Question

Default for Sign In Automatically after Autofill

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
June 14, 2025
3 replies
208 views

I may not be a "typical" user, as I am continually looking at new browsers and computer for my personal and professional life. I use 1Password extensively in my personal and professional life. I have both personal and business accounts. As a result, I am installing the 1Password extension many times, not necessarily daily, or even weekly, but often enough where I feel this warrants at least a discussion.

I am not a fan of the "sign in automatically after autofill" feature. While I can see it as a "nice" feature for some, for me it creates more confusion in the long run than whatever it is trying to "solve". Especially in this day and age of MFA, 2FA, etc. And for our older, more "mature" audience members, the quick actions after autofilling can lead to confusion. Anyway, I digress. I really dislike that I have to turn this "feature" OFF with every install. Why not have this default to OFF and make a suggestion to turn it ON if wanted? "Hey, did you know that 1Password can auto-submit your login? Go to settings and enable this.... " etc etc etc. While I do see that having many features enabled by default is a good thing, I feel that some features should be left up to the user to enable and not forced upon us.

Could you consider making this an "optional" or "opt-in" feature and not turned on by default?

Maybe I'm in the minority, and that's ok. It's just a suggestion.

Thank you for your time!

B

BobW

This one is really starting to annoy me. The post-auto-fill auto-submit feature was a terrible idea back in 2017 or whatever year it was when you guys first pulled it because of its security and privacy issues, and it's still a terrible idea today when you guys have added it back in and push it even though nothing has changed with the security and privacy issues.

That said, I don't even care that much that you foist it on new users who don't know any better and are likely happy with it. I recognize it's probably just one of those cases where the customer demand-driven product team won out over the security and engineering teams. As a technology leader, I get it. Fine.

But, please, please, please stop trying to foist it on me. I have it turned off in all eight places in which the stupid feature must be turned off for my main browser (in the main app/Quick Access, and in the seven browser profiles I have). I live with it in my secondary browsers because I don't want to have to navigate to and toggle it — literally — dozens of times (assuming multiple profiles in each of the browsers).

The problem? You guys keep turning it on again. I don't know if it's a bug in an install script or the result of a very misguided decision, but every few months, a new release toggles it back on. And one of the most recent releases did it again. Hear me: I don't want auto-submit turned on, ever. Every time you guys turn that back on, it exposes me to security and privacy risks that I don't want, and it means I have to spend yet more time going around turning it off like an overzealous parent chasing their kid around the house turning off lights. I've done it so many times that it's won the #1 spot on the list of "features" in my decades of software history that makes my blood boil the most.

Please, stop already. I'm not going to change my mind about this misguided feature.

hege

I have to agree that auto-submit is a terrible feature and should be disabled by default.

1P_Dave

1Password Employee

@hege

Thank you for the feedback. You can find steps on how to turn off auto-submit here.

Can you tell me a little more about how auto-submit isn't working for you? Do you have any specific websites that you can share? I'd like to pass those details along to our team internally.

-Dave

AJCxZ0

This seems like a feature which deserves a prompt on first run, with instructions on how to change the setting - much as you describe.

While I keep it on, occasionally I'll see an option on a login page which I might have changed disappear as I'm automatically logged in. One day it'll be something like, "By logging in you agree that..." and it's gone.

1P_Timothy

Community Manager

Hi @jcrAggie, thanks for writing in! I really appreciate your thoughtful discourse here.

Anecdotally I remember auto-submit being a frequently requested feature before it's introduction, and something I still see positive feedback on. While I can't speak to the product conversation that took place around auto-submit, setting something on or off by default would not be a decision made without cause.

I hope that doesn't come off as dismissive as that's certainly not my intent. The reason features like this exist, and why you continue to see iterations and enhancements to 1Password is thanks to input like yours. For your use case I can definitely understand the benefit of having auto-submit off by default. I can't say this is something that will be changed, but I've shared your feedback with the team.

Having an auto-submit option appear on setup, or first launch as you and @AJCxZ0 described is an interesting an idea. That's an area where we also aim to strike a fine balance between helpful for new users, and causing minimal friction for frequent users. Adding extra steps or toggles can tip the balance one way or another, but I can see this being more on the helpful side. I've included feedback on this for the team as well.

Thanks again for your input on this!

49410275

jcrAggieAuthor

Thank you for the reply!

I absolutely think that auto-submit was more beneficial back when first introduced. There is no question about it. However, I feel the login landscape has dramatically changed in the past few years, between various 2FA/MFA schemes, notifications at pre-login as others have indicated and other types of login schemes being introduced these days. I just feel that too quickly logging into sites automatically without that being a user decision up front could create more confusion and even animosity towards PW managers in general. And we certainly don't need that in this day and age. I know I'm happy when I can get family/friends/co-workers using ANY PW manager (of course I prefer 1PW).

Again, I really appreciate you and others taking the time for your input and thoughts. This is what makes the 1PW community work and thrive!

B

BobW

OP: You've hit on my biggest pet peeve with 1P. We might be in the minority on this, but I'm also in the minority of people who always locks my front door despite my neighborhood "feeling safe".

I absolutely think that auto-submit was more beneficial back when first introduced. There is no question about it.

I can't agree with that at all. It's always been a dangerous, counterproductive feature. It's one of those things that sounds good on a product team's whiteboard, but when you start using it in the real world, there are way too many problems with it. I will agree, though, that recent landscape changes have made the feature even worse. But it was never good.

The one case I can think of where it legitimately is safe, predictable, and a significant time-saver is when you're logging into the same handful of sites repeatedly throughout your day, but not others. Like what some employees might do at work. For these cases, having the option is great. But for general use? This has been discussed in the forums several times, but here are a couple of more informative threads:

https://www.1password.community/discussions/1password/how-to-disable-auto-signin-feature/108694?topicRepliesSort=postTimeAsc

https://www.1password.community/discussions/1password/how-do-i-disable-form-autosubmit/89123?topicRepliesSort=postTimeAsc

That second one is particularly long with lots of examples of problems, to include some serious security issues — like one I posted about accidentally leaking credentials across sites.

It's also simply unreliable, often breaking sites' login processes, as attested to with repeated entries about one-off site fixes in 1P's historical release notes. (I know they have to no choice but to do one-off fixes for auto-filling situations, but there are lots of other bugs and features I'd prefer they spend time on than doing constant auto-submit fixes.) On top of that is the class of problems OP alludes to, such as agreeing to something you didn't want to ("Yes! Put me on your spam list!"), or not getting a "keep me logged in" box ticked when you'd like to.

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