1Password tightens the thumbscrews for users of the old version of the password manager
Password management service 1Password has deleted the classic browser extensions from the Google Chrome Web Store and Mozilla's Firefox Add-ons repository.
The company announced the end of support for the classic browser extensions in April, citing Google's push of Manifest v3 for browser extensions as the reason. While Google has postponed the launch of Manifest v3 and the end of support for browser extensions that use Manifest v2 as their base, 1Password has not postponed the removal.
Manifest V3 supporting extensions are available for users of the password manager, but they work only with 1Password 8. The difference between 1Password 7 and 8 is significant in several aspects.
1Password 7 is the last version that supports Windows 8.1 and earlier versions of Windows. More problematic, at least from the viewpoint of privacy conscious users, is that 1Password 8 enforces cloud storage. In other words: the password vault of customers is stored on 1Password servers in the cloud. 1Password 7 allowed users to store their vaults locally, which some preferred for reasons of privacy.
Issues for users of 1Password 7
The removal has no direct impact on users of 1Password 7 who have the browser extensions installed in their web browsers already. Problems arise when customers switch to new web browsers or entirely new systems, or when they need to reinstall the browser extension, as this is no longer possible.
Chrome and Chromium users can't even try and copy the extension from one instance of the browser to another, as Google Chrome refuses to install extensions that are not available in the Chrome Web Store.
The existing extensions will stop working once 1Password removes support for the classic extensions in the application.
The only version of 1Password 7 that is not affected is the macOS version. The Safari extension is still available, but it is only a matter of time before it will be removed as well by the company.
Migration to version 8 of 1Password is not an option for users who want to use a local vault. While it is possible to continue using 1Password 7 for the time being, using the password manager without browser extension may make things less comfortable to users.
Migration to another password manager service may be an option. Bitwarden and KeePass support local vaults, and options to migrate from 1Password to either service are supported.
I will keep 1Password 7 until they pry it from my cold, dead hands!
No need to, the server will just ignore your requests entirely.
See, anyone else would just use VaultWarden, an upstream bitwarden client and self host their key storage on a raspi.
Why would anyone want to involve a company with their data?