Bitwardenwas among the first few password managers to support passkeyslate last year. With the new feature, you could replace traditional passwords for your accounts stored in Bitwarden with passkeys for easier access. However, the password manager continued to rely on a master password and your device’s biometric lock to keep its vault secure. That’s changing now with the arrival of passkey login for your Bitwarden account, starting with its web app in beta.
Bitwarden recentlyannouncedthat passkey support is live on its web app in beta, allowing you to log into your Bitwarden vault without entering the master password and email combination (viaCaschy’s Blog). Since it’s available only on the web right now, at least your desktop use will become fairly easy with a simpler login flow for the password manager that doesn’t need multiple authentication methods.
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The company notes that this passkey can be used for both logging into Bitwarden and encrypting/decrypting your vault onPRF WebAuthn-enabled browsers — you’re covered as long as you’re using a Chromium browser, viz.Google Chromeand Microsoft Edge. This reduces the number of steps required to get into your vault to just one for added convenience. For other browsers, you may still set up a passkey to log into your account, but you will need to enter your master password to decrypt the vault.
you may create a passkey for your Bitwarden account from theSecuritysection underAccount settings. Go to theMaster passwordtab, and from there you can create a new passkey. You will need to undergo a quick user verification either with your device’s biometrics or PIN before you can start using the passkey. You will be able to create a maximum of five passkeys to log into your Bitwarden account on the web.
Do note that the feature is currently in beta, so you may encounter a few issues along the login flow. Unless you’re eager to try out the new feature and are okay with the risks involved, it’s suggested that you wait until Bitwarden rolls it out through stable channels and makes it available on more of its client apps over the next few weeks. Even in beta, the feature is available only for personal accounts and not for the accounts managed by an organization, as per Caschy’s Blog.
Bitwarden has consistently ranked at the top ofour best password manager list. While its greatest strength is that it is open source by nature, the app is free to use without any arbitrary restrictions. Bitwarden made the free tier even better (which doesn’t happen often)by adding support for physical 2FA keys like YubiKey— most other password managers offer the option only on their paid tiers — giving you another reason to switch to Bitwarden.
