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mbepko
Oct 6, 2026 1:43 PM UTC
Question

Add Authenticator App to Pass Encryption Key

I would like to suggest either allowing authenticator apps to provide the encryption key transfer for those of us on work accounts using SSO to sign in OR 1Password develops its own 1Password Authenticator that would generate the encryption keys as needed. I have a lot of users who do not want to put the 1Password app on their personal devices and they move from office to remote workstations. 

We set them up in office, they go home and then they don’t have access to transfer the encryption key because it lives on their computer at work.

 

This has become a difficult hurdle for us.

2 replies

1P_Dave
1Password Employee
1P_Dave
1Password Employee
Oct 6, 2026 7:11 PM UTC

Hello ​@mbepko! 👋

Thank you for the feedback! If you’re using an identity provider to unlock 1Password (SSO) then you’ll need to verify new devices using an existing device in order to complete sign-in: Unlock 1Password with SSO on a new device

The requirement to transfer the encryption key from an existing device is fundamental to 1Password's end-to-end encryption that ensures that no one, not your identity provider or 1Password itself, can ever access your organization's information.

Are you using a VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) environment for these employees? If you are then have you looked into creating a roaming profile that will persist the user's 1Password data as they move from home to the office? 

If you persist 1Password data for your users for their user profile then they wouldn't need to setup 1Password again when they sign in on a remote workstation using their roaming profile: Use 1Password in a virtual desktop environment

Regarding your feature request, can you tell me why your employees would be willing to install a “1Password Authenticator App” but not 1Password itself on their devices? 

-Dave

mbepkoAuthor
Oct 6, 2026 7:33 PM UTC

Hi Dave!

We have some users in a VDI environment, but we also have users who are not in VDI and travel from site to site. These are the users who are having the most difficulty with this.

There are a few reasons for our users’ hesitation about putting 1Password on their personal cell phones:

  1. The 1Password setup has been arduous for most of our users. Because of this, they are already hesitant about putting 1Password on their personal phones.

  2. They are concerned about 1Password interfering with their personal password management. They worry that if they put their work 1Password account on their personal device, it will start prompting them to save personal passwords or offering password autofill when they are using their phones for personal reasons. They are also concerned that it could conflict with the password manager they currently use on their phones, such as Samsung or Google Password Manager.

A 1Password Authenticator App would feel different to them. It would be an app specifically for work that is separate from their personal password management and would not interfere with how they use their phones personally.

They are already accustomed to using Microsoft Authenticator for MFA on their personal devices, so having a separate authenticator app for work would likely be much more comfortable for them than having the full 1Password password manager on their personal phones.

Most of them are also uncomfortable with the idea of getting the free personal account. I, however, use the work, personal, and cell phone accounts and love them!


 

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