Please Support Multiple Identities or Personas

[cbluth]

I have two personas online, my professional persona and my personal/family personas are kept separate online. In this real-life example, I will never associate my facebook with my github via way of keybase (i wont proof facebook and github on the same keybase account, because that then associates them).

Are my concerns common, is anyone else concerned about the same thing? Can/Will keybase support multiple personas or identities?

[cjb]

We do support this. You can keybase logout of one account and then log in to the second.

We don't plan to make it much easier than it already is, because most people don't do this.

[junderw]

I also would love the ability to be logged in to multiple accounts simultaneously.

I understand Keybase is “single identity” driven, but I think that idea is misguided.

The equivalent in GnuPG would be to say “ERROR: —genkeys: you can only generate one private key ring per instance of gnupg, please log out of current OS user and log into a new user to manage a second private keypair”

You are just creating an artificial hurdle that won’t prevent people from doing it, and will only hurt the people who try jumping over that hurdle and trip and fall and break their face.

People who want to do this will do it, so why not make it simpler for them?

If the answer is “it’s not a priority” I totally understand and can put up with the inconvenience of switching between identities.

But if the answer is “multiple email addresses are bad. multiple personas are bad, everyone should know about all your emails and PGP keys and social accounts” then I think that is misguided.

The whole “discourage multiple accounts” thing makes sense for Facebook and twitter etc. but not for keybase imo.

[bradmurray]

The logout/login process is not very user friendly because if people want to run multiple identities they usually want to be able to be logged into all of them at the same time which would mean the clients should be able to handle it. Running multiple instances on win/osx/linux would work, but multiple instances on a phone are problematic.

[cbluth]

@bradmurray I agree. Logging in/out is not representative of real-life, for example, any one of my acquaintances should be able to reach me at any time, despite whether they are professional acquaintances or otherwise. Just because i'm "at work" doesnt mean i shouldnt receive notifications from anyone else.

[wolfmcnally]

Excellent software but honestly I'm surprised this wasn't a must-have in version 1. Part of managing one's privacy these days is managing one's identities. I know many people who would balk at using Keybase because they can't easily manage multiple identities.

[maxtaco]

We already support this.

On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 1:32 AM Wolf McNally notifications@github.com wrote:

Excellent software but honestly I'm surprised this wasn't a must-have in version 1. Part of managing one's privacy these days is managing one's identities. I know many people who would balk at using Keybase because they can't easily manage multiple identities.

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/8586#issuecomment-365509735, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA05_5nmKbxpy6Qo4gSBEbrGYXtP5js0ks5tUn35gaJpZM4Pfm9d .

[dabura667]

@maxtaco I just checked the iPhone app and logging in to multiple accounts simultaneously (the subject of this issue) is not yet supported.

I need to log out and log back in with a different account. During which time I can no longer get notifications for the previous account.

[bradmurray]

We already support this.

How is this already supported? I run keybase on Android, Windows and OSX and on all of them I have to logout and log back in to change identities. I get it if the goal of keybase is to say that you are you and you're not supposed to use it for any anonymity, but if we can be multiple people at the same time that would be useful.

[neunenak]

I'm a new keybase user using it for multiple identities and I too would like to see the UX around being logged into multiple identities simultaneously become better.

[dabura667]

This is a sorely missing feature, imo.

[josh-clarke]

Adding my support for this feature request. It's most needed in the phone and desktop apps; at least with the website we can have two accounts open in a regular and private browsing window, or with Firefox's containers add-on.

[jcausey-astate]

I'll add my vote for this one as well, and also point out that the Firefox container solution doesn't help with chat -- chat seems to be only supported with the native app, with the exception of the limited chat enabled by the browser extension. So, the browser can't really fix this issue.

I have a similar use case to others here; I have a need to keep my work-related communication separate from personal accounts. I'm happy to see the new "exploding messages" feature; I hope this one might get some consideration now that that one is done. (Maybe also chat search via the GUI, but that's a different issue.)

[TheKangaroo]

Hey, I just started to use keybase and the first thing I checked was if I can create separate accounts for private and business use cases. It would be great to have these two logged in in the app simultaneously.

[supakeen]

Jumping on this bandwagon as well. A lot of services nowadays do support multiple identities and/or personas logged in at the same time. It'd be awesome if keybase could do the same for those of us who keep separate online identities for separate areas of work.

[domq]

N+1'd. An important use case is the ability to make "bot" accounts to be members in a team (e.g. to auto-push DevOps secrets into a Keybase Git repo)

[QuentinBellus]

+1 on this. Multiple identities should be supported.

We don't plan to make it much easier than it already is, because most people don't do this.

Many people who already have accounts in different places do have one for work and one for their personal identity. I know many, MANY people in this case, and looking at the list of people in this thread, there are indeed many of us.

Please bring this to Keybase

[jfinstrom]

+1 I also have personal (where I am generally opinionated on things that matter to me) and my company account (fun but filtered)

[AngryAnt]

Conflicted if the "already supported" responses ought to be treated as depressing or hilarious.

[srd424]

Dropping in to +1 here. Keybase looks fascinating but I have had my fingers burnt in the past by letting different areas of my life overlap (new rule: colleagues only get added on social media when one or other of us leaves!) Not doing that again!

[rfmerrill]

Almost everyone I know wants this feature.

I'm not exaggerating I know literally dozens of people for whom this would kind of be a dealbreaker.

[shrmn]

Definitely want this.

[specific-dad]

Want this as well.

[rsoltanzadeh]

The logout/login process is not very user friendly because if people want to run multiple identities they usually want to be able to be logged into all of them at the same time which would mean the clients should be able to handle it. Running multiple instances on win/osx/linux would work, but multiple instances on a phone are problematic.

If it is not feasible on phone, then don't try to implement this for phone. Do it for the desktop app. It is (obviously) a largely overlooked feature.

[hexagile]

+1000

For me, this is a dealbreaker - as much as I love keybase, until multiple personas will be properly supported, it will be just a toy app I'm checking out every now and then.

[tstrijdhorst]

+1 This is the main reason I'm not using keybase tbh.

[fortran77]

It's quite understandable that software developers want to discourage or prevent account creation spam. It can clog up the namespace, for one thing. It allows Sybil attacks in dicsussions, for another, so a person can pretend to be multiple people all arguing the same side (happens on Reddit and Twitter all the time). Making it too easy for a person to have many logins will also make it too easy for the person to take up many times the free allocation of cloud storage per person.

So I definitely will not argue for multiple identities without limit.

However, two is a bare minimum, because many of us find it desirable to keep our personal and professional lives separate. If carrying a single mobile device, you would want to have both identities logged in. Or you might have separate business and personal devices, and in that case, you can much more easily implement security procedures, so certain business-related files are never allowed to touch a personal device.

You might need a third identity to say and do naughty things, not naughty enough to make you a criminal in the civilized world, but naughty enough to damage your personal or professional life if found out and, in some less civilized parts of the world, be stoned to death.

You can probably imagine reasons for additional identities.

I think about five or six would be a reasonable limit.

--

Also, please see: https://github.com/keybase/keybase-issues/issues/2886#issuecomment-460892124

[IpsmLorem]

Definitely a must have !

[maxtaco]

We're close on this, either in this release or the next.

[Mikaela]

In https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/2104#issuecomment-493079134 it's said that you can currently keybase login -s anotheraccount to switch account

[Avamander]

Is there any UI support planned for this?

[junderw]

yes.

however I currently can't get desktop notifications for any of the other logged in accounts. I have to switch and visually check for unread chats.

[dlumma]

Please add support for this!

[janedough1331]

I honestly can't believe someone, never mind someone responsible for a product like keybase, would honestly think "most people don't have multiple identities on the internet" or even "most people don't want multiple verifiable identities on the internet" - not sure what world you must be living in to come to that conclusion, but whatever one it is, i'm surprised that its the same one that brought you to develop keybase... Please, for the love of flying space turtles, implement this ASAP.

[ItsExtra]

I honestly can't believe someone, never mind someone responsible for a product like keybase, would honestly think "most people don't have multiple identities on the internet"

There's a subculture of people who seem to have melted their selves into the internet like butter on toast. People who do this will naturally interact with lots of others who have done the same to a greater or lesser extent so they come to believe it is normal. If a primary way you interact with other humans is online, then you might eventually arrive at the conclusion that the people posting prolifically online are representative of all humans. Because how else would you ever comes across anyone? It's a weird self perpetuating bubble.

That said I am not sure if the devs/bosses here think this (though I haven't read all the other related issues yet so maybe they do) or if they are merely indifferent or uninterested.

IMHO security and privacy/anonymity are intrinsically linked in every practical way.

Like the others, I would also consider this tool much more useful if I didn't have to sit and think which portion of my life it is most suited for, which is my train of thought at the moment.

[junderw]

Feature: is in current release version.

Feature Request Issue: continues discussion as if it is not there.

Feature:

[ItsExtra]

Feature: is in current release version.

I am new to this whole github thing but why is the issue still marked as "open"? Also #2104 "Feature Request: Logging into multiple keybase accounts locally". In my limited experience, mostly lurking, devs/admins are extremely happy to close these things once they are resolved.

Found this thread (and the many others which link here) trying to determine if it is possible or no. All I see is many people stating it's not possible. I can't see anything obvious on my phone about how to do this. "Add identities" lets me verify on about 800 mastodon servers.

[junderw]

Because these threads get long, and after a while it's no longer clear what feature they were talking about to begin with.

Also, Keybase client has 2.6k issues open... which tells you that this project is not focused much on closing / managing issues and is more focused on coding / reviewing code.

The closed issues mostly tend to be bugs that were fixed, since they are much easier to put a binary value on completion.

[getraf]

I think this issue is still open and people are still talking about this because currently, there is no Graphical User Interface (GUI) support for multiple identities or personas through the Keybase app.

Here's my +1 for GUI support in addition to the Command Line Interface (CLI) implementation.

[Avamander]

@junderw

Feature: is in current release version.

The feature definitely doesn't exist in current version in an acceptable manner.

[w3bb]

+1. Especially with chat there's times where I'd want to use alternative identities. If Keybase is aiming for businesses to support Keybase, then it would be incredibly useful to have different accounts for work and private use.

[Hexstream]

Note that these days twitter allows to simultaneously connect to up to 5 accounts/identities at the same time, right there through the normal official GUI. Just click on "More" then the blue "⊕" to add more accounts. (I never use that feature, but I'm glad it exists.)

[Hexstream]

Also note that these days, gmail (or only G Suite?) supports multiple accounts natively:

[w3bb]

Kebase technically supports it, but having to re-enter your password every time is a massive pain.

On Wed., Nov. 6, 2019, 7:19 a.m. Jean-Philippe Paradis, < notifications@github.com> wrote:

Also note that these days, gmail (or only G Suite?) supports multiple accounts natively: [image: Multiple gmail accounts] https://camo.githubusercontent.com/5646d7d9503d7d5513b0623695dfd33968a03675/68747470733a2f2f7777772e68657873747265616d2e6e65742f746d702f676d61696c2d6d756c7469706c652d6163636f756e74732e706e67

— You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/8586?email_source=notifications&email_token=AIEGR7W5YENP5SGDKQTYRS3QSKY5DA5CNFSM4D36N5O2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEDGK3GY#issuecomment-550284699, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIEGR7U5DEVHW4FWYV6FJFLQSKY5DANCNFSM4D36N5OQ .

[Hexstream]

Being able to be logged in to multiple accounts simultaneously is distinctly different.

[getraf]

I think this issue is still open and people are still talking about this because currently, there is no Graphical User Interface (GUI) support for multiple identities or personas through the Keybase app.

Here's my +1 for GUI support in addition to the Command Line Interface (CLI) implementation.

We just got our wish!

Multiple identities or personas support through the Keybase app Graphical User Interface (GUI).

That's in addition to the Command Line Interface (CLI) implementation.

Great stuff.

[Hexstream]

Sounds great, but as soon as I select "Log in as another user" it immediately logs me out and I have to enter my password again to log back in...

[heronhaye]

This is now in the app in version 5.0 on all platforms. You should be able to switch users without entering your password every time.

@Hexstream, if you have "Always stay logged in" checked in the Advanced Settings tab, that sounds like a bug. Please send feedback after reproducing and make another issue. Thanks.

[Hexstream]

You are right, checking "Always stay logged in" solves the problem, but this behavior is not intuitive at all. I created a new issue.

[mvdan]

Thanks so much for fixing this issue! I use this feature on a daily basis, and it works great.

I have two suggestions to make it even more awesome:

https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/23850 to show notifications for all accounts configured as "always stay logged in".

https://github.com/keybase/client/issues/23851 to allow switching between "always stay logged in" accounts with just a keyboard shortcut, or a single click, and remember what tab was last open for each account.