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What's the difference between 1Password 3.9 and 3.8?

dteare
dteare Agile Founder
in Knowledge Base & FAQs

1Password 3.8 and 3.9 are very similar: the main differences are 3.8 supports both Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion, and is sold on our site, whereas 3.9 is sold through the Mac App Store and requires Lion or Mountain Lion.

Below are the specific changes that were made in 3.9 and how both versions will continue to be updated.

What's Different in 1Password 3.9?

To conform to Apple's specific rules for Mac App Store submissions, there are some significant differences between the application available from the AgileBits store in the past and what you'll get when you purchase 1Password from the Mac App Store.

While there are many changes under the hood, the things you may notice about the Mac App Store version if you have used 1Password for Mac before are:

  • Lion and Mountain Lion only.
  • Application "sandboxing" is in place for increased security and isolation from other applications. This places strict limits on what parts of your computer's hard drive(s) can be accessed. Only locations that Apple approves us to access are allowed.
  • An optional (enabled by default) helper icon in the menu bar is available all the time for locking, unlocking and launching the 1Password application, as well as providing continuous access to a Go & Fill option for saved Login items.
  • Only one (1) 1Password data file allowed. You cannot switch between data files dynamically, either through 1Password preferences or by using the Finder.
  • You only have two choices of location for the data file: within the installed sandbox of the application or in Dropbox (see below).
  • If you choose to sync your 1Password data using the free Dropbox service, the 1Password data file must live in a fixed folder of your Dropbox storage and the Dropbox folder must be located in your OS X account's Home folder. Read this article on how to move your Dropbox back to your Home folder.
  • The data file's name will always be 1Password.agilekeychain.
  • Generate Login bookmarklet option was removed because if was based on depreciated OpenSSL encryption library.
  • Export as encrypted HTML option was removed because if was based on depreciated OpenSSL encryption library.
  • Having 1Password store its Master Password in your OS X keychain is no longer available.
  • Many of the 1Password Preference panes have been simplified by removing settings that were overly complex.
  • Safari bookmarklets cannot be created or changed from 1Password.

Will 1Password 3.8 still get updates?

Absolutely! Because 1Password 3.8 and 3.9 are so similar when we have a fix for 3.9 we will include it in 3.8 as well, and vice versa: many fixes that will go into 3.9 will originate from fixes we included in 3.8. A good example of this is we brought Full Screen support from 3.9 into the 3.8.6 release and several of the 3.8.6 fixes will be included in future 3.9 releases.

The only exemption to this is any code that requires the new technologies available in Lion (such as the new 1Password Helper menu on the main menu bar). Since 3.8 supports Snow Leopard, we're not able to rely on these technologies and so the feature won't be added.

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