I am not finding an emergency contact option in settings in either the web or the desktop bitwarden app. I am a premium member and the options confirm that. All docs say that option should be there.
In the web app when I click on profile, no dropdown menu opens as the docs say should happen.
tom kosvic
The Emergency Access feature is only available to Premium users. You should be able to see it in the Web Vault by clicking Account Settings and then Emergency Access.
You can find out more here:
@rogerdodger, you didnt even read my email. I said I was premium member and the software confirmed that. Open your eyes man.
Sorry, my bad.
I have no idea why the well-documented Emergency Access feature is not working for you. It worked fine for me when I tested it yesterday before I responded to you.
Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can help you out. I’m just a volunteer.
Have you tried from a different browser and/or a different computer?
Could you post a screenshot of what your Web Vault UI looks like when you click the profile icon? Should look like this:
With reference to the image above, when I click on my “Profile” icon, I only get “+ New Account”. There is no other dropdown menu as shown on the right above.
When I access “Account Settings” there is an Item for “premium membership” that shows “You Are a Premium Member”, “Thank you for supporting bitwarden”. There is no item in any dropdown that says “Emergency”
that is my problem.
tom kosvic
Some screenshots (as previously requested) would help. I have a feeling that you are not on the correct screen, but I can’t see what you’re looking at, so I can’t help you.
Is this what you mean by “+ New Account”???
If so, you’re not even in the Web Vault. The Help Documentation that was linked by @RogerDodger above clearly states that you have to be in the web vault to set up Emergency access, and my comment above also explicitly asks you to go to the web vault.
Dare I say …
Open your eyes man. 
I found the “emergency” tab in settings from the web vault. I found that after a search. Never used it before. I had been examining both the web extension and the desktop app (linux) to examine the vaults there. Neither of these has, for me at least, access to the emergency settings.
I had no idea that the desktop app was not accessing the same vault as the web vault.
Guess there are 3 separate vault accesses. I will apologize to @rogerdodger but I am surprised that the desktop app did not connect to the right vault. I should add that I am in linux for everything.
Thanks for everything.
tom kosvic
Glad you got it sorted out.
FYI, the “vault” is just a database of your encrypted secrets (logins, etc.), that is stored in the cloud, on Bitwarden’s servers. Bitwarden offers several client apps and interfaces to access these vault data, including the “Web Vault” app, the Desktop app, various browser extensions, a Command-Line Interface (CLI), as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android. What every app/interface has in common, is that they each fetch a copy of the cloud database and cache it on your device, where they then do the decryption to let you view your saved vault items; they also encrypt any new vault items that you add or modified vault items that you have edited, and synchronize these changes with the cloud database.
In addition to these common functions, each of the Bitwarden client apps also have their own functions (which are not universally available in all other client apps). For example, the browser extension provides an auto-fill function that simplifies transfer of your login credentials to web forms. The Web Vault app includes access to your Account Settings, and this access is not available from the other client apps.
Thus, it is not the case that “the desktop app did not connect to the right vault”, it is just that the Desktop client app does not offer access to the account settings.
The desktop app does offer access to the settings in the main menu File → Settings. But this settings set has no “emergency” tab that I can find.
tom kosvic
Those are not the Account settings, they are just specific preferences for that app (note that the popup window title is “App Settings for …”). The browser extension also has a similar “Settings” screen, and the Web Vault has a “Preferences” screen.
However, in the Web Vault, and in the Web Vault only, the Account Settings interface allows you to do account maintenance (e.g., changing or renewing your subscription; changing your account email, name, master password, or 2FA; rotating your account encryption key or changing your Key Derivation Function; defining domain rules; and , yes, setting up emergency access).
When I saw settings I just skimmed the dialogue for emergency.
OK, thanks for the help. My problem is solved.
tom kosvic