As some have noted, the last release included an update to the UI of the Bitwarden desktop application. There has been great feedback from the community on some of the changes, and rest assured that this feedback has been noted and taken seriously.
This most recent updates are part of an effort maintain a consistent design language across Bitwarden applications. The desktop app now leverages modules from the web app as a way to get there. For longtime users of the desktop app who may not use the web app often, this was understandably unanticipated. Power desktop app users are drawn to the desktop app for specific reasons, and this update still has room to improve to optimize all workflows. The team is taking a closer look at this now, and the communityâs feedback has been logged, segmented into tasks, and assigned.
This first step toward visual parity also came with a inadvertent bug where keyboard shortcuts stopped working - rest assured that restoring that function is a top priority for the next update cycle.
Thank you everyone for being the best, most involved, and passionate Bitwarden community. Stay tuned for future updates!
Another maybe small thing (and ârequestâ): I would prefer it if the âfirst rowâ would stay fixed, so that you donât have to scroll back up every time you want to use those new sorting options:
(another thing would be to be able to sort for more âfieldsâ like usernames, edit dates etc. â or even to be able to customize the âfieldsâ that are shown in the item list and that one could sort for)
@Mary_Blabaum Welcome to the forum, and (a belated) welcome to Bitwarden!
Consistency is a valuable goal (and it is an area in which the browser extension has unfortunately seen significant regression since version 2026.4.1), but it should not be overdone. The different client apps are used in very different contexts, and often for different purposes; thus, design features and functionalities in one context are sometimes inappropriate for other contexts. For example, as discussed in another thread, Fittâs Law would dictate that the main navigation buttons should be near at the bottom of the screen for mobile apps (to facilitate thumb presses), but that the optimal placement of navigation buttons in the browser extension should be at the top of the screen (to minimize mouse movement required after clicking the Bitwarden icon to open the extension).
A separate forum topic would probably be warranted, but I hope that you also have plans to fix usability issues in the browser extension, caused by changes introduced this year and last year. A small sampling:
The ability to configure a consistent item click action (i.e., click-to-view for all items, just like in the other clients) has been lost.
One-click view for card and identity items has been lost.
Information density is much lower than it used to be, even with the introduction of the so-called âcompactâ mode.
Forced autofill and autofill-and-save are now intentionally blocked for users who prefer âExactâ matching to minimize exposure to info stealers (which would typically be power users), for no good reason.
@Mary_BlabaumThank you for this feedback you - from the inside of Bitwarden.
I myself (and presumably many other users) rarely use the web app. The focus is primarily on the desktop app (and mobile).
The new changes (and not only these) contain some fundamental errors that no longer adhere to the principles of user-friendly UI design. Consequently, these flaws are reflected in the web app. Therefore, a partial overhaul of the web UI is also necessary, in my opinion.
Perhaps it would be possible to involve a few Bitwarden users in the process to incorporate their feedback beforehand, preventing a repeat of the current versionâs debacle.
My general impression is that the Web Vault is widely perceived as having the âclunkiestâ UI (and it is tolerated simply because it is typically the least used client).
Thus, if consistency was the impetus behind the recent changes, it is curious that it was decided to remodel the Desktop app after the Web app, instead of vice versaâŚ
Thanks for addressing the unexpected UI change (I mostly use the browser extension). I would love if the default was presented as a choice to âenableâ the new UI/UX or to keep the old one for now (c.f. how code IDEs introduce new themes/layouts).
Personally, Iâd like to have a more compact view on the desktop app:
e.g. by having an additional username/email column in the list AND/OR
the ability to apply zoom individually for the left menu section and the list on the right
The reason I use the desktop version is to avoid the small-form-factor UI/UX. I neither need nor want a user interface that might work well on my iPhone on my 4K desktop. Consistency should not equal regression to the lowest common denominator. At the very least, provide an option on the desktop for the previous compact view. Iâm a paid subscriber and increasing the cost while reducing its perceived value to me is enough to end my renewal when it comes due.
Iâm a user of Bitwarden desktop. I donât use the browser extension. I really dislike the excessive whitespace (both vertical and horizontal) and poor information density of the new UI, and I couldnât find a way to switch to a more compact view. I would greatly appreciate to have that toggle for the desktop app.
@irascible_halfling : I agree, as many other users criticise this waste of space (beside many other aspects).
@Mary_Blabaum : As you are the Director of Product Design at Bitwarden (and it seems that you are very experienced in designing UI/UX) I would like to know more about the ideas for this UI (web app, and now desktop app). Why was this UI chosen (also for the web app)? This is a serious question.
As someone who also works in UI/UX design, I can see some fundamental mistakes in the UI of the Bitwarden desktop/web app.
One example: For years, I and many other users have wondered why the drop-down menu for Bitwarden. com or Bitwarden.eu is still so small at the bottom of the web app, desktop app and iOS app login pages (maybe it was changed for the offline apps because I did not login for some time; but on the website it is still at the bottom of the login page). It should be placed in the E-Mail section, where it is more visible. I see in the community that users forget to change the server info to EU, meaning they cannot log in. Alternatively, the support team asks users, âHave you changed the location at the bottom of the page?â This causes confusion, but it could easily be fixed by moving it to the login area, as it is relevant information for the login process.
To me, this is an example of the Bitwarden UI/UX team not really listening to their users and the community, or does not really understand how users use the apps.
Another example is the new UI (last update for the desktop app).
Love the idea of a fixed top row @Nail1684; we already have sticky search, condensed filters and a batch actions bar planned. We could absolutely look at what else makes sense to have fixed. Thank you for your feedback!
Thank you for the feedback, @irascible_halfling. White rivers of space arenât ideal, and this is an element we have slated to address in our next set of table updates. One follow-up question regarding your comment on âtoggle for compact.â Would you want to be able to switch between views, or just have it default to a denser/compact view?
Heard on the compact view @caseyweb, we are going to be addressing the table in the desktop and web in some upcoming updates. Will take this feedback into account, thank you!
Personally I would only use the compact mode. But I assume that the less dense version was added because some users asked for it. So, the suggestion of a toggle was only to make everyone happy. However, if the choice is to have no toggle and only one view, I vote for dense/compact only.
Completely get the compact view @Scroogeee, will ensure this feedback is escalated to the UI/UX focused team. As I have mentioned back to a few others tables/layout are upcoming for more work, so this is well timed feedback. Thank you!
Thank you for the feedback @grb, yes, in this first phase we were looking to get the parity of our applications closer. We have segments of users who use Desktop, Web, and Browser Ext., and this change was largely to foster more consistency. What I am hearing from this thread and other feedback recently is that Desktop deserves some application specific refinements, of which are already being considered by the team as we move into a broader workflow updates through the year.
Let me and the team know as you have other feedback!
Yes, but you chose to make things consistent by imposing the least user-friendly UI (the Web App) onto the Desktop app, instead of imposing the Desktop app UI on the Web appâŚ
And in the browser extension, recent changes made the UX inconsistentâŚ
As much as I like Bitwarden, the product IMO has a long and unhappy history with UI/UX design, marred by failure to use evidence-based and data-driven strategies, by failure of decision-makers to understand how users use the products (and what improvements they would most like to see), and by an apparent preference to cater to the lowest-common denominator at the detriment of power-users. There is a wealth of information available in forum discussions reacting to other UI redesign initiatives, and I hope that you will take the time to read through these (along with the Feature Requests category, much of which proposes UI/UX improvements).
Only speculations from another user now (me), but since the previous desktop app design even predated the UI redesigns that came with the 2024.12.x release (for the browser extension and the web vault), the idea that the web vault could have gotten the old desktop app design, would have kind of reverted all UI changes since 2024.12.x. I donât think that was an optionâŚ
I would further speculate, that the current desktop app changes itself were meant as a further development of the web vault â and the web vault will also get those âdesign updatesâ again in the next months/years. (sidenote: so probably this whole discussion here rescued us from an âunusableâ future web vault as well )
Since the browser extension and the web vault got their first design updates in (or since) 2024.12.x â and the mobile apps also got their overhaul â I guess it âwas just timeâ for the desktop app⌠and maybe also, because of the outstanding native passkey support and auto-type features, I think this all lead to that current âcomplete overhaulâ of the desktop app.
Apart from that, I would like to once again express that I share most of the general UI/UX criticism of the current state of the desktop app changes. And I have hope that the feedback now will lead to some adjustments.
It seems that none of the UI/UX team (and probably others) has not really followed the user*s feedback or Feature Requests here in the community.
So, I am happy that @Mary_Blabaum is here to listen to our feedback, and it would be nice to read from her about her opinion about the userâs feedback. I dont know if/when someone from the Bitwarden team showed (so much) interest in the userâs opinion.
I agree in all what @grb wrote in this comment some lines above. I could copy&paste it here.
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