1205010 - When third-party password manager is in use, allow disabling internal password manager

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect)

Description

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

Currently, when users install a password manager such as LastPass or 1Password, they wind up in a situation where they're frequently asked twice if they'd like to save passwords, among other UX quirks.

It should be possible to disable the built-in password manager if an external one is in use.

This could be as simple as a user preference although I imagine someone will have concern with potential for that being abused by some kind of malware (although nothing could be stolen; it would just mean the user has to save passwords manually or turn it back on).

Another option would be to add a way for third-party password managers to register themselves with Firefox, thereby disabling the internal password manager. This could be as simple as a switch, or as clever as having some kind of signing system to help ensure only known password managers can do so (although, again, the risks are pretty low for strictly toggling on and off).

You could even extend such an API to allow easier access to password forms by password management add-ons, but that's beyond the scope of the simple UX concern at hand here.

Comment 1

[Stefan Arentz | :st3fan | ⏰ EST | he/him]

Doesn't "Remember passwords for sites" under Settings -> Security do this?

Comment 2

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

Errr... yes, I suppose it does. Somehow I totally forgot that option was even there. Oops!