~19 months later this is now merged. Next release will have biometric unlock for Linux on all packages (including flatpak, but excluding snap. Looking into that one at a later date). Enjoy!
With the current APIs available on desktop Linux, allowing unlock on boot would be vulnerable in that it cannot guarantee that a locked vault is not unlockable by an attacker stealing the device with an unlocked desktop user session. So until first unlock, biometric unlock is not available.
The messaging around this and interaction with the browser extension will be improved though.
Flatpak returns “Browser integration not supported”
ImageApp can enable browser integration, but the browser claims it is not enabled. Probably it can’t detect desktop app. I got “NativeMessaging port disconnected because of error: An unexpected error occurred” in the extension backend
I found the solution. Here is the info that only AppImage , Deb , and .rpm support it Password Manager Desktop Apps | Bitwarden Help Center. I prefer Deb. I had configured fingerprint unlock on my Ubuntu earlier and at this point unlocking the desktop app with fingerprint was possible. The second issue was with Native Messaging. The lack of a manifest file was the issue. Actually, installation of Deb package created that file for Chrome Browser ~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/com.8bit.bitwarden.json but not for Brave Browser. The solution was to copy Chromes manifest to /home/michal/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/NativeMessagingHosts/com.8bit.bitwarden.json
Another issue that I found is the browser that is installed with snap. In my case, there is Native Messaging manifest for Firefox but I have snap Firefox. I haven’t found a solution yet
I got the browser integration to work for Firefox, but not Brave.
On Firefox, when I click “Use Biometrics” nothing happens. When I unlock using the desktop app, it shows me the Linux System auth and asks me for my Yubikey PIN and touch the device, but when I click “Use Biometrics” on the browser extension nothing happens. I ran debug mode and no logs are printed or anything. If I pull out my Yubikey it gives me an error. (Perhaps Linux is hiding the system auth window due to a graphical glitch.)
@Quexten, I think that this feature request topic can be closed as implemented (to free up the 244 votes to those who voted), but I’ll let you decide whether you want to keep it open until this feature is also available for Snap.
For users who may still be experiencing issues with getting the feature to work, requests for assistance can be made in the Ask the Community section of the forum, and bug reports can be made on Github.
