A reader named Michael I. wrote in with this question for Joe: “Enjoyed your book on passwords, but it seems that 1Password on an iPhone has a four-digit password… isn’t that easily broken? Or is there something special about it being on an iPhone?”
Here’s Joe’s reply: “Very old versions of 1Password for iPhone let you choose, for each password, whether to protect them with a four-digit code or a full password. The current version always uses a full password, for everything. However, you can optionally set it so that if you leave the app and come back during a certain period of time, you can do a “quick” unlock with just a four-digit code. You might want to check to see that you have the latest version of 1Password, which requires iOS 6: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1password/id568903335?mt=8.”
And Michael wrote back, “Interesting… I always update my apps and recently did update the version of 1Password I have from the App Store updates section. Because it does not perform as you wrote, I did a search and see there is a completely new version—I’ve just upgraded. I’m guessing there are other people who don’t realize they are not using the latest version.”