1Password ending support for classic browser extensions

1Password is a popular commercial password management solution. Agile Bits, the company behind the product announced a change recently that affects all users who still use classic extensions. Broken down to its core, 1Password will end support for classic browser extensions, stating that they use extensions Manifest V2 and Google's plans to end support for it in Chrome.

The decision may have far reaching consequences for some 1Password customers, as an upgrade to 1Password 8 is required to continue using 1Password directly in the web browser.

1Password 8, released in 2022, introduced a controversial, or hotly debated, change, that enforced cloud storage for user vaults.

The 1Password support page provides the following information on the decision to end support for classic extensions: "In the future, Google will stop supporting Manifest V2 in Chrome. Because of this change, in 2023, the 1Password classic extension for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave will no longer be supported."

1Password recommends that customers upgrade to 1Password 8, install the new browser extension in the browsers, and uninstall the classic extensions.

The company provides no timeline for end of support. Google postponed the end of Manifest V2 support in Chromium, and thus all browsers that use it as its core, again in April 2023. Google's initial plan was to start the process in January 2023, but it announced in December 2022 that it would postpone this.

Now, Google confirmed that it will give web developers a six months of "heads-up" before it will start the process. In other words: the end of Manifest V2 extensions in Chrome and Chromium does not happen before October 2023.

Some 1Password customers use version 7 of the password manager on their devices. It is the last version that supports Windows versions prior to Windows 10 and 11, and also the last version that does not enforce cloud storage of password vaults.

It is interesting to note that Agile Bits includes the classic extension for Firefox in its end of support message. Mozilla's Firefox web browser will continue to support Manifest V2 next to Manifest V3, which means that the given reason does not apply to the open source browser.

There is one exception. Mac users who run 1Password for Mac may continue to run the extension for Safari, at least for the time being.

The support page offers no solution to customers who do not want their vaults to be pushed to the cloud.

Migration from 1Password to other password management solutions is possible. Other password management solutions include import options for 1Password passwords. Bitwarden and KeePass support it, and 1Password has a support page that explains how password data can be exported.

Now You: which password management solution do you use?

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