I did search the topics and was not able to find any report of issues like this one. Please link or merge to existing topic if it is a duplicate.
I noticed this issue just recently (dec. 2025) but couldn’t say exactly when it started. When I open bitwarden using the keyboard shortcut (cmd-shift-y) the cursor is in the search box (as expected) however, after a brief pause, the bitwarden UI looks like it is doing some kind of ‘refresh’ and suddenly the focus on the search box is lost and the cursor disappears.
This behavior only happens when I open the bitwarden UI for the first time ‘in a little while’. Sorry I don’t have any exact timing for that - perhaps on the order of an hour or two. But if I press escape or otherwise close the UI and reopen with the same keyboard shortcut, then the issue is resolved and the UI performs as expected and will continue to do so, until the next time I take some extended break from using the UI.
Curious to find out if anyone else is experiencing this, if it is a known issue, if there is any workaround and if there is any timeline for when a fix might be forthcoming.
Just a general information for you: MacOS 12 is no longer supported by Bitwarden (the minimum is MacOS 14 at the moment), so you should prepare for “compatibility issues” of any kind (or worse). – That is for the desktop app in particular, I think, but it should be similar for the browser extension, which also requires certain browser versions.
Thank you so much for looking into this. All great questions, please let me know if I can provide any further details.
How long is the “brief pause”?
About 1-2 seconds
During this pause, does the browser extension window remain open, but inactive?
Yes, the extension window remains open. I’m not sure exactly what you mean by ‘inactive’ (because it seems to be doing something in the background) but I am not doing anything in the window.
Is the browser extension window “popped out” as a floating window, or is it docked to your Chrome browser?
Docked in the chrome browser
During the “little while” when the browser extension window was closed, was the browser extension locked or unlocked?
Unlocked
What is the Vault Timeout period for your browser extension?
Ah, off-topic for your issue now – but indeed interesting that a current Chrome version still works on an old MacOS 12! (but still, keep in mind that your OS doesn’t get any security updates)
Thanks for the additional detail. Could you please also estimate how long the “little while” is during which the browser extension must remain closed before re-opening it?
This has been occurring here on Windows 11 in Edge for the past week too.
Seems to be something to do with already being ON a site that uses a Bitwarden login combo - and then when you go to open Bitwarden - the FIRST time - and ONLY the first time - the focus is lost.
Try it again - and the focus is back.
I thought I was seeing things this past week - and then realized I was futzing around this thing WAY more than I should be.
For me - the extension icon is in my Edge Toolbar…I click it and I do see exactly what the OP describes - VERY sporadically - the extension appears, cursor in the search box, a short instant goes by (with Bitwarden doing something?) and then the cursor disappears.
VERY difficult to replicate. And only occurs once in a while.
There is something here - that I thought was solved back in November and older. Now this thing is doing something else for reasons unknown.
How hard is it for the DEVS to just leave the cursor in the box at all times and effectively ignore it in code?
There is nothing I can think of that this extension needs to do that would ever require the cursor to disappear, be refreshed or acknowledged at all. Ideally - it should be it in the box - blinking.
EDIT: Just replicated it - once - after submitting this post. On this site.
I have been able to identify a reproducible issue that may or may not be related to what has been reported here. The difference being is that the Search field does not have focus when the browser extension is first opened (but does acquire focus if the browser extension window is subsequently closed and re-opened) — i.e., there is no delay before the Search field loses focus.
My tests were done with extension version 2025.12.0 on an Edge browser (in Windows 11).
To reproduce, log out all accounts that are logged in to the browser extension, then log in again using Login with Passkey or Login with Device. In tests with an account that does not have 2FA or New Device Login Protection enabled, the browser extension opens each time with no cursor in the search bar.
Next time that you notice that the cursor has disappeared from the browser extension Search field, do not close the browser extension window or perform any mouse clicks; instead, press the Tab key and observe whether there are any change in the browser extension UI (e.g., if I do so in my example above, pressing Tab causes a border to appear around the Add button; pressing Tab three more times makes the cursor re-appear in the Search bar).
I waited and reproduced the issue to try the tab key.
For me, when I pressed tab, the first UI element that was selected was the vault filter. Continuing to press tab proceeded to my first autofill suggestion…
When I reopened the browser extension, the search box is in focus (as expected) and pressing tab went through the same sequence.
That is an interesting observation, as it suggests that the behavior when you do your test is different from when I do mine. In addition, I found that if I deliberately steal focus from the Search field (by clicking elsewhere in the UI), there is nowhere I can click to reproduce the behavior that you found (Tab selects vault filter) — which suggests that the Tab key still sees the Search field as being in focus (even though it has no cursor.
Furthermore, it may indicate that the bug you are describing is different from (and possibly unrelated to) the one that I found.
@isometric Next time that you experience this loss of focus, please carefully observe the visual appearance of the Search field border (before any clicks or key presses are made), and report back what you find. There are three possible states:
Thin gray border:
Thin blue border:
Thick blue border:
I’m wondering if in your case, you still have the thick blue border (Search field in focus) — but minus the text cursor.
Add button; pressing Tab three more times makes the cursor re-appear in the Search bar).
