1895838 - No passkey option is shown when "ask to save passwords" is unchecked.

Status: NEW

(Toolkit :: Password Manager, defect, P3)

Description

[u754221]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:125.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/125.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Uncheck the "Ask to save passwords" checkbox in about:preferences.
2. Go to a website that supports passkey login but does not have an button to use a passkey (for example, https://www.roblox.com/login).
3. Click on the username field.

Actual results:

Clicking on the username field does not bring up the "Use a passkey" option.

Expected results:

When the "Ask to save passwords" checkbox is selected in about:preferences, the option to use a passkey is shown the user. Without the option selected, the user is unable to use a passkey.

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Toolkit::Password Manager' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:serg, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 3

[u779941]

Ran into this issue today with Firefox 143.0.4 on Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon.

It appears to me as if the Use a passkey option is implemented as part of the Firefox password manager (about:logins), and Ask to save passwords actually doubles as the main toggle for the password manager's integration with websites.

For example, Fill usernames and passwords automatically is a sub-option of Ask to save passwords and stops working when you uncheck the latter (see bug #1723346). Manage Passwords also stops popping up in username fields in websites when Ask to save passwords is unchecked.

And the BugBot filed this issue under Password Manager.

However, people not using the built-in password manager still want to be able to use e.g. hardware based passkeys, so it's unfortunate that the Use a passkey option showing up is currently linked to the built-in password manager's web page integration being enabled.

Comment 4

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

Redirect a needinfo that is pending on an inactive user to the triage owner.
:mtigley, since the bug has recent activity, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 5

[Micah [:mtigley] (she/her)]

Thank you for the report! Ideally we should be showing the Use a passkey item regardless of the state of Ask to save passwords. Will add this to the joint autofill project backlog.