Mozilla improves password management in Firefox for Android

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 15, 2014
Firefox
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Firefox is not only available for desktop systems but also for mobile operating systems such as Android (and probably iOS as well in the near future).

This means that Firefox users can sync their data, passwords and bookmarks for example, between devices so that they are available everywhere.

While it is possible to sync passwords and make use of them, and to save new passwords to Firefox for Android, password management itself is not available right now.

What this means is that you cannot delete or edit passwords, or even display them all in a list in the mobile version.

Mozilla plans to change that and has made password management one of the organizations top-line initiatives for 2015.

Some of the planned improvements are already visible in the most recent Nightly version of Firefox for Android. If you load about:passwords in the address bar of the browser, you get a list of all passwords stored in Firefox.

firefox android about passwords

This includes passwords that the mobile browser picked up while you were using it but also synced passwords if you have enabled sync on Android and on another system where Firefox is used on.

Each password is listed with its address, the site's favicon and username by default. A tap on an entry displays the age of the if and options to copy the username or password to the device's clipboard.

This can be useful if you need to enter the username or password in another application and not in the browser directly.

While that is a great start, you will realize that some features are still missing. You cannot edit or delete data sets right now for example, there is no search provided to search for specific accounts quickly, no sorting options, no manual adding of passwords and as you have noticed already, no direct link to open the password management page other than entering its address directly.

Considering that the feature landed in Nightly, it is fair to say that Mozilla will add these features and others to the password manager before it lands in the stable version of Firefox on Android.

Plans are there to improve it significantly beyond what has already been mentioned. Some of the features that Mozilla considers adding include support for dynamic login forms and multiple user and password fields, support for using the same credentials on different domains belonging to the same company (e.g. Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de), or different accounts on the same domain.

Closing Words

It is about time that Firefox for Android gets password management capabilities. While I'm not using built-in password managers on the desktop or on Android, it is certainly an improvement for users who do. Not being able to delete passwords for instance is a serious usability issue. (via Sören Hentzschel)

Now You: Are you using a password manager? If so, which? If not, why not?

Summary
Mozilla improves password management in Firefox for Android
Article Name
Mozilla improves password management in Firefox for Android
Description
Mozilla plans to improve the password management for the Android version of Firefox. First changes landed in the Nightly version already.
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Comments

  1. Archie said on December 16, 2014 at 10:11 am
    Reply

    Passwords in firefox are a serious security risk, desktop or not. I remember once, watching google chrome import passwords from FF upon install. Problem is : they where supposed to be protected with a master password. Maybe they fixed this yet : I didn’t care to look.

    Pwd in browser are awfully convenient though. I put my FF profile on a bitlocker drive. Some peace of mind.

    Password management on android with sync active brings a whole new set of problems. With sync active, my phone and tablet both store unsecured versions of my passwords. It’s like walking around with loads of cash in your pocket 365/365: looking for trouble. What I do is delete FF data in android and not use the FF sync feature.This more or less defeats thepoint of having a profile. Shame since FF is my favourite browser on android too.

    I suppose a dedicated, multi platform password manager with sync woud make those points moot. They are a pain to me, though.

    As for somebody else’s computer being trusted with you data, I don’t have problem with Mozilla or their servers. Yet.

  2. clas said on December 15, 2014 at 7:39 pm
    Reply

    using sticky password manager now. dont think i could ever trust a browser to manage my passwords. also dont think i could trust someone else’s computer to manage my passwords. (cloud)…

    1. Luke said on December 16, 2014 at 8:40 am
      Reply

      Hi Clas, I use Sticky Password too :) And I would not believe or trust someone else’s computer to manage my passwords as well.

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