[Solved] Bitwarden extension missing in Safari

Just tried to install the extension in Safari on a new MacBook Air M1 and it is nowhere to be seen. Was sure to download from the App Store. Checked prefs to see that the extension is there, and it is, and it’s ticked, but it’s not on the menu bar and not in the customize options for the menu bar either. Seems I’ve done everything right, but it’s just not there. What’s going on?

I am a windows user.
I read that the Bitwarden extension is bundled with the desktop application. So can you try installing the desktop app.
For more information, please read Bitwarden Safari App Extension | Bitwarden Help & Support

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I did install the desktop app.

At this time (Q1 2021) it looks like the Bitwarden extension won’t work in Safari:

Due to changes by Apple, Safari now limits Safari App Extension use to only those obtained through Mac App Store downloads. As of Q1 2021, users will not be able to use a Bitwarden Safari App Extension obtained through a .dmg installation from bitwarden.com/download or any other non-App Store source.

The above is from this page:
https://bitwarden.com/help/article/install-safari-app-extension/#enable-the-extension

Yes, my original post says that I did install it from the Mac App Store. So why is the extension not showing up?

Please take a look at this issue

Did you enable the extension in Safari?

Safari > Preferences > Extensions (tick Bitwarden)

Yes. Mentioned that in the OP. Also, the desktop app works, just not the extension. here you can see it’s installed and activated, but still not appearing in Safari.

Extension works in Chrome, by the way.

Can you get in touch with the Bitwarden Team? They may be able to help you out.
If you solve your issue, please leave a reply here.

Yes, I have reached out to them. I will certainly report when they get a solution.

And have you checked, whether the icon is in the toolbar items? If yes, pull it onto your toolbar. I have to do so also from time to time.

Thanks for checking, but yes, I did look there. It’s explained in the original post. The icon is not showing up in the customize toolbar options, as you describe. I have another MacBook running BitWarden just fine, but the other will not work in Safari. Both running Big Sur on M1 Mac.

Bitwarden support are flummoxed by this problem, but they tell me a new version is coming out next week which will play nicer with Safari, so hoping that fixes it.

Hi, have there been any updates on this?

I’ve decided to use Bitwarden for personal use, just freshly installed Big Sur on my Mac, never previously used or downloaded Bitwarden. I downloaded Bitwarden from the App Store. The extension doesn’t show up at all in Safari preferences, it just says “No Extensions”. Some other posts suggested waiting a few seconds for it to show up, but that doesn’t happen for me. Digging around inside the Bitwarden package contents I found a “safari.appex” file in the PlugIns folder, so I assume that is related, but I don’t know what to do now.

Waiting and hoping the BW team are doing ok and a fix comes out soon!

I have an identical replication of this issue. BigSur, with the latest updates, 11.2.3, Bitwarden fro AppStore, browser integration checked, nothing appears on Safari Prefs. Nothing on customize tool bar. This was all fine until about a week ago. reported to BW but no response either. Extensions working well on Chrome, FF, Edge etc.

I also discovered that this issue is only occurring on Safari on M1 chips. I have an MBP, where Safari is 14.0.3 and the extension is working well. However on my Macbook air M1, where I just reinstalled BigSur, to reset Safari, the version is also 14.0.3 and the BW extension is not working. strange.

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Same here,
MacBook Pro M1 and BW just disappeared from Safari (but still normally working in Chrome).
I’ve downloaded the BW app from the App Store.

For M1, there may be some bugs from Intel Desktop App (running on Rosetta) being combined with Universal (ARM+Intel) Browser extension.

It looks like Bitwarden is planning to do a proper Universal release next, so hopefully that fixes some things.


Sadly, there are also data points from Intel Mac users that extension is missing. Some people have gotten extension to show by installing Safari Technology Preview, which may mean there is an upstream Safari bug.

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Is there any update on this?. I’m having troubles with the same issue. Waiting for the updates.