The firefox extention cannot use the biometric unlocking on Linux

Ask the Community Password Manager
, , ,
1

Hello.

I have trouble using biometrics from the Firefox browser extension. I would appreciate it if somebody could help me.

The following is the information about the platform:

  • Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
    • Bitwarden desktop 2026.5.0 (ec13c4fc) flatpak edition.
  • Firefox 152.0.1 (64-bit) snap version.
    • Bitwarden extension 2026.5.1 (ec13c4fc)

The Bitwarden desktop version works fine. It can unlock it with biometrics. Then, I have checked the “Allow browser extension”. Please see the screenshot.

While everything seems to be ready, the “Unlock with biometric” of the browser extension is grayed out, and there is a message: “Biometric unlock is unavailable because the Bitwarden desktop is closed”.

To be sure, the Bitwarden desktop is open and unlocked. I have logged out and logged in again. The problem is there.

Any help for this situation?

image
image1040×853 158 KB

2

Snap-sandboxed firefox is currently not supported. If you want to use biometric unlock, for now you’d have to switch to the deb release. (Snap sandboxed Bitwarden-desktop however, is supported).

3

Thank you very much, I will try the deb version of Firefox.