2 days.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@dmoor

I’m sorry that 1Password is locking unexpectedly, it sounds like you’re running into a known issue that our team is investigating and I’ve merged your post into the existing thread for the issue. Please see the pinned post here for more details and a workaround.

-Dave

S

seandro

Same issue here. I had to rush to set it to Never in the settings, which took me a few tries.

1Password for Mac 8.12.44 (81244033)

macOS 27.2

D

dmoor

I can’t even open 1Password. I am entering in the password and before I can finish the page refreshes wiping out what I have typed.