Skip to main content
n1t51rk
Oct 28, 2026 1:35 PM UTC
Question

TouchID not working when "Unlock app with Mac password" is off

I don’t want to use my Mac password to unlock 1Password; I’d like to use my 1Password master password, as I’ve done for almost a decade now. When I turn off "Unlock app with Mac password", Touch ID no longer works with 1Password. It works fine for everything else, but not 1Password.

I work in macOS sysadmin; been using 1P for over a decade, tried all the standard troubleshooting, including resetting Touch ID, re-installing 1P, etc. Nothing helps.

If I turn "Unlock app with Mac password" on, it works fine. If I turn it off again, it doesn’t work.

Any suggestions?

4 replies

1P_Dave
1Password Employee
1P_Dave
1Password Employee
Oct 28, 2026 6:57 PM UTC

Hello ​@n1t51rk! 👋

I’m sorry that Touch ID isn’t working to unlock 1Password when “Unlock app with Mac password” is turned off. I haven’t been able to reproduce the same behaviour on my end. Could you try these steps in order:

  1. Open and unlock 1Password for Mac.
  2. Click on 1Password next to the  in the menu bar.
  3. Click Settings, then click Security. 
  4. Turn off “Unlock app with Mac password”.
  5. Manually lock 1Password for Mac. 
  6. Unlock 1Password using your account password. 
  7. Manually lock 1Password for Mac again. 

Do you see a fingerprint button next to the account password field that you can click to use Touch ID? It should look like this: 

If you don’t see the Touch ID button then do you see an error message on the lock screen? And which version of both 1Password and macOS are you using: Find the version numbers for 1Password and your operating system

-Dave

n1t51rkAuthor
Oct 28, 2026 8:51 PM UTC

Hey Dave. Yeah, I’ve done the above multiple times through the troubleshooting process. It always ends up with the same results; once I have “Unlock app with Mac password” on, it still triggers Touch ID, but just wobbles when checked my prints (and I’ve confirmed it’s not a bad fingerprint or weird “touch” on my end; I use Touch ID endlessley throughout the day for 1P and many other things. It’s just unlocked 1P that fails.

Funny thing is, once I’ve manually unlocked 1P (after not accepting my print scan, I unlock with my master password), if I trigger an SSH key authorization (I keep my keys in 1P), 1P will accept my prints then. It’s only the unlock that fails.

1Password is on 8.12.42 and macOS is 27.2 (but had the issue under 27.0.1 and 26.x as well; been dealing with the issue for a while now).

 

One other thing to note—I also have “Unlock with device: OFF” set. I don’t want the device itself/device password to unlock 1P; I need it locked again my 1P master password.

1P_Dave
1Password Employee
1P_Dave
1Password Employee
Oct 29, 2026 8:47 PM UTC

​@n1t51rk 

Thank you for the reply. That definitely is odd and not expected. So that we can investigate further, I'd like to ask you to reproduce the issue again and then create and share a 1Password diagnostics report from your Mac:

Send a diagnostics report (Mac)

Attach the diagnostics to an email message addressed to support@1password.com

With your email please include:

You should receive an automated reply with a Support ID number.  Please post that number here.  Thanks very much!

-Dave

n1t51rkAuthor
Nov 2, 2026 3:00 PM UTC

Update: This weekend I went through some of the different Security options and I may has solved the issue. I also had “Unlock using Apple Watch” enabled (at home, I work with my laptop closed—so no Touch ID—so used use this option, though rarely wear the Apple watch anymore). So, I turned that option off, rebooted, and now things are working as they should (and there’s not even an option to enable “Unlock using Apple Watch” anymore). So, that might have been it?

I’ll keep an eye on it over the next couple days and see if disabling that option did the trick?

Thanks,
Kristin.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

©2026 1Password. All rights reserved.
4711 Yonge St, 10th Floor, Toronto Ontario, M2N 6K8, Canada