website login dfaults to browser extension

Hi keitht1958, thanks for this post! I'm happy to assist here.

website login defaults to the browser extension

This is expected behavior, and I'll hope to explain a bit about why. 👇

I prefer to use a desktop client but when I click on website login it always asks me to unlock 1password browser extension

I can understand that. The desktop app (1Password for Windows) is great, and has lots of capabilities. So why is it necessary to have a browser extension at all?

In short, modern browsers have security measures in place that make it necessary to use a browser extension if you want 1Password to do things inside the browser - things like filling your logins into websites, for example. The desktop app doesn't have permission or ability to operate within the browser.

The reason that the desktop version (1Password for Windows) appears momentarily is that the two apps are linked.

So the process works something like this:

1. You visit a website where you want to fill a password
2. You are prompted to open 1Password in your browser (which has the power to fill the password for you)
3. You are momentarily switched over to the desktop app, where you enter your account password.

Critically, when you unlock here, you also unlock the browser extension as well. The browser extension unlocks through the desktop app, and we've linked the two apps together so you don't have to put in your password twice. 👍

1. You are then returned to your browser automatically, where the appropriate login now appears.

This is our current solution for making sure that you can fill passwords (which only the extension can do), and not have to put in your password redundantly. But we're also always trying to make things easier and more intuitive for you, so if you can think of a flow that works better, we'll be more than happy to take that on board!

Thanks for the great question. I hope this helps.