Why is the bitwarden app needed for the plugin to use windows hello?

[Peter_H]

See here:

Biometric authentication without full desktop app

At the current moment its really about access levels and APIs to Hello/Touch ID - the desktop app is the most reliable way to connect to those APIs vs. browser-based integration. Though, there is a point in having the desktop be the ‘central station’ for convenience - but that is more of this feature. We’ll see how the browsers progress with support for Biometrics, though!

About Trey: Back then he was working for Bitwarden.