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1Password 8 - Non-native feel
Like many Mac users, I was greatly disappointed to read that 1Password is moving to Electron. I firmly believe that Electron is a bad framework for app development, and the 1Password 8 beta does not change this opinion. I’ve compiled a list of issues, as I see them. Some are endemic to Electron, while others are simply stylistic choices by the dev team. I will try to omit complaints that are purely personal preference, such as specific color usage.
- The lack of rubberband/elastic scrolling is jarring and unpleasant.
- There isn’t enough visual feedback that the window is out of focus. In particular, the “New Item” toolbar button should fade to a lighter blue when unfocused.
- Many interactions in the app do not have the animations they should, including list expansions, menu displays, checkbox toggling, and modal dialogue appear/disappear.
- Unnecessary reliance on modal dialogues is antithetical to native Mac app development. In particular, the “Preferences” and “About” windows should be … well, windows, not modal dialogues.
- It is unusual for a Mac app to have the “About” page be part of the preferences dialogue.
- When unfocused, 1PW 8 lacks hover states. In order to copy a field when the app is unfocused, you have to click into the window, then click the field again. 1PW 7 only requires a single click and properly displays hover state when unfocused.
- 1PW 8 no longer shows the number of items in a tag/category.
- There is seemingly no longer an easy way to mark or unmark an item as a favorite.
- The account name at the top of the sidebar has a disclosure triangle in the down position, indicating that clicking it will collapse the sidebar entries for that account. Instead, clicking it brings up a popover menu with various actions. (I don’t know whether this behavior is different when you have more than one account. My point is that this behavior is unusual for this type of UI element.)
- The app uses almost 2x the memory footprint of 1PW 7 and 10x(!) the idle CPU usage.
- The app is noticeably slower. Scrolling a long list introduces a delay in displaying icons that is not present in 1PW 7. Additionally, there is flicker and occasional slow loading when changing filters, vaults, and tags. (1PW 7 also has flicker at times, notably when changing login items. It’s far more prominent in 8, however.)
- There’s too much list padding. With windows of identical dimensions, 1PW 7 shows me 10.5 items; 1PW 8 shows me only 7.5.
Are these things ultimately minor? Yeah. Complaining about a preferences window becoming a modal dialogue is about as first-world a problem as you can get. At the same time, I’m paying money for this, and now it feels like I’m going to spend money on a downgrade.
1Password 8 is probably the most native-feeling and best Electron app I’ve used, but that’s like saying the McDonald’s by Disneyland is the best McDonald’s I’ve eaten at. I’ve been a 1Password user for years (I started with 1Password 3) and always held the app up as the only app I unreservedly considered worth a subscription. Now it’s pretty likely I’ll move to something else.
1Password Version: 80200056
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 11.5.1
127 Replies
Once you're on version 8, you can choose whether or not to install updates automatically.
Does that work for the Nightly channel?
I have this option enabled, but have to manually install updated so far.
roustem1Password Team
Are any upgrades automatic? I am always asked if I want to upgrade. But perhaps there is an option to upgrade automatically, and I have it turned off.
The major upgrades are never automatic. Just like we did in the past, upgrading from version 7 to version 8 would requite an explicit action.
Also, there are still updates to version 7 that will be coming.
1P_RobFor how long after the 1Password 8 release will 1Password 7 be supported with security updates?
@user12345 I don't think we've set any specific date, but we still support 1Password 6, if that's any indication. We haven't needed to release any security updates for 1Password 6 since 1Password 7 was released, but it still works and syncs with 1Password.com.
Are any upgrades automatic? I am always asked if I want to upgrade. But perhaps there is an option to upgrade automatically, and I have it turned off.
danco The upgrade from version 7 to version 8 is not automatic. Once you're on version 8, you can choose whether or not to install updates automatically.
No-one can say for how long 1PW7 will be compatible with OS upgrades except that it does work with Monterey. which means it is OK for at least a year. But there's no knowing about the version after Monterey.
Yep. There's honestly no way for us to know at this point. If it's simple to support Monterey + 1 in version 7, we'll probably do it. If it requires a ton of work, we likely won't.
Are any upgrades automatic? I am always asked if I want to upgrade. But perhaps there is an option to upgrade automatically, and I have it turned off.
No-one can say for how long 1PW7 will be compatible with OS upgrades except that it does work with Monterey. which means it is OK for at least a year. But there's no knowing about the version after Monterey.
Remember that AgileBits did try to make a native version of the front-end for 1PW8 as well as the Electron version. But the choice they made turned out not to be viable in the short term. They might still go back and try again. The biggest issue for those who dislike Electron is that the Mac enthusiasts on the AgileBits team seem to find the Electron version satisfactory in general (though with bugs and features missing, as one can expect in a beta).
@user12345 well put. It is the least-bad app, but no cross-platform UI framework is ever equal to a native app, let alone superior. Windows is a mishmash of UI's, and Linux GUI is, well, just bad. Part of the reason we use a mac is because of the consistent UX. Slack is a constant irritant (not to mention a massive resource hog), and I dropped signal after their own downgrade to electron.
And I'll second that comment on 1P7 security and OS compatibility updates. We need to know an end-date so we can plan ahead. Likewise, we absolutely need a way to prevent the upgrade from happening automatically.
@tiltowaitt
I’m sorry, but in no way does VS Code feel like a native app. It’s not even close.
Absolutely agree. It may be one of the better Electron implementations but like all Electron apps it does not feel like a native app.
Making an Electron app feel native on macOS is impossible. The standard for app quality on a mac is far beyond what is possible to accomplish with Electron.@KirkMcPike
This app feels like a Linux or Windows app. That is never a compliment.
Yes. This is very much true, and the poor experience on these platforms is why I am a Mac user.
For how long after the 1Password 8 release will 1Password 7 be supported with security updates? Because I can't see myself going to 1Password 8.
VS Code is a great example of a solid Electron app... but it is an app you work in, 1Password is a utility that needs to integrate into daily usage, a slight change in native operations is just jarring and disrupts the flow
Saying 1PW8 on Linux is great is a terrible discussion in this when talking Native, Linux has rarely had a consistent native feel and that makes Electron apps very suitable for Linux
1PW8 for Windows is also not a good example as 1PW7 for Windows felt like it was just a ported version of the Mac version using the same framework Apple used with iTunes
1PW7 "works" in Windows, but as someone that rolled out it for businesses it was a horrible kludge to use in comparison to the native integrations and "feel" that a Mac experienced with 1PW7
As many of the ATP hosts made clear... use AppKit... Electron is a mediocre experience and moves the burden from the devs to the paying customers
- 1P_Rob
Hey, @petvas. 👋 I'm sorry you feel we're abandoning you or the Mac or both.
You just killed 1Password on the Mac and it would be better if you just drop support for the platform all together.
There are an awful lot of people who don't feel that way.
The right way to develop a cross platform app is by developing separate apps for each platform
We tried that for years. Windows users will tell you it didn't work. Now we're aiming to bring a great experience to all of our platforms, and we've got a much better chance of success. Maybe at some point there will be a tool that accomplishes that goal better than Electron. We'd love that too.
