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March 20, 2026
Question

How to increase biometric auth attempts in the app?

  • March 20, 2026
  • 6 replies
  • 88 views

Hi everyone,

Ive been having a recurring issue with biometric authentication (fingerprint) in the 1Password app. Sometimes my finger is slightly wet, or I don't place it correctly on the first try, and the app immediately locks me out and asks for the master password

From a usability standpoint, this feels a bit counterproductive. The whole point of enabling biometrics is to make authentication faster and more convenient, but having only one attempt before being forced to type the full password can be frustrating. Is there any way to increase the number of allowed biometric attempts (for example, 3–5 tries) before the app falls back to requiring the master password? Or is this behavior fixed for security reasons? Id love to know if there's a setting I'm missing, or if this could be considered as a feature request

Thanks!

6 replies

March 20, 2026

btw its the android app

1P_Timothy
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 20, 2026

Hi @StonesRP99, thanks for your question. 

There isn't a setting to determine the number of attempts you have to unlock 1Password for Android with biometrics. That said, you should typically have 5 attempts before you're prompted for your account password. Testing with a Pixel and Samsung device I have on hand, I had 5 attempts as expected. 

Much of the biometric unlock process is handled by the device itself, not 1Password (though still encrypted and secured with a random, authenticated, and master key). My guess here is that the manufacturer of your device is doing something unique with biometric security, or that you could be running into a bug that I'm not seeing on my end. Could you let me know which device you're using, and if you've seen this behaviour with any other apps?

March 23, 2026

Hi, sorry for the late reply. My device is a Nubia Z70 ultra running android 15, I only have biometrics enabled in my banking app, and in that case it does ask me three times before requesting my password.

Since u mentioned this, i tested the same thing on an older phone i still have, and there it does show multiple attempts correctly. The only difference ive noticed is that on my current device, for example in the banking app, the biometric dialog closes and immediately reopens by itself for each attempt (so it repeats that cycle 3 times). On the older phone, the fingerprint prompt dialog stays open the whole time until all attempts are used up.

So im guessing those microclosures and reopenings on my device might be the reason why 1password doesnt detect the reprompt anymore

 

1P_Gem
1Password Employee
1Password Employee
May 5, 2026

Hi @StonesRP99, I'm so glad to hear that it's working after a software patch. Thanks for letting us know!