This is what happens when attempting to re-enable biometric in browser extension.
Edit: After numerous disabling and enabling biometric in browser extension and desktop, it refused to work until I checked Enabled SSH agent checkbox.
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This is most likely behind a feature flag. It seems they haven’t enabled it yet. Could be waiting for the update to roll out more widely.
Yes, a feature flag has been confirmed by Bitwarden.
@xiixexe The issue with reenabling biometrics in the browser extension seems to be an unrelated bug, and should probably be reported as an Issue on Github (especially if the behavior persists after your browser extension has been updated to 2025.11.0).
The feature flag appears to be enabled now. It’s likely rolling out gradually, so not everyone might see the option right away.
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I don’t understand how this interpretation comes about, though, as the developer stated:
The release does contain the code, but the updated version will only be able to use the re-written Windows-hello unlock after the feature-flag is enabled server-side.
…
because feature flags are for rolling out features for which there is still a possibility / risk that it needs to be rolled back in case there are bugs that users face in production.
It seems more like the code is in the release, but the feature flag isn’t yet enabled. Once enabled, the feature will be available for the said desktop release. If things break unexpectedly, they can disable the flag, effectively turning off the feature for everyone.
Browser extension biometric now works without unlocking the desktop app. however, the biometric button in extension’s login page is greyed out then after several seconds for it enabled itself.
Incremental rollout is a common strategy for safeguarding against unexpected issues in new features, so this is likely what is being referred to. However, I’m not sure if this would be implemented using (or in any way related to the use of) a feature flag, which would simultaneously enable/disable the feature for all users who have installed version 2025.11.0. More likely, to implement incremental rollout, the app stores restrict availability of the new release to some fraction of users, according to how Bitwarden has configured the release.
I interpreted @Rajat’s comment as saying that for them, biometric unlock on app restart now does work in version 2025.11.0. If it is simultaneously not working for other users who have 2025.11.0 installed, then that would be evidence of an incremental rollout.
I don’t doubt that general statement – but with biometrics on Windows, the MS app store version of the desktop app doesn’t provide biometric unlock functionality, so MS Store can’t control this here… – BW might be rolling out the standalone desktop app incrementally, nonetheless.
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What I meant is that the update is likely being released gradually, so the option may not be visible to everyone yet. I apologize for the earlier confusion.
OK, so @Rajat may have been the first to report it working, at 1:32pm UTC, and then the follow ups on the bug report starting at 3:56pm UTC. The update may not be available automatically to everyone because it’s being rolled out, but that doesn’t preclude downloading from github (and the website, at least for me, version v2025.11.0 is the one being downloaded). Some reported it working right away (after making sure to uncheck “Requiring Master Password on Restart”); some had to uninstall and reinstall claiming that the option “Requiring Master Password on Restart” was not visible before reinstallation.
The feature was turned on at 0:42 UTC on Friday for 2025.11.0, however clients do take a while to pick up on updated feature flags and cache them for a while.
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Worked for me after downloading the latest version and uninstalling/reinstalling to bypass the feature flag check.
Thanks for fix!
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So now it seems to not be working at all? I am on 2025.11.1. I resetup biometrics yesterday on both the desktop app and the extension, and it started working for a bit. Today, its all not working again and I am having to resort to entering my long as hell password again.
This is becoming a deal breaker for me. The ENTIRE point of my having an incredibly long password is to protect my vault, and the ENTIRE point of me using biometrics for login is so that password cannot easily be gained by keylogging or watching over my shoulder. ~
How have we got to a state where every other months bitwarden breaks the biometric login. It seems to be getting worse not better.
Biometrics is greyed out in both the extension and desktop app, even though its enabled in both.
Edit: Saw xiixexe’s post about checking the SSH agent checkbox, after doing that it works in both the browser and desktop app. I guess ill wait and see if it all goes wrong again tomorrow
Hi @Piercy can you share more detail with the support team so they can look into what you are experiencing? You can click ‘contact support’ in the right sidebar here: Help Center | Bitwarden
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Well, unfortunately, I contacted support and was told that what I am seeing is expected behaviour and that it is here to stay and that there is no way to turn this behaviour off.
Colour me incredibly upset at this change. I would like the old functionality restored or at least on a configuration option. Making me re-enter my vault password rather than use biometrics leaves us vulnerable to key loggers and over the shoulder attacks. I see this as bitwarden making my vault less secure and in all honesty is a completely unacceptable compromise on the security of my vault.
Edit: Support ticket: #737185
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Well, that’s odd. Or frankly: it can’t be true. (PS: Though, I don’t know what was exchanged – and would guess, there might have occurred a misunderstanding of some sort in that communication.)
For testing purposes, I just unlocked the desktop app on app start with Windows Hello. And after that I unlocked the browser extension just with biometrics. Like “the old behaviour”.
If you’re willing to try to troubleshoot this, just say so. (though I would recommend a separate thread for that)
Hello all,
It seems like the "solution” only works for me in certain situations.
I’m running Windows 11 and Bitwarden as follows:
Version 2025.11.2
SDK ‘main (8ef7951)’
Shell 37.7.0
Renderer 138.0.7204.251
Node 22.20.0
Architecture x64
I have the desktop app running on my laptop and the extension installed in Firefox.
I shut down my PC every night. When I boot up in the morning, Bitwarden starts running and locked on the PC. If I immediately start Firefox and click the (locked) extension, it offers the ability to unlock via biometrics, which is what I want. If, however, I wait a few minutes to click on the locked extension, the biometric option does not appear and I have to log out and back in using “login with device” or enter my full password. Logging out of the desktop app and back into it has no effect on my ability to unlock the browser extension.
Is this the same problem being discussed in this thread or do I have a different problem.
Thanks for any help.
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What exactly does appear? Is biometric unlock greyed out? Could you post a screenshot (but if you do: redact all sensitive information before)?
Well I must say that Bitwarden is now behaving differently from how it behaved this morning.
I just went through the following exercise:
Shut down PC
Start up PC
After the PC started, open the Windows app. That produced the following screen:
Notice that “Unlock with Windows Hello” is greyed out. It was not this morning. I was able to unlock the desktop app after rebooting by using Windows Hello.
Next, I opened Firefox and then attempted to open the Firefox extension. Here is what I got:
Note that “Unlock with biometrics” is greyed out. I then closed Firefox, waited a minute, started it again and again tried to open the Bitwarden extension. This time, I got the same screen as before. That is not how it worked a few hours ago. Either that, or I’m going crazy.
I just tried the approach I had been using until the biometrics functionality was “fixed”; i.e., log out of the desktop app and then log back in using device, then attempt to open the Firefox extension. That produced the Windows Hello screen, as I had grown used to it doing.
I’m thinking this functionality is still broken for me.
Thanks for any help.
@Ed_LaCrosse Thanks. Could you please check if you have “Require master password or PIN on app restart” checked or unchecked in the desktop app?
If you were able to do that, then you should already have “Require master password or PIN on app restart” unchecked – and then this might be a bug. It if was on the other hand checked all the time, then it is not possible to unlock the desktop app with biometrics on app restart – and you should uncheck that option then.
I tested biometrics (on Win 11) the last days also. For the moment, I would also recommend to disable PIN unlock on the browser extension (as there is a bug that will be fixed).
And it is important that the desktop app is always started before you even start the browser which “has” the respective browser extension.
And further you can only unlock the browser extension directly with biometrics
-
when you first unlock the desktop app (only necessary when “Require master password or PIN on app restart” is checked in the desktop app settings)
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or when you have “Require master password or PIN on app restart” unchecked in the desktop app settings (then it is not necessary to unlock the desktop app at all – but as written before, the desktop app must still be running, before you even open the browser…)
BTW, for all self-hosters: it seems, the new biometrics will only be available with the 2025.12.0 Release for you (as feature flags have to be removed for that).