Filling password from manager in private browsing requires many steps

[huonw]

There's some sites that I prefer to only log into in private browsing, like Facebook. It seems like private browsing completely disables autofill, and this ends up being annoying. This also applies to other use-cases where autofill may fail, e.g. saved private info that aren't strictly passwords, or websites with poor login forms.

Potentially related issues: #8371, #8479.

(Thanks for Firefox for iOS :+1: )

Steps to reproduce

(Sorry for no video, but I don't feel comfortable revealing my accounts.)

Setup:

1. open a private browsing tab
2. visit a login form where there's an account saved in Firefox's password manager (e.g. https://github.com/login)
3. observe that the password isn't autofilled

Now, try to fill in the password:

1. Open 'Passwords' (2 taps)
2. Search for 'github' (1 tap plus typing)
3. enter appropriate result (1 tap)
4. copy username (2 taps)
5. exit back to the tab (3 taps: "< Logins & Passwords" from the result page, then "Cancel" the search, and then "Done". These buttons also alternate from left to right to left.)
6. paste in user name (1 tap), observing that the password isn't automatically filled once the username is known
7. do 1-6 again for the password (8 taps plus typing)
8. now log in!

This is 16 taps, and it's pretty fiddly.

Expected behavior

It'd be great if this process was smoother. There's potentially several options off the top of my head (and potentially several apply):

1. some way to exit the dialog after copying a password without having to manually tap so many times (the UI before the most recent update, where the passwords was a drawer, was better: because step 5 could just be "swipe drawer away")
2. remembering previous searches in the password display
3. automatically highlighting potentially-relevant passwords at the top of the display, based on the URL/domain etc.
4. highlighting recently used passwords (e.g. in the last 5 minutes) at the top of the display
5. integrate with Apple's native UI better, so that they appear in the native "Passwords" prompt that appears in the Quick Type bar (#8479?)
6. automatically fill relevant passwords after filling a username, even in private browsing
7. something else?

Actual behavior

It takes quite a while to log into any website where copying username/password are required. This makes me less likely to use private browsing and default to, say, being logged into Facebook in non-private-browsing (my typical interaction is logging in to check if I have any notifications, and I now spend more time logging in than doing that task).

Device & build information

• Device: iPhone 8 Plus
• Build version: Firefox Daylight 34.1 (5186)
  1. Notes Attachments: none (sorry)

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[ghost]

Still a bug in Firefox 38.1

what is the rationale behind disabling autofill in private browsing mode? It seems to me that the two are completely unrelated.

Furthermore, the consequences on usability of disabling autofill on devices which lack a physical keyboard are very important.

[ptsneves]

It is 2022 and it is still not fixed. A privacy feature no less.

[jeremias-jordan]

Still not fixed