Is it possible to use the Bitwarden app to import an exported Bitwarden vault, so as to have an on-device vault?
I am using a different on-device password manager but would prefer to use Bitwarden.
In my scenario, the app would let me import a vault backup (from my existing account) and maintain it on the phone but would have no tie to my online Bitwarden account.
Hope that makes sense.
What do you mean by “maintain”? Are you expecting vault modifications made on this phone to be synchronized with your online Bitwarden vault at some point? Bitwarden currently does not offer any off-line editing functionality.
Also, when you say “online Bitwarden account” are you referring to an account on a self-hosted server?
It’s hard to understand what you’re trying to accomplish, exactly. If you describe your use-case in a little more detail, perhaps you will get additional suggestions.
Yeah, I know it’s probably confusing.
I would like a separate copy of my vault only on my phone. That way if networks are down or something else prevents me from accessing my online vault, I would be able to utilize the vault stored locally on my phone.
Synchronizing between the two would be manual.
Currently I use a different password manager vault on my phone which has its own database only on the phone. I manually enter accounts (duplicating what is in Bitwarden) that I consider most critical. Which is fine, but it’d be easier to periodically export from my online Bitwarden vault and import into the phone-only application.
Hope that clarifies a bit.
Bitwarden does store a local copy of the vault on your device while you remain logged in, so you should still be able to unlock it if there network issues. Depending on the nature of the problem, the client app may attempt to contact the server and report an error, in which case you should be able to circumvent the error by putting your device in airplane mode.
Since you are self-hosting, it would be easy to verify this: after logging in to Bitwarden on your phone, disconnect your server from the internet, and attempt to unlock your vault on your phone (with or without airplane mode).
I’m not self-hosting. I’m using the Bitwarden-hosted online service.
It’s just that I want a local (on-device) copy of my vault that I can access using (hopefully) the Bitwarden Android app, or (not as preferable but still ok) another Android app without requiring any sort of network connection.
I’m doing this currently with a non-Bitwarden Android app but the on-device database is completely separate and requires manual entry in order to match the current passwords that I have stored in my online Bitwarden vault. I simply want to periodically download a copy of my Bitwarden vault and import it into the standalone Android password manager application.
OK. I changed your topic’s hosting tag from self-hosting to cloud-default.
Have you tried unlocking your Bitwarden vault with your phone in airplane mode?
wow. Yeah, turning on Airplane Mode makes Bitwarden infinitely faster. For the past few weeks when I open bitwarden on android, and I start typing in the search box, it takes FOREVER (ha! no, it doesn’t, but there can be a 5 second, even 8-10second, lag before any keystrokes show up on the screen). With airplane mode on, BW on Android doesn’t communicate with the mothership (i.e. BW hosting), and it’s fast.
@THEOCKID What you’re describing doesn’t sound normal (communication with Bitwarden servers should happen primarily when you log in, sync the vault, add or modify vault items, or experience an app crash, not when you search). I would suggest opening a ticket with tech support to investigate this issue. If you want further assistance (or commiseration) from the user community, please start a separate forum thread.