MacOS Safari Extension Biometric Login Doesn't Work

[mikaelbasmaci]

Hi all

I just wanted to share a problem with the latest Bitwarden and MacOS. I installed Bitwarden from MacOS Appstore (so that it enables browsers to biometrically log in myself) and it has worked flawlessly with the Brave browser.

However, when I setup to log in via biometric on Safari, it keeps giving me the error:
“Biometric unlock failed. The biometric secret key failed to unlock the vault. Please try to set up biometrics again.”

I have tried everything on the web, asked even ChatGPT for an opinion but nobody seems to have written something about it.

(Tried to delete and reinstall the app, installed from the official .dmg to see that it doesn’t support the browser extension for safari anyways, disabled and enabled biometric login on Desktop again and again, gave all possible permissions on System Settings in Privacy section.)

Is there something I am missing?

Furthermore, after this screen appears and I log in with the master password, passwords don’t load anymore and autofill doesn’t work.

I appreciate any help, I hope this post helps MacOS users who might have the same problem.

MacOS: Sequoia 15.2
Safari: Version 18.2 (20620.1.16.11.8)
Bitwarden: Version 2024.12.1 (34750)

[DoctorB]

I use a Macbook Air M1 and I always use the Brave browser.
Out of curiosity I tried to reproduce your problem and I couldn’t, biometric login works fine for me in Safari so it doesn’t seem to be a general problem.
(BW from Apple App Store)

On the other hand, why would you want to use Safari? (as it’s regarded as the worst browser ever even on a Mac )

[mikaelbasmaci]

I’m on a Macbook Pro with M2 Pro. It’s still happening. It just doesn’t make sense that it works on the Brave Browser with a fingerprint but fails on Safari.

By the way, I use both of the browsers, Safari’s battery usage is unparalleled to any other browser.

I’m still looking for a solution.

[badotasalota]

I’m getting the same error via Safari as well. I noticed that it happens only when in clamshell mode. I can see that issues have been logged from a few years now:

see #2572 and #7948

Biometrics works via Safari only if the MacBook isn’t in clamshell. Otherwise it just fails with an error that biometrics can’t be setup for the extension.

And just to be clear - biometrics works just fine in the desktop app. It’s only the extension via Safari that I’m focused on.

So far I’ve read that it’s been ‘logged by the engineers’. But with no update since