Blackberry workaround

macTT

Hello,



Do you have a suggested workaround for accessing my password list on my blackberry? Should I create a .pdf and have this accessible? I'm using sugarsync instead of dropbox. I usually have my iPad with me, but have times when I need my password list and only have my BB with me.



Would love any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks in advance.

dteare

[quote name='macTT' timestamp='1292784075' post='17842']

Do you have a suggested workaround for accessing my password list on my blackberry? Should I create a .pdf and have this accessible? I'm using sugarsync instead of dropbox. I usually have my iPad with me, but have times when I need my password list and only have my BB with me.

[/quote]



Unfortunately we don't have a good Blackberry solution at the moment. They are a Canadian company like us so we really should support them, so perhaps some day we will have a native Blackberry application.



We do have a 1PasswordAnywhere solution that supports most modern web browsers, but sadly the Blackberry browser isn't able to handle it at the moment.



A PDF solution could work, but I would not use this approach for your most important Logins like Banks, etc. as the security of PDFs is not amazing.



I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you at this time. If you give the PDF solution a shot, please let us know how it goes.

macsamurai

I am sure you're tired of us asking, but I'm begging you, really, down on my knees pleading with you for a Blackberry solution. Not having one is making me miserable. I am a Mac consultant. I do onsite support. My office IS my Backpack and my Blackberry. I go from client to client each day and I keep track of thousands of passwords - mine and theirs! When I have to take out my laptop to pull up passwords all day long it slows me down and time is money, and an internet connection isn;t always readily available to me. I sync 1Password across several computers using Dropbox. I also sync with my iPad, but my iPad is WiFi only so not reliable to pull out to check passwords in every location, and also I don't sync it often enough at home for it to always be the most current (at least Dropbox sync for 1Password ensures I'm current on whatever computer I'm working on with 1Password & Dropbox are installed as long as as I'm online to sync up).



The solution I thought would ease my pain was to install LastPass on my Mac and the LastPass Blackberry client on my BB. I imported my 1Password file to LastPass and although all the info is there, it's not accurately grouped the way it is in 1Password and also the only way for me to update it is to manually export from 1Password periodically and then import again into LastPass. I wouldn't mind that so much but lots of times I'm updating Secure Notes, so when I export everything modified since a certain date, I get duplicates in LastPass because that modified note is already present (but unmodified). And LastPass is not user-friendly at all if I update something in LastPass on the BB and then want to import that new note or modified note back into 1Password, because I can't sort LastPass the same way I can sort 1Password and the browser interface for the LastPass vault is really very slow and clunky with the number of records I have (since I've been using 1Password heavily for years now!). In other words, I do NOT want to switch to LastPass and give up 1Password because the only thing I actually like about LastPass is that it has a Blackberry client. The user experience for LastPass on the Mac itself is not to my liking at all. I love 1Password and want it to be with me everywhere. It's your fault for making such a great app!



So I am begging and pleading that you ease my suffering and give us a Blackberry client. I am willing to pay good money for it. I'll be happy to even send money your way toward development of it! Not chump change - real money! Please? Pretty please? If I make a sad frownie face will you please help? <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_sadsmile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-(' />



Kisses,



Laurie

khad

Laurie,



First of all, welcome to the forums! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts, hopes, and remarkably kind words. It means the world to us. (Seriously, I am siting here at the end of the day and was just reminded by you how awesome our customers are!)



As it sounds like you are already painfully aware, our focus for mobile development has been on iOS and Android. Given our druthers, of course, we'd support every popular platform, but we just don't have the resources to do that. This doesn't mean we're shutting the door on the other mobile platforms out there, but (to keep expectations realistic) it does mean that iOS and Android is where active mobile development is currently taking place.



Having said that, we try to never say "never" here at Agile Web Solutions, so while there are no plans for Blackberry support for 1Password right now, that doesn't mean there will never be such a solution, but we do need to use our fairly limited resources wisely.



I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you at this time, but I do want to keep your expectations realistic. We would rather under-promise and over-deliver than over-promise and under-deliver.



Best regards,

macsamurai

But at the very least you could make 1PasswordAnywhere viewable on the BB Browser. It's not a perfect solution, but it's certainly better than ignoring BB users completely, don't you think?



L.

MikeT

Hi macsamurai,



The 1PasswordAnywhere file only works in the desktop web browsers, there are issues with how it works in many of the mobile browser due to the limitations of what the browser itself can provide. It’s not that we’re intentionally breaking it in the mobile browsers, we’re trying to make it work in there but it’s not enough on our ends. We are continuing to look into it but I don’t know yet if we’ll be able to fix this for the BlackBerry browser and if we do find a way, I don’t have a timeframe on when it’l be available.



We are not ignoring the Blackberry users, we are hearing an increasing number of people who want to have this on their blackberry but we do not have enough resources to work on all platforms at the same time. If we do spread out our resources on all platforms, we’ll risk degrading our quality and that means all the best things you love about 1Password wouldn’t show up on the platform that you want. We’d end up having the same problems with LastPass, they’re everywhere but the quality on each platform will be what you experienced with LastPass. You mentioned yourself that the user experience is not that good on LastPass, would you still be with 1Password if the user experience is different or worse on the blackberry?

macsamurai

I appreciate your response, Mike.



You're right that I don't want the quality of the 1Password app to suffer in order to provide a Blackberry solution. But devoting time and resources to something new doesn't have to mean that another thing suffers. Maybe I'm spoiled but I have never had anything more than a rare extremely minor issue with 1Password (and it's been a long while since I've had any issue at all). There's not a single feature it lacks that I wish for (Blackberry usability and a long-time desire for duplicate management aside). If no new features were added to 1P for the next year, I'd still be a loyal and ecstatic fan. I'm certainly a power user - I have over 3000 entries in 1P (several hundred of which are exact dupes, from the very early dats of the original 1Passwd) and although I use 1P primarily in Safari, I use it often in Firefox and Chrome as well, along with the iPad. I have been syncing my 1P database via Dropbox since long before you guys supported and encouraged it. In other words, my needs probably exceed the needs of a large percentage of your users (your Mac users, at least), so if I am very happy with the current state of 1P and find it to be near-perfect and virtually trouble-free... that's a good sign <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> That means you could probably coast for quite some time without touching a byte of code for 1P and few, of any, users would complain or think you've neglected your duties.



Ultimately, if you announced tomorrow that the entire dev team was taking a few months off from the existing 1Password apps and solutions and focusing completely on a Blackberry solution, you'd probably enrage far fewer people than you'd elate <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />



Of course I would never expect or ask you to do that. That would be crazy. I'd think you'd all suffered massive head trauma if you did that. It would be bad business, even if the end result would be pretty awesome because you'd have a whole new market of BB users to collect money from <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />



So really, all I'm hoping is that the vague "some day, maybe, we're looking into it, be patient...." response (which you're wise to give, because under-promising and over-delivering is never a bad thing) starts moving toward "yes. we will. we're actively working on it. No eta, but it's on the punch list, rather than on the wish list." I don't want you to lie to me, of course, I just want a reason to believe that there's light at the end of the tunnel.



As my Mother used to say, I wouldn't yell so loudly if I didn't love you so much <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

macsamurai

I neglected to answer this specifically:



"would you still be with 1Password if the user experience is different or worse on the blackberry?"



Yes - because it has no choice but to be different. I can't see how it could ever be the same. The Blackberry is very different than the Desktop or the iOS. In my head (one Samurai here to another!), I see the Blackberry app as an accessory, not a full-fledged app with full desktop app feature parity. I see the BB app as being like what Adobe Reader is to Acrobat Pro. The BB app would enable searching and viewing and syncing of the 1P database. Records could be added or modified on the BB and synced just like the iOS app does, via Wifi or via a tethered sync or via a secure "cloud" (like lastpass) or via Dropbox, which also has a Blackberry app, although I'm not sure if that kind of sync is technically possible via Dropbox for BB. What I wouldn't expect the BB app to do is act as a full-fledge form-filler. I don't believe most BB users would expect that, nor would they need it. Most of the sites or forms they use 1P for wouldn't be really usable on the BB to begin with - but when they are sitting at a computer that doesn't belong to them or doesn't have 1P installed or are on the phone with their bank, etc and they need to look up a password or username or a PIN or some other secure info, they want to be able to pull out their BB and look it up.

khad

Thanks for writing back, Laurie. We really appreciate your passion (even if it involves "yelling"). <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_tongueout.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-P' />



At the moment, our Android app is read-only, so it sounds like something along the lines of what you are describing. There is a good chance that if and when we have a BlackBerry app it will at least begin its life in this manner.

macsamurai

[quote name='khad' timestamp='1298000853' post='20848']

Thanks for writing back, Laurie. We really appreciate your passion (even if it involves "yelling"). <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_tongueout.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-P' />



At the moment, our Android app is read-only, so it sounds like something along the lines of what you are describing. There is a good chance that if and when we have a BlackBerry app it will at least begin its life in this manner.

[/quote]



That would be a great and welcome start <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />