New second "unlock" step for MacOS / Chrome?
I use 1Password on two machines - a Mac Studio and a MacBook Pro - both of which are running Chrome. I'm noticing something weird and kind of irritating with 1Password on each machine.
Every two weeks, on each machine, 1Password stops responding to Cmd+Backslash autofill.
When I access the 1Password app via the MacOS menu bar, it pops up a dialog informing me that I need to reenter my password as per the two-week refresh period. The only option here is to type it in.
I type in my password and 1Password unlocks. So I'm good to go, right? Nope. When I return to the Chrome page, 1Password still won't autofill. Even if I restart Chrome and revisit the login page, 1Password still can't autofill.
When I click on the 1Password symbol next to the field, I'm given another 1Password login box - but this one doesn't ask me to retype my password, but to use TouchID to authenticate. Once I use TouchID, 1Password unlocks and can now autofill on every page.
To summarize: 1Password appears to have two distinct authentication steps that use different login mechanisms - one requiring a typed-in password, and one using TouchID - and I need to complete both of them, separately, to refresh my logged-in session once every two weeks.
Here's my understanding - or, at least, best guess - about this janky user experience:
The authentication steps belong, respectively, to the 1Password app and the 1Password Chrome extension. Each appears to maintain a logged-in session following password entry. But when the 1Password app requires a session refresh, it triggers the 1Password Chrome extension to also need a refresh, and these two steps must be separately completed to refresh both sessions so that autofill works.
If that interpretation is correct, then I find it puzzling. There should be only one authentication gate, essentially, between a user's apps and their passwords. Why two? Either the 1Password app is unlocked and the Chrome extension can autofill, or the app is locked and the Chrome extension can't autofill. What is the reason in adding a second authentication gate in the extension? How does this add value? And is there any way to couple these two steps to avoid this mild irritation?
1Password Version: 8.10.7
Extension Version: 2.12.0
OS Version: macOS 13.4
Browser: Chrome