iOS app not working

Ask the Community Password Manager
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The iOS app hasn’t been working since at least October 3rd. Support has been unhelpful so posting here. My entire organization can’t access their vaults on their phones and getting pretty fed up.

We are cloud-hosted and tried all troubleshooting steps already- logging in/out; uninstalling/reinstalling. Even setup a new phone from scratch with no MDM, VPN, etc. and only the Bitwarden app. Still doesn’t work. Only shows a generic message “an error has occurred” when trying to view their vault. Affecting different iPhone models, iOS versions.

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@DYOS Hi!

So only iOS (mobile) apps experience this?

Did you also try to delete the local storage of the app before reinstalling it? (Storage | Bitwarden Help Center)

And just a sanity check: you are trying to log in on the server region you have the Bitwarden account(s) on, right? (US = vault.bitwarden.com or EU = vault.bitwarden.eu)

→ BTW, can you log in via the web vault? (i.e. basically, logging in via one of the links I just provided) → PS: I mean the users and/or admins?

I guess what can be said, is that there is no widespread impossibility to log in with the iOS app, so something about your configuration / network would be a possibility…

With iOS apps: did you make sure, that “smart punctuation” is disabled? It can interfere with the correct typing of the master password. (and email address??)

Probably iOS versions may differ between your devices…? Bitwarden mobile app versions are up-to-date? (the latter: should be on 2024.9.2 at the moment)

Then, I think of the KDF with your iOS mobile apps… If you have configured Argon2 with “memory” larger than 48 or 64 MB (I guess recently the limit was changed to 64 MB…), this might be a problem here as well. (maybe someone changed it after it worked, and is now causing log in problems?) (See here for more info: KDF Algorithms | Bitwarden Help Center … and BTW: Argon2 is a good choice if you have it, don’t turn it back, just reduce the memory setting…)

PS:

So around two weeks ago… Was there any event, that might have triggered that? (with your network, devices, updates?, did someone change some Bitwarden settings of your account before? etc.)

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Hi Nail1684,

Logging in is not the issue. We can’t access vaults on the iOS app and autofill doesn’t work.

  • Only iOS app.
  • There’s no local app storage to delete on iPhones.
  • US = vault.bitwarden.com
  • User and admins can login fine to web vault and iOS app. Vault is not visible (shows error has occurred) on iOS app only.
  • Smart punctuation is not an issue. Logging in is fine.
  • Bitwarden app is up to date. Uninstalling and reinstalling only allows installing the latest.
  • No events on our end triggered this. App store reviews show it’s affecting multiple organizations and people.
1 Like
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Okay… I guess “doesn’t work” and “can’t access” sounded like login problems to me. Good you clarified that.

But what does that mean exactly, then? So you can successfully log in, but then your vault is empty? Or do you see “things” but they don’t load if you try to open them? Or something else?

There where some problems with that lately - one thing was Safari 17 having problems (though I’m not sure if this was only a MacOS thing). Safari 18 would be the “solution” here (if Safari was the “culprit”).

Directly after the (successfull) login or after you “do” something?

And if I understand you correctly, in the web vault (or other Bitwarden apps except the iOS app?!) the vault is visible and you can open e.g. vault items…

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PS: Here the thing about Safari: Safari: inline suggestions (auto fill) in input fields don't show up anymore since 2024.08 · Issue #10715 · bitwarden/clients · GitHub (the comment by “cagonzalezcs”)

As I wrote, that might have to do with your auto-fill issues - but not with the other issues. And you not even wrote, that you use Safari…

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I have found on my iPhone that I need to use the password button on the top of the keyboard to access Bitwarden. If I try to use the on in the pop-up above the username field (where copy/paste is), that does not work.

Not a frequent iPhone-er, so I can’t say if this is new behavior, but may be something else for you to try.

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Just to clarify one detail. There is/was a known incompatibility issue between the Bitwarden iOS app and the Vaultwarden server software (which is not a Bitwarden product), or with outdated versions of the Bitwraden Server software. There have apparently been negative reviews recently left on the iOS app store by users who are self-hosted using outdated or incompatible server software. You are cloud-hosted, not self-hosted, so the app store complaints that you have seen may not be relevant to your situation.

Furthermore, I don’t see anything resembling your issue in Bitwarden’s bug report system for the iOS app. So I would tend to agree with @Nail1684:

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I’ve been seeing similar issues since doing an bitwarden update on my iphone. Search no longe works at all. No matter what I search, it returns “nothing found”.

-edit-
I’d struggled with this situation for about two weeks. Today it has resolved itself. Search is now working. It is slow. Results take about three or four seconds to be returned.

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The Bitwarden iOS app isn’t working for Socrates GM my organization. We’ve tried troubleshooting steps but the issue persists. Support hasn’t been helpful. We’re getting frustrated.

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Thank you for confirming alfredo594!

No matter how many times I’ve tried, Bitwarden support refuses to acknowledge an issue on their end. Telling customers to uninstall/reinstall 20+ times and saying that fixed it for some people is not an acceptable answer.

At this point, my organization has given up on Bitwarden and we’re looking at 1Password, Dashlane, and NordPass. So far, they all look promising- you might want to consider switching also.

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What does “isn’t working” mean exactly?

What did you try exactly so far?

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@DYOS Did you try it with Safari 18 as I suggested?

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FWIW
I also had the ipad BW app fail to load the vault after login. iPhone continued to work. iPad worked before an iOS update. That was the only change made.
I couldn’t solve it and finally deleted the app and re installed it. The vault loaded normally.

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Autofill issues, perhaps for grb and DenBesten –

Now that I finally have Bitwarden making login info available approximately as expected on my family’s Windows PCs, phones and tablets (thanks to your advice) I need to get those devices to use Bitwarden’s capabilities properly. The Win 7 and Win 10 PCs are operating as expected. The iPhone 15 was next on the list, and iOS 17.7.2 and Bitwarden are NOT cooperating. Details follow. And that experience has me dreading the testing on the iPad 11, Samsung A8 tablet (Android) and Google Pixel 8 phone (also Android).

It has become pretty clear that the Bitwarden mobile app no longer works in newer versions of iPadOS or iOS. Or there’s something pretty subtle and not obvious in Bitwarden that needs explaining in neon letters.

The following relates issues of iPhone 15 running iOS 17.7.2

My wife’s new iPhone 15 has Bitwarden version 2024.00.0 (1680) installed. When she opens Safari and attempts to log into a site for which Bitwarden has a stored username and password for logging in, there is no indication that Bitwarden and Safari are interacting. And there is no icon or other indicator to indicate interaction. When she goes to Settings > Safari > Autofill, the Autofill screen has “Use Contact Info” greyed out, and “My Info” is “None”. When she goes to Settings > Safari > Extensions, the Extensions screen says “No extensions installed”.

Well OK, I must have missed something during setup. Yes. After some searching I found the Bitwarden screen named auto-fill-ios and read Autofill > Autofill Basics > Autofill Logins on iOS. Following those instructions my wife logged in to Bitwarden and tapped Settings, then Autofill, then App Extension, and finally on the “Activate app extension” button under a view that looks different on her phone than on your webpage. That took us to a screen with a sliding option panel with two options, “New Quick Note” and “Autofill with Bitwarden”. She clicked on “Autofill with Bitwarden.” The next screen said “Extension activated. Your logins are now easily accessible from Safari, Chrome and other supported apps. In Safari and Chrome, find Bitwarden using the share icon (hint: scroll to the right on the bottom row of the share menu).” And this screen displayed a Bitwarden logo. This seemed hopeful.

HOWEVER when she returned to Settings > Safari > Autofill, the Autofill screen had “Use Contact Info” greyed out, and “My Info” was still “None”. When she went to Settings > Safari > Extensions, the Extensions screen still displayed “No extensions installed”. There was still no evidence of Bitwarden interacting with Safari.

On the Bitwarden auto-fill-ios page, the instructions may have been correct at one time but need updating. iOS Settings > General will not take you to Autofill & Passwords because “Autofill & Passwords” does not exist. We tried several permutations of choices we found afterward via iOS Settings > Face ID and Passcode, but none appeared to improve the situation. And the iPhone seemed determined to attempt to use face recognition as a password.

Over to you folks at Bitwarden. Very disappointing. I’m guessing that the constant evolution of user-device operating systems makes the Bitwarden team a bit crazy. But meantime I need a solution; going on vacation soon.

Martt

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Not one person who has helped you on this forum (nor any participant in this forum thread) is “at Bitwarden”. We are just Bitwarden customers/users who are trying our best to help others.

I assume you meant 2024.11.0 for the iOS app, but what version of Safari does she have installed? As mentioned in earlier comments in this thread, Apple introduced changes in Safari 17 that stopped many browser extensions from working — Bitwarden included. Those issues were reportedly fixed in Safari 18, so you should attempt to update the Safari version (which may require an update of the iOS version — the most recent version is 18.1.1).

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Hi grb,

For starters I hope I have not offended anyone. This is a very competent, well-organized and responsive website and I jumped to an erroneous conclusion. As retirees who provide a lot of volunteer assistance in the senior-living community where

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continuing after user error…

…we live, we appreciate being helped when we need it. Thanks to all you you!

About the iPhone issue: I’m not an “Apple person” so my inexperience was showing. I couldn’t find anything on the phone that specified the installed version of Safari. A check online says that the OS version and the Safari version have the same first digits, so evidently we have Safari 17. Will check next on an OS update and get back to you. Meanwhile the Samsung A8 tablet seems to be performing correctly in Autofill Services mode, so that seems VERY encouraging. More this evening after I get the iPhone updated.

And a related question: My wife and I are typically Firefox and Chrome users. Already have Firefox on both iPad and iPhone. Would they likely be less troublesome than Safari? Safari is not my choice but it’s Apple’s.

Martt

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No offense take, but I needed to correct the error, as it is a common mistake that sometimes leads to frustration if we community volunteers don’t provide the level of support that a user might expect from an actual company employee.

With regards to the iPhone, I have no personal experience with using mobile apps or with using browser extensions on a mobile device operating system like iOS or iPadOS. Therefore, I cannot answer your question (but hopefully one of our other community members will step in with advice).

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I hope you’re correct about other community members stepping in, because I definitely need assistance.

Status: Updated the iPhone to iOS 18.1.1, then followed the instructions on Autofill Logins on iOS | Bitwarden Help Center. Decided to try the recommended approach first, keyboard autofill. Instructions from the Bitwarden auto-fill-ios page were workable. Ended up at a screen with “Autofill Activated” message with a checkmark, but that screen had only one actionable entry “Cancel” at top left. That didn’t make sense, so I shut off iOS Settings by scrolling up.

I then gave the “Let’s test autofill to make sure it’s working properly” routine from the ios-auto-fill page a try. Bitwarden name shows up at top left on screen, seemed encouraging. As I worked through the instructions for testing, in my case there was no matching login text above the keyboard, instead I had to use the “key” button. This actually works but is INCREDIBLY CUMBERSOME. You have to enter your master password at the beginning of each step. Nobody could put up with this nonsense, so I must have made a mistake somewhere. Too late to continue this evening however.

Martt

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Saturday afternoon update for grb and DenBesten –

For a change, GOOD NEWS! I set up “Autofill Service” on both my Google Pixel 8 phone and Samsung A8 tablet (both Android). Following a few setup errors (and a few contributed by device software that seemed to require toggling a switch function on and off several times to make a setting ‘stick’), Bitwarden is working marvelously on both devices. Are there still a few rough spots using these Android devices? Yes. But nothing worrisome. I can live with the issues if I can’t find a way to change them. And the responsiveness is better than on my Windows laptop!

I also realize that there is a “remember me” or similar setting on Android that I probably didn’t change on the iPhone 15, which could account for being bugged to re-enter the master password much too often to suit the iPhone user. May have an update on that issue tomorrow.

If one of you is familiar with handling phone calls via WiFi <>internet connectivity, I’d like to hear about it. Two-factor authentication ordinarily uses a cellphone side channel to handle the verification code. I’ll be in a location where I have connectivity via WiFi <> internet, but no cellular connectivity. I’ve heard that there is what amounts to a phone-call app for devices. And in the US anyhow, phone traffic has been VoIP for quite some time. So technically this seems very do-able. I’ll do some internet searching this evening but if you have information you’re willing to pass on, I’m all ears.

Thank you again for your advice and patience on my voyage of Bitwarden discovery!

Martt