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Master Password on iOS can be different from Master Password on Mac/PC

CHL
CHL
in iOS
Maybe someone can explain: When changing the Master-Password on one Mac, it changes on an other Mac too - ok - the keychain is encrypted with this password... but why can the Master Password changed on an iOS Device without changing on the Mac? How does 1PW for iOS access/decrypt the keychain?
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Comments

  • thightower
    thightower "T-Dog" Agile's Mascot Community Moderator
    edited August 2010
    The MP is part of the keychain so when you sync it it syncs the MP. As for the ios it downloads the info from dropbox un encrypts it then re encrypts it using the local password from the ios device.



    Un encrypt and re encrypt are not the best analogy but I use them to explain the scenario. There are much more complex things going on behind the scenes.
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  • jpgoldberg
    jpgoldberg Agile Customer Care
    Tommy (Hightower) is absolutely right, but let me elaborate a bit.



    First of all, many people prefer different kinds of master passwords for different kinds of keyboards. My Mac/PC master password is a nightmare to type on an iPhone.



    The data format we use for your 1Password data on Mac and PC (and which is stored on Dropbox) is very filesystem intensive. Your data is actually in hundreds or thousands of separate files. This is great on operating systems that are designed for lots of file system activity, but it really doesn't work directly on iOS. So your 1Password data on iOS is stored differently.



    When an item gets updated on your Mac or PC, it gets encrypted with the key in your Agile Keychain. That key is only accessible through your master password. The file corresponding to that item with its encrypted data is then copied to Dropbox. On iOS that same file with the encrypted data then needs to be decrypted on your device and immediately re-encrypted to be installed in the data file used on iOS.



    One all systems, even when your data are "unlocked", only the particular item you are looking at is actually decrypted. Basically what is going on under the hood is a bit more complex than it might at first seem.



    I hope this helps answer these questions.



    Cheers,



    -j
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  • CHL
    CHL
    Thank you. So I can keep my password on the Mac and choose another, easier to type, for the iPhone. Great.
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