10 ms·

End of Support for Firefox Lockwise

156 points by tfehring 5y ago

KennyBlanken 5y ago
For anyone looking to stay on an open source solution: Keepass databases, synced using whatever sync tool floats your boat (syncthing, Nextcloud, iCloud etc.) On Android I used KeepassXC and syncthing. After switching to iOS: Keepassium + NextCloud.
throwaway946513 5y ago
For iOS users, while autofill doesn't seem to be added just yet - passwords are available from the hamburger menu in Firefox, as well as adding, viewing, and managing passwords within iOS. Mozilla has stated that they will add the autofill functionality to Firefox for the system-wide use.
imnotjames 5y ago
Ah, you got me by a minute to submit. This is a bummer but not surprising. There have been a number of outstanding bugs that were never addressed and releases were slowing down - even when github commits were getting backed up.
- ssivark 5y ago
  Please do elaborate. Also, does this leave users in the lurch, or will an updated Firefox satisfy all the use cases of Lockwise? Thanks.
  - kbenson 5y ago
    Current Firefox on Android supports prior lockwise use cases, from what I can see and what was reported in the comments here. You might have to toggle it on first though.
  - imnotjames 5y ago
    For about 6 months or so I had to build my own release of lockwise because they had trouble supporting a point release of Android. Their repo also hasn't seen any commits for about a year now: https://github.com/mozilla-lockwise/lockwise-android https://github.com/mozilla-lockwise/lockwise-android
ruined 5y ago
well that's a little annoying. apparently this was published a few days ago and i guess we just all got the email. they mention continued pm support for ios, but not android? is that discontinuing? edit: android pm support is integrated too
JoshTriplett 5y ago
I discovered recently that Firefox itself can work as a password manager on Android. I had Lockwise installed so that I could use Firefox saved passwords in other Android apps, and now it turns out Firefox can do that directly.
- kbenson 5y ago
  The implication being that lockwise is discontinued because its use case has been subsumed by Firefox? If so, that's a thankful addendum to this announcement. Edit: yep, in settings, logins and passwords, there are two toggles, one to allow Firefox to fill in passwords for web pages, and one to allow Firefox to fill in passwords for other sites, which takes you to the Android password manager selection section.
  - tfehring 5y ago
    Yeah, and it sounds like the same will be true on iOS sometime in December. Not sure why they'd announce the discontinuation now instead of just waiting a few weeks until they have a drop-in replacement available, though I guess it is just for one platform.
  - javajosh 5y ago
    I use Lockwise but not for other apps. Does anyone know the details about how one app would fill in passwords for another on Android? That capability seems...powerful and dangerous.
    - TrianguloY 5y ago
      https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/text/autofill https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/text/autofill Basically: when you focus an input textbox Android asks the service for autocompletion, and then you can choose one of the options which is entered as if the user has typed it. The service already has the password, and the destination app can only get it when you select it (same as if you write it yourself). In the opposite scenario when you enter data in some inputs Android asks the service if it is interested in them (but without sending the content). If it does, it asks the user, and only when the user accepts the password/content is sent to the service. In any case, you need to explicitly choose if you want to use or change a service for this purpose, and only one can be enabled at any time.
hadrien01 5y ago
That’s really a shame. I’ve installed Lockwise for my parents on iOS because it was the simplest way to use their Firefox passwords on the computer and on iOS devices. They don’t need something as complicated as Bitwarden or Lastpass, just a simple password manager. Sure, I can install Firefox on their devices, but that’s an icon more they won’t understand. Can’t say I didn’t see it coming. Lockwise was full of bugs and hadn’t been updated for quite some time.
- ghostly_s 5y ago
  What's complicated about Lastpass/Bitwarden?
antback 5y ago
But to access the same functionality with Firefox in android I have to go into 3 levels of menus or I'm wrong. Very annoying ...
- mosselman 5y ago
  Installing a separate app and signing in on it sounds a lot more cumbersome
  - krzyk 5y ago
    It is one time install, and signing in just after restart. used for autocomletion in apps. With just firefox I won't have that.
    - yownie 5y ago
      agreed.
  - yownie 5y ago
    It actually presents itself seamlessly in context menus using the fingerprint unlock or phone unlock code.
notRobot 5y ago
I am not happy about this. I like having the standalone Lockwise app on my Android phone as a password manager. When the app is discontinued, will I still be able to use autofill in other apps? And what about the apps where autofill doesn't work? Having to open my browser for every password I need to copy on my phone just seems clunky and stupid. I'm so fucking sick of Mozilla breaking their UX flows for every damn thing. Just keep the app!
- rwky 5y ago
  >When the app is discontinued, will I still be able to use autofill in other apps? Thankfully it appears it will work https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29322019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29322019
- graton 5y ago
  > When the app is discontinued, will I still be able to use autofill in other apps? Yes on Android, I have no knowledge of iOS. Just go into the Settings -> Logins and Passwords -> Autofill in other apps.
- kbenson 5y ago
  > Also, having to open my browser for every password I need to copy on my phone just seems clunky and stupid. You don't (at least for Android), the functionality of Lockwise appears to have been replicated in Firefox. There's a toggle in the logins and passwords settings section of Firefox to allow it to fill in passwords for other apps. Apparently they're rolling it out in iOS next month, according to the article (as jdlshore pointed out).
  - kevincox 5y ago
    Fantastic! I never liked having another app for passwords so I removed lockwise as soon as Firefox (the new one) got password support but was never aware that it grew autofill support!
    - kelnos 5y ago
ihaveajob 5y ago
Very annoying. I use Firefox, but I also loved Lockwise as a general password manager for other apps. What's the next best?
- someotherperson 5y ago
  Lockwise was far from the best -- probably closer to the bottom. So literally anything else would probably work just as well. One of the best free (as in beer) password managers is Bitwarden.
- OJFord 5y ago
  Firefox > Settings > Logins & passwords > Autofill in other apps. Happy to discover this via another comment in this thread myself! Why oh why this isn't clearer (or mentioned at all for Android) in the PR I have no idea. It makes a scary/annoying thing tame/nothing. I suppose we missed the earlier 'deprecated, switch to this' memo?
  - ihaveajob 5y ago
    Doesn't seem to be an option on iOS?
- Yoric 5y ago
  It is my understanding that Firefox itself will work as general password manager for other apps.
someotherperson 5y ago
Extremely happy about this. Mozilla has one job: building a browser. Half baked apps like Lockwise are a waste of everyone's time, including theirs. That's why they're failing terribly at their one job. Hopefully we see more culling of similar products and so that the engineering budget can steer back towards building a better browser and hopefully working back towards having a decent slice of the market.
- benjamir 5y ago
  https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html I would bet that a lot quackery will be sponsored before the core product gets its longtime bugs fixed.
jdlshore 5y ago
Before everybody gets up in arms from the headline, they're just moving/keeping this feature into the Firefox browser. The article says: > Firefox for iOS will already sync your saved Lockwise passwords. You can currently only use those inside Firefox. Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager. [It's already there on Firefox for Android.]
- kuschku 5y ago
  The title should honestly be changed into something like "Firefox Lockwise integrated into Firefox, standalone version to be deprecated"
  - BenjiWiebe 5y ago
    @dang yes please!
    - grzm 5y ago
      "@dang" doesn't do anything special. The most expedient way to reach the mods is to email them using the Contact link in the footer.
- trebcon 5y ago
  Their messaging was pretty poor here imo. The email they sent me gave no clear indication that Firefox would have this ability in it's body.
  - swdunlop 5y ago
    Ditto. I came to HN after seeing the email, looking for the best way to migrate my passwords out of Lockwise. Well, still looking. They are outta here.
    - Spivak 5y ago
      Bitwarden is my goto. If you're the selfhosting type bitwarden_rs (now vaultwarden) is free and easy to setup. If not BW's cloud hosting is also fine. Vaults work offline just fine, apps on every major platform, biometric unlock if you care about such things, and autofill on browsers/ios/android. And they have a snazzy officially supported CLI tool.
jckahn 5y ago
What does this mean for iOS Lockwise users who use it as a system-level password manager? Will we be able to use Firefox for the same purpose? I had to switch back to Safari from Firefox on iOS because the latter had so many issues and missing features by comparison. Lockwise was the only solution from a developer I trust for syncing passwords between Ubuntu and iOS, and iCloud passwords are unavailable on Linux. I really hope iOS Firefox is updated to support system-level password management!
- vadfa 5y ago
  TFA answers your question.
  - jckahn 5y ago
    Could you elaborate? I'm not sure what TFA stands for in this context. If you meant 2FA (two factor authentication), that doesn't solve the problem of managing passwords.
    - azdle 5y ago
      TFA = The F*cking Article, a version of RTFM, basically. > Note: Firefox for iOS will already sync your saved Lockwise passwords. You can currently only use those inside Firefox. Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager.
      - jckahn 5y ago
        Oh, I see that now. I could have sworn that wasn't there when I read the article initially? In any case, I'm glad iOS users will still have that functionality!
        azdle 5y ago
        Based on all the other confusion in this thread, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.
crossroadsguy 5y ago
It's great that Mozilla is stopping something it's not at all good at and isn't its main strength. What is worse that it keeps doing such things - starting and then killing services one after another; and never learns. So in the end it's nothing great.
gjsman-1000 5y ago
Another Mozilla project bites the dust. You have one job: Build Firefox. Drop the side projects.
- jagger27 5y ago
  Unless the side projects have a future version of Firefox in mind.
andoli 5y ago
I know I'm being a bit naive, but I trusted them more than any other random "free as in beer" password manager service...I didn't mind too much the rather miserable mobile experience, as long as it got the job done. That's bad Mozilla. Lockwise was the reason I started donating.
- kunagi7 5y ago
  It's sad to see a simple password manager go. Even if it's integrated inside Firefox most users will probably look elsewhere (Bitwarden, Keepass). I use the later, the file db works great and its easy to move between devices when needed. Also, donations to Mozilla go to the foundation instead of the corporation. The only way to give them some useful money is paying for the services they sell like the VPN service (but also don't forget that Mozilla is just a Mullvad reseller).
gjsman-1000 5y ago
When do we fork Firefox because Mozilla is a failure at their job? They've managed to lose almost all their market popularity, mobile Firefox share is almost nonexistent, they pay their executives extremely disproportionately compared to most nonprofits, they have expanded into countless failed side projects (Firefox OS, Firefox Send) and vestigial side projects they aren't good at (Pocket, Firefox Focus, Firefox Reality, Firefox Lockwise, Firefox Monitor, Mozilla VPN) which only serve to distract Mozilla from working on Firefox. And since then they've now decided they are an NGO fighting for the Freedom of the Internet or something, even though all Google has to do is pull royalty funding because Firefox's market share is not worth supporting for how small it is, and their entire operation will fall overnight like a house of cards.
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  > mobile Firefox share is almost nonexistent Apple uses anti-competitive tactics to prevent Firefox from competing fairly with Safari on iOS, and Google uses anti-competitive contracts that mandate that Chrome ships on the devices Android vendors sell.
- elcapitan 5y ago
  Once their market share is so small that it doesn't protect Google from the next round of monopoly discussion anymore, they'll probably pull the plug anyway. It's a shame.
  - gjsman-1000 5y ago
    Mozilla is out of their minds to think that paying their top executive $2.4 million per year for 2018 onward (and rising exponentially, it was "only" $1 million a year in 2016) is a good idea. It's egregious by average nonprofit levels, particularly one that advocates "ethics" like Mozilla, and considering they laid off a major part of the development team, that's like 20 developers. Hiring 20 developers to work on your core product so that Google keeps paying you, versus raising the top executive's pay for absolutely no good results other than adding failing side projects. Insanity.
schmorptron 5y ago
This sucks. From the outside, Mozilla management just seems incompetent, killing good product after good product while not launching anything worthwhile to replace them.
- schmorptron 5y ago
  Whoops - appears I overreacted in this specific case, the feature just seems to be moving to the firefox app on Android, didn't catch that from the announcement.
pqb 5y ago
Very sad to see Lockwise being sunsetted. It provided good basis for new product that actually could be a competitor to 1password. However, I felt in guts it will have problem with traction, because it seemed too opinionated for me. I have noticed some people wanted to use Lockwise just like a password manager. However, by a long time it was a read-only client for Firefox Sync. No silly OTP calculator to cover Google Authenticator logic. It also didn't support custom Sync Servers, which made a bad taste for very advanced users. Mozilla is losing yet another niche, where Lockwise could be a profitable, open-source full-featured product.
- esarbe 5y ago
  The functionality as been subsumed into Firefox.
owaislone 5y ago
This is so so so sad. I use firefox as my main browser and lockwise was so much useful when I needed to log into something on my phone. Very disappointing.
rodgerd 5y ago
It appears that the Mozilla project is not just copying Chrome's look and feel for browser releases, but also copying Google's strategy of launching things and then abandoning them.
MyStckRnnthOvr 5y ago
It would be really great if, when announcing the deprecation with a firm date, they would also announce a firm (preferably earlier) date for the replacement iOS Firefox functionality.
deleted 5y ago
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morpheuskafka 5y ago
> Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager. It looks like they are working on integrating this functionality into the main Firefox apps, which makes more branding sense anyway. As it was the password management was just a feature of the browser on desktop, but a whole different product with its own brand name on mobile.
ksec 5y ago
I try to give Mozilla some benefits of doubt and wasted 5 min trying to search for an official note, PR , blog or something that provides more detail, in a simple and clear manner to explain the situation. They could have worded it as All Lockwise functions being integrated into Firefox, iOS version coming in December. Nope, this is it. Or may be it is me being dumb. But judging from some comments here this support document is extremely unclear. Which is very typical of modern day Mozilla.
- abnercoimbre 5y ago
  Why is this so infuriatingly common with them? Is there a place for learning about their decision-making process? I'll take crumbs at this point to make some sense of it.
  - ksec 5y ago
    It is very common and typical of any organisation ( so not just Mozilla ) which are low in morale and dysfunctional, lacking real leadership and customer care. It is just human nature. Little sad writing this since I followed Firefox before it was called Firefox.
- slightwinder 5y ago
  They have send out an mail explaining all this. Not sure who got the mail, I guess lockwise-users?
- esarbe 5y ago
  Yeah, it's poor messaging.
deleted 5y ago
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rubyist5eva 5y ago
Happy 1password customer, Bitwarden is also pretty great. Dont' depend on a single browser vendor for this stuff.
tomrod 5y ago
Very unfortunate. I've appreciated Lockwise for syncing between desktop and mobile. The FF mobile Android app has been a hot mess since at least last summer when their UX update rolled out. I so want to support Mozilla but their moves always seem to be anti-power user. Oh well. Any recommendations? I'm looking at NordPass but would love to hear about other alternatives.
- alpsne 5y ago
  I switched to Bitwarden and I have been very happy with their service.
chrysoprace 5y ago
Lockwise has always seemed like a weird product to me. I would've liked to use it but I don't exclusively use Firefox so I need a password manager that works on other browsers. It's understandable that they didn't want to make it cross-browser, but that flaw just makes it uncompetitive when compared to Bitwarden who don't have a vested interest in making it only work on one browser.
yownie 5y ago
Time after time Firefox makes moves that piss off it's user base. Simultaneously wondering why it lags behind in market share.
eganist 5y ago
Before people jump the gun with pitchforks like I was about to, please consider the following from the article: > Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager. Seems Lockwise is being EOL'd in exchange for Firefox itself as the password management app.
heavyset_go 5y ago
If it isn't already open source, they should release the code for the back end service given that the clients are open source[1]. [1] https://github.com/orgs/mozilla-lockwise/repositories https://github.com/orgs/mozilla-lockwise/repositories
reiichiroh 5y ago
I knew this was inevitable and was why I held off trying or moving to this.
rswail 5y ago
So I have lockwise but I have two different firefox identities/profiles to separate work and personal. I'm an Apple eco-system person, but keychain/icloud ties itself to my login/apple user id. Anyone know of a password manager that: a) integrates and is native in MacOS b) integrates in iOS c) synchronizes across platforms d) allows for separation of identities and selection when autofilling in 1) browsers 2) iOS applications
dusted 5y ago
Never used it, but it does seem like 'zilla rather enjoys shutting stuff down if it's somehow useful.. probably to concentrate more on what really matters... such as minor useless UI tweaks, "hamburger" menus and turning tabs into buttons.. This bile was brought to you by the "Choose an application to open the ftp link." dialog in Firefox.
captn3m0 5y ago
While Firefox does have export/import - I'm wondering if there's a free and secure password manager with an API?
cryptos 5y ago
I see Mozilla on a long way down. Firefox loses market share quarter by quarter, Thunderbird basically looks like it did 15 years ago and all the other projects are not real successes or have long been abandoned. Now, if Mozilla announces a new product I don't care at all, because I expect that it will be abandoned sooner or later. Mozilla should really focus on buildind a world class, fast and secure browser. And if this is successfull then start new things.

156 points by tfehring 5y ago

For anyone looking to stay on an open source solution: Keepass databases, synced using whatever sync tool floats your boat (syncthing, Nextcloud, iCloud etc.) On Android I used KeepassXC and syncthing. After switching to iOS: Keepassium + NextCloud.

throwaway946513 5y ago

For iOS users, while autofill doesn't seem to be added just yet - passwords are available from the hamburger menu in Firefox, as well as adding, viewing, and managing passwords within iOS. Mozilla has stated that they will add the autofill functionality to Firefox for the system-wide use.

imnotjames 5y ago

Ah, you got me by a minute to submit. This is a bummer but not surprising. There have been a number of outstanding bugs that were never addressed and releases were slowing down - even when github commits were getting backed up.

ssivark 5y ago
Please do elaborate. Also, does this leave users in the lurch, or will an updated Firefox satisfy all the use cases of Lockwise? Thanks.
- kbenson 5y ago
  Current Firefox on Android supports prior lockwise use cases, from what I can see and what was reported in the comments here. You might have to toggle it on first though.
- imnotjames 5y ago
  For about 6 months or so I had to build my own release of lockwise because they had trouble supporting a point release of Android. Their repo also hasn't seen any commits for about a year now: https://github.com/mozilla-lockwise/lockwise-android https://github.com/mozilla-lockwise/lockwise-android

ruined 5y ago

well that's a little annoying. apparently this was published a few days ago and i guess we just all got the email. they mention continued pm support for ios, but not android? is that discontinuing? edit: android pm support is integrated too

JoshTriplett 5y ago

I discovered recently that Firefox itself can work as a password manager on Android. I had Lockwise installed so that I could use Firefox saved passwords in other Android apps, and now it turns out Firefox can do that directly.

kbenson 5y ago
The implication being that lockwise is discontinued because its use case has been subsumed by Firefox? If so, that's a thankful addendum to this announcement. Edit: yep, in settings, logins and passwords, there are two toggles, one to allow Firefox to fill in passwords for web pages, and one to allow Firefox to fill in passwords for other sites, which takes you to the Android password manager selection section.
- tfehring 5y ago
  Yeah, and it sounds like the same will be true on iOS sometime in December. Not sure why they'd announce the discontinuation now instead of just waiting a few weeks until they have a drop-in replacement available, though I guess it is just for one platform.
- javajosh 5y ago
  I use Lockwise but not for other apps. Does anyone know the details about how one app would fill in passwords for another on Android? That capability seems...powerful and dangerous.
  - TrianguloY 5y ago
    https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/text/autofill https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/text/autofill Basically: when you focus an input textbox Android asks the service for autocompletion, and then you can choose one of the options which is entered as if the user has typed it. The service already has the password, and the destination app can only get it when you select it (same as if you write it yourself). In the opposite scenario when you enter data in some inputs Android asks the service if it is interested in them (but without sending the content). If it does, it asks the user, and only when the user accepts the password/content is sent to the service. In any case, you need to explicitly choose if you want to use or change a service for this purpose, and only one can be enabled at any time.

hadrien01 5y ago

That’s really a shame. I’ve installed Lockwise for my parents on iOS because it was the simplest way to use their Firefox passwords on the computer and on iOS devices. They don’t need something as complicated as Bitwarden or Lastpass, just a simple password manager. Sure, I can install Firefox on their devices, but that’s an icon more they won’t understand. Can’t say I didn’t see it coming. Lockwise was full of bugs and hadn’t been updated for quite some time.

ghostly_s 5y ago
What's complicated about Lastpass/Bitwarden?

antback 5y ago

But to access the same functionality with Firefox in android I have to go into 3 levels of menus or I'm wrong. Very annoying ...

mosselman 5y ago
Installing a separate app and signing in on it sounds a lot more cumbersome
- krzyk 5y ago
  It is one time install, and signing in just after restart. used for autocomletion in apps. With just firefox I won't have that.
  - yownie 5y ago
    agreed.
- yownie 5y ago
  It actually presents itself seamlessly in context menus using the fingerprint unlock or phone unlock code.

notRobot 5y ago

I am not happy about this. I like having the standalone Lockwise app on my Android phone as a password manager. When the app is discontinued, will I still be able to use autofill in other apps? And what about the apps where autofill doesn't work? Having to open my browser for every password I need to copy on my phone just seems clunky and stupid. I'm so fucking sick of Mozilla breaking their UX flows for every damn thing. Just keep the app!

rwky 5y ago
>When the app is discontinued, will I still be able to use autofill in other apps? Thankfully it appears it will work https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29322019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29322019
graton 5y ago
> When the app is discontinued, will I still be able to use autofill in other apps? Yes on Android, I have no knowledge of iOS. Just go into the Settings -> Logins and Passwords -> Autofill in other apps.
kbenson 5y ago
> Also, having to open my browser for every password I need to copy on my phone just seems clunky and stupid. You don't (at least for Android), the functionality of Lockwise appears to have been replicated in Firefox. There's a toggle in the logins and passwords settings section of Firefox to allow it to fill in passwords for other apps. Apparently they're rolling it out in iOS next month, according to the article (as jdlshore pointed out).
- kevincox 5y ago
  Fantastic! I never liked having another app for passwords so I removed lockwise as soon as Firefox (the new one) got password support but was never aware that it grew autofill support!
  - kelnos 5y ago

ihaveajob 5y ago

Very annoying. I use Firefox, but I also loved Lockwise as a general password manager for other apps. What's the next best?

someotherperson 5y ago
Lockwise was far from the best -- probably closer to the bottom. So literally anything else would probably work just as well. One of the best free (as in beer) password managers is Bitwarden.
OJFord 5y ago
Firefox > Settings > Logins & passwords > Autofill in other apps. Happy to discover this via another comment in this thread myself! Why oh why this isn't clearer (or mentioned at all for Android) in the PR I have no idea. It makes a scary/annoying thing tame/nothing. I suppose we missed the earlier 'deprecated, switch to this' memo?
- ihaveajob 5y ago
  Doesn't seem to be an option on iOS?
Yoric 5y ago
It is my understanding that Firefox itself will work as general password manager for other apps.

someotherperson 5y ago

Extremely happy about this. Mozilla has one job: building a browser. Half baked apps like Lockwise are a waste of everyone's time, including theirs. That's why they're failing terribly at their one job. Hopefully we see more culling of similar products and so that the engineering budget can steer back towards building a better browser and hopefully working back towards having a decent slice of the market.

benjamir 5y ago
https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html I would bet that a lot quackery will be sponsored before the core product gets its longtime bugs fixed.

jdlshore 5y ago

Before everybody gets up in arms from the headline, they're just moving/keeping this feature into the Firefox browser. The article says: > Firefox for iOS will already sync your saved Lockwise passwords. You can currently only use those inside Firefox. Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager. [It's already there on Firefox for Android.]

kuschku 5y ago
The title should honestly be changed into something like "Firefox Lockwise integrated into Firefox, standalone version to be deprecated"
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  @dang yes please!
  - grzm 5y ago
    "@dang" doesn't do anything special. The most expedient way to reach the mods is to email them using the Contact link in the footer.
trebcon 5y ago
Their messaging was pretty poor here imo. The email they sent me gave no clear indication that Firefox would have this ability in it's body.
- swdunlop 5y ago
  Ditto. I came to HN after seeing the email, looking for the best way to migrate my passwords out of Lockwise. Well, still looking. They are outta here.
  - Spivak 5y ago
    Bitwarden is my goto. If you're the selfhosting type bitwarden_rs (now vaultwarden) is free and easy to setup. If not BW's cloud hosting is also fine. Vaults work offline just fine, apps on every major platform, biometric unlock if you care about such things, and autofill on browsers/ios/android. And they have a snazzy officially supported CLI tool.

jckahn 5y ago

What does this mean for iOS Lockwise users who use it as a system-level password manager? Will we be able to use Firefox for the same purpose? I had to switch back to Safari from Firefox on iOS because the latter had so many issues and missing features by comparison. Lockwise was the only solution from a developer I trust for syncing passwords between Ubuntu and iOS, and iCloud passwords are unavailable on Linux. I really hope iOS Firefox is updated to support system-level password management!

vadfa 5y ago
TFA answers your question.
- jckahn 5y ago
  Could you elaborate? I'm not sure what TFA stands for in this context. If you meant 2FA (two factor authentication), that doesn't solve the problem of managing passwords.
  - azdle 5y ago
    TFA = The F*cking Article, a version of RTFM, basically. > Note: Firefox for iOS will already sync your saved Lockwise passwords. You can currently only use those inside Firefox. Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager.
    - jckahn 5y ago
      Oh, I see that now. I could have sworn that wasn't there when I read the article initially? In any case, I'm glad iOS users will still have that functionality!
      - azdle 5y ago
        Based on all the other confusion in this thread, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.

crossroadsguy 5y ago

It's great that Mozilla is stopping something it's not at all good at and isn't its main strength. What is worse that it keeps doing such things - starting and then killing services one after another; and never learns. So in the end it's nothing great.

gjsman-1000 5y ago

Another Mozilla project bites the dust. You have one job: Build Firefox. Drop the side projects.

jagger27 5y ago
Unless the side projects have a future version of Firefox in mind.

andoli 5y ago

I know I'm being a bit naive, but I trusted them more than any other random "free as in beer" password manager service...I didn't mind too much the rather miserable mobile experience, as long as it got the job done. That's bad Mozilla. Lockwise was the reason I started donating.

kunagi7 5y ago
It's sad to see a simple password manager go. Even if it's integrated inside Firefox most users will probably look elsewhere (Bitwarden, Keepass). I use the later, the file db works great and its easy to move between devices when needed. Also, donations to Mozilla go to the foundation instead of the corporation. The only way to give them some useful money is paying for the services they sell like the VPN service (but also don't forget that Mozilla is just a Mullvad reseller).

gjsman-1000 5y ago

When do we fork Firefox because Mozilla is a failure at their job? They've managed to lose almost all their market popularity, mobile Firefox share is almost nonexistent, they pay their executives extremely disproportionately compared to most nonprofits, they have expanded into countless failed side projects (Firefox OS, Firefox Send) and vestigial side projects they aren't good at (Pocket, Firefox Focus, Firefox Reality, Firefox Lockwise, Firefox Monitor, Mozilla VPN) which only serve to distract Mozilla from working on Firefox. And since then they've now decided they are an NGO fighting for the Freedom of the Internet or something, even though all Google has to do is pull royalty funding because Firefox's market share is not worth supporting for how small it is, and their entire operation will fall overnight like a house of cards.

heavyset_go 5y ago
> mobile Firefox share is almost nonexistent Apple uses anti-competitive tactics to prevent Firefox from competing fairly with Safari on iOS, and Google uses anti-competitive contracts that mandate that Chrome ships on the devices Android vendors sell.
elcapitan 5y ago
Once their market share is so small that it doesn't protect Google from the next round of monopoly discussion anymore, they'll probably pull the plug anyway. It's a shame.
- gjsman-1000 5y ago
  Mozilla is out of their minds to think that paying their top executive $2.4 million per year for 2018 onward (and rising exponentially, it was "only" $1 million a year in 2016) is a good idea. It's egregious by average nonprofit levels, particularly one that advocates "ethics" like Mozilla, and considering they laid off a major part of the development team, that's like 20 developers. Hiring 20 developers to work on your core product so that Google keeps paying you, versus raising the top executive's pay for absolutely no good results other than adding failing side projects. Insanity.

schmorptron 5y ago

This sucks. From the outside, Mozilla management just seems incompetent, killing good product after good product while not launching anything worthwhile to replace them.

schmorptron 5y ago
Whoops - appears I overreacted in this specific case, the feature just seems to be moving to the firefox app on Android, didn't catch that from the announcement.

pqb 5y ago

Very sad to see Lockwise being sunsetted. It provided good basis for new product that actually could be a competitor to 1password. However, I felt in guts it will have problem with traction, because it seemed too opinionated for me. I have noticed some people wanted to use Lockwise just like a password manager. However, by a long time it was a read-only client for Firefox Sync. No silly OTP calculator to cover Google Authenticator logic. It also didn't support custom Sync Servers, which made a bad taste for very advanced users. Mozilla is losing yet another niche, where Lockwise could be a profitable, open-source full-featured product.

esarbe 5y ago
The functionality as been subsumed into Firefox.

owaislone 5y ago

This is so so so sad. I use firefox as my main browser and lockwise was so much useful when I needed to log into something on my phone. Very disappointing.

rodgerd 5y ago

It appears that the Mozilla project is not just copying Chrome's look and feel for browser releases, but also copying Google's strategy of launching things and then abandoning them.

MyStckRnnthOvr 5y ago

It would be really great if, when announcing the deprecation with a firm date, they would also announce a firm (preferably earlier) date for the replacement iOS Firefox functionality.

deleted 5y ago

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morpheuskafka 5y ago

> Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager. It looks like they are working on integrating this functionality into the main Firefox apps, which makes more branding sense anyway. As it was the password management was just a feature of the browser on desktop, but a whole different product with its own brand name on mobile.

ksec 5y ago

I try to give Mozilla some benefits of doubt and wasted 5 min trying to search for an official note, PR , blog or something that provides more detail, in a simple and clear manner to explain the situation. They could have worded it as All Lockwise functions being integrated into Firefox, iOS version coming in December. Nope, this is it. Or may be it is me being dumb. But judging from some comments here this support document is extremely unclear. Which is very typical of modern day Mozilla.

abnercoimbre 5y ago
Why is this so infuriatingly common with them? Is there a place for learning about their decision-making process? I'll take crumbs at this point to make some sense of it.
- ksec 5y ago
  It is very common and typical of any organisation ( so not just Mozilla ) which are low in morale and dysfunctional, lacking real leadership and customer care. It is just human nature. Little sad writing this since I followed Firefox before it was called Firefox.
slightwinder 5y ago
They have send out an mail explaining all this. Not sure who got the mail, I guess lockwise-users?
esarbe 5y ago
Yeah, it's poor messaging.

deleted 5y ago

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rubyist5eva 5y ago

Happy 1password customer, Bitwarden is also pretty great. Dont' depend on a single browser vendor for this stuff.

tomrod 5y ago

Very unfortunate. I've appreciated Lockwise for syncing between desktop and mobile. The FF mobile Android app has been a hot mess since at least last summer when their UX update rolled out. I so want to support Mozilla but their moves always seem to be anti-power user. Oh well. Any recommendations? I'm looking at NordPass but would love to hear about other alternatives.

alpsne 5y ago
I switched to Bitwarden and I have been very happy with their service.

chrysoprace 5y ago

Lockwise has always seemed like a weird product to me. I would've liked to use it but I don't exclusively use Firefox so I need a password manager that works on other browsers. It's understandable that they didn't want to make it cross-browser, but that flaw just makes it uncompetitive when compared to Bitwarden who don't have a vested interest in making it only work on one browser.

yownie 5y ago

Time after time Firefox makes moves that piss off it's user base. Simultaneously wondering why it lags behind in market share.

eganist 5y ago

Before people jump the gun with pitchforks like I was about to, please consider the following from the article: > Check back for updates in December 2021 on how to use Firefox for iOS as your system-wide password manager. Seems Lockwise is being EOL'd in exchange for Firefox itself as the password management app.

heavyset_go 5y ago

If it isn't already open source, they should release the code for the back end service given that the clients are open source[1]. [1] https://github.com/orgs/mozilla-lockwise/repositories https://github.com/orgs/mozilla-lockwise/repositories

reiichiroh 5y ago

I knew this was inevitable and was why I held off trying or moving to this.

rswail 5y ago

So I have lockwise but I have two different firefox identities/profiles to separate work and personal. I'm an Apple eco-system person, but keychain/icloud ties itself to my login/apple user id. Anyone know of a password manager that: a) integrates and is native in MacOS b) integrates in iOS c) synchronizes across platforms d) allows for separation of identities and selection when autofilling in 1) browsers 2) iOS applications

dusted 5y ago

Never used it, but it does seem like 'zilla rather enjoys shutting stuff down if it's somehow useful.. probably to concentrate more on what really matters... such as minor useless UI tweaks, "hamburger" menus and turning tabs into buttons.. This bile was brought to you by the "Choose an application to open the ftp link." dialog in Firefox.

captn3m0 5y ago

While Firefox does have export/import - I'm wondering if there's a free and secure password manager with an API?

cryptos 5y ago

I see Mozilla on a long way down. Firefox loses market share quarter by quarter, Thunderbird basically looks like it did 15 years ago and all the other projects are not real successes or have long been abandoned. Now, if Mozilla announces a new product I don't care at all, because I expect that it will be abandoned sooner or later. Mozilla should really focus on buildind a world class, fast and secure browser. And if this is successfull then start new things.