One of the benefits we were supposed to get from passkeys is streamlined logins, by avoiding entry of user ID and password (along with MFA), but almost every site that permits or encourages passkeys still accepts password entry. In many cases, that’s the default unless the user finds and clicks a “passkey login” or similar link/button.
But who remembers all of the sites in the vault that have passkeys? I don’t, so when I see the autofill badge on my browser’s BW extension icon, I usually click it and then the “Fill” button to enter the user ID and password, frequently followed by some sort of MFA friction (which often is not authenticator-based). If I’d only remembered that I could have used a passkey to log in more quickly…
So, I respectfully propose that for any site for which a passkey is stored and autofill is offered, there should be a small indicator that the site has a passkey. Maybe a small key-shaped icon? Or a white "P: in a red star? Or something else that a UX developer might envision.
When someone about to login to a web site sees the indicator, they can abort the autofill and find the site’s passkey login option to start that process.
Initially, this occurred to me after reading yet another article about password-based phishing attacks. As long as there are passwords, the campaigns will continue. Scammers are getting more clever with handling MFA. And while I’m not aware that it has happened yet, perhaps at some point, the scammers will be able to spoof the URL in such a way that autofill mistakenly associates it with a vault entry.
The Item Name field is free form text that can contain whatever you want. The common workaround is to include the word passkey in it (1st example); or a unicode image (2nd example).
However, I’d still like for the UX dev team to consider this change.
Almost all of my passkeys have been added after the creation of the vault entry. Often, it’s on a later login, when the site suggests or I see an option to add the passkey. I’m usually on a mission, so I will click whatever to add the passkey, but then continue on to complete whatever I was trying to accomplish rather than pausing, going back to BW, finding the entry, going into edit mode, adding the indicator, saving, then returning to my task.
That means that I need to remember to go back and edit the entry to add the indicator to the name. Unfortunately, that’s not one of my strengths. By the time I’ve done whatever I needed on that site, the fact that the vault entry now has a passkey has already left my mind.
Is there a way that I can easily get a list of current vault entries that have passkeys?
Thanks, Nail1684 and grb. At least I’m not the only one who’s asking!
While I’m comfortable using the terminal, I don’t have the JSON tools and I’m reluctant to install for a single use case.
I’ve started going through individual folders in my vault, looking at most likely candidates and adding the to entries passkeys. If I do a folder at a time, it’s not a huge time sink.
FWIW, I did search BW help for a solution before asking here.
It should be possible to do using PowerShell commandlets, as well, although I am not sufficiently expert in this area to whip up some sample code off the top of my head…
I’ve raised this issue previously. Most responses were unhelpful, workarounds, or dismissive of my critiques regarding the current state of Bitwarden Passkeys, which contrasts with the more civilized responses others have received. It would likely require minimal effort for developers to implement a clear identifier for passkeys, such as a colored tag or distinct label.
I think that one reason you perceived your previous experience on the forum to be unhelpful may have been because you had high-jacked another user’s thread, and that user marked their question as “solved” (because they were satisfied with the advice that had been provided).
… and on top of that: it was an “Ask the Community” thread – and as other users (i.e. not BW developers) sometimes there are only (some / different) workarounds to offer… You have to join an existing or open your own feature request for what you describe here:
PS: Well, to avoid a possible misunderstanding: of course, no one forbids to also criticize features/functions or discuss possible changes also in “Ask the Community” threads, when it comes up. But if you want to propose changes, “Feature Requests” are the way to go here.
Perhaps you missed @Nail1684’s reply just a few hours later. It both acknowledges the limitation and offers a few methods that have been proposed to address it. If this limitation is important to you, I suggest picking your favorite solution and cast your vote by clicking the , to the left of its title.
As for workarounds, they are generally well-received by members of “Ask the community”, including the ones that @kotgc asked for and that I provided. If you do not appreciate workarounds, feel free to ignore them. But, please be aware that workarounds will continue to be part of the community because most of us appreciate being able to use our vault in ways not envisioned/prioritized by the designers.
to entries passkeys. If I do a folder at a time, it’s not a huge time sink.
, to the left of its title.