# Autocomplete="off" disables Safari password manager

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [4 Abril, 2014 18:54 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472 "2014-04-04T18:54:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![larry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/larry/32/268016_2.png) [@larry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/larry)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2014 18:54 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/1 "2014-04-04T18:54:50Z")

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The username and password input fields on Discourse have the `autocomplete="off"` attribute which disables Safari’s password manager (aka iCloud Keychain).

Lastpass seems to ignore this attribute.

Details: [http://www.appleqa.co.uk/q/answers-how-to-make-safari-remember-my-password-for-sites-where-autocomplete-off-59979.html](http://www.appleqa.co.uk/q/answers-how-to-make-safari-remember-my-password-for-sites-where-autocomplete-off-59979.html)

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### Author: ![supermathie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/supermathie/32/507518_2.png) [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [4 Abril, 2014 20:59 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/2 "2014-04-04T20:59:52Z")

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This is arguably a fault in Safari - the `autocomplete` attribute is meant to control autocomplete, not a password manager:

> <https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/49326/should-websites-be-allowed-to-disable-autocomplete-on-forms-or-fields>

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### Author: ![larry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/larry/32/268016_2.png) [@larry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/larry)
#### Post date: [5 Abril, 2014 13:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/3 "2014-04-05T13:52:27Z")

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See below re Chrome:

> **[Passsword managers and autocomplete='off' from Joel Weinberger on 2013-12-12...](https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2013OctDec/1002.html)**

> Part of the issue here is that autocomplete=‘off’ is overloaded. It is  
> simultaneously meant to denote a “secure” or “sensitive” field _or_ that a  
> field’s completion will be handled by the application itself. Thus, we are  
> not proposing to ignore autocomplete=‘off’ for our form fill as there are  
> many places where the application itself creates a suggestion box, and we  
> have no desire to override that functionality. Rather, we care about the  
> “sensitive” use, which in the case of password fields, is already denoted  
> by the input type=‘password’.

`autocomplete="off"` either does or has until recently controlled both autofill and password manager on most browsers. The original intention behind the attribute doesn’t seem relevant - we’re not designing browsers - we’re making sites that work as users expect them to work in browsers that already exist.

IE 11 solved this issue by removing support for autocomplete=“off” on input type=password. [RE: Passsword managers and autocomplete='off' from Adrian Bateman on 2014-01-03 (public-webapps@w3.org from January to March 2014)](http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2014JanMar/0015.html)

And it sounds like from the above Chrome thread that Chrome either already has or is planning to do the same. I don’t know what Safari’s plans are. Didn’t look into Firefox.

What’s the value of adding `autocomplete="off"` to the password input?

Browsers either ignore it or use it to disable their built in password manager. None (that I know of) save your password without prompting - so there’s no risk of someone logging in on a public computer having their password inadvertently saved.

And if there is value to adding `autocomplete="off"` to the password field, is that value more than the cost of breaking the password manager for majority of mobile users? iOS Safari still looks to be around \>50% of mobile browser share.

That’s a lot of Discourse users either picking insecure passwords they can remember or reuse or simply not logging in on mobile because it’s a hassle to copy and paste the password from Lastpass.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [5 Abril, 2014 20:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/4 "2014-04-05T20:35:07Z")

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You make a good point! Maybe we should remove this next week @neil?

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### Author: ![larry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/larry/32/268016_2.png) [@larry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/larry)
#### Post date: [8 Abril, 2014 03:43 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/5 "2014-04-08T03:43:05Z")

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Do you want a pull request for this?

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [8 Abril, 2014 05:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/6 "2014-04-08T05:08:18Z")

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Sure that’d be great! 🏆

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### Author: ![larry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/larry/32/268016_2.png) [@larry](https://meta.discourse.org/u/larry)
#### Post date: [21 Abril, 2014 06:23 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/7 "2014-04-21T06:23:57Z")

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It turns out that the password manager works fine on iOS Safari if you enter the password once on the phone. It’s remembered and filled in on subsequent visits. (but only on mobile not desktop)

Can’t tell from the code where the autocomplete is coming from.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [21 Abril, 2014 16:56 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/8 "2014-04-21T16:56:46Z")

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I see a few places, `bootbox.js`, `chosen.jquery.js`, and the ace editor. Bootbox seems possible for the password form?

But then again, I tried going to the login form on [try.discourse.org](http://try.discourse.org) and I don’t see that `autocomplete` attribute on the password field in the first place?

```plaintext
<tr>
<td>
<label for="login-account-password">Password&nbsp;</label>
</td>
<td>
<input id="login-account-password" class="ember-view ember-text-field" placeholder="" type="password"> &nbsp;
</td>
<td>
<a id="forgot-password-link" data-ember-action="87">I forgot my password</a>
</td>
</tr>

```

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### Author: ![neil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/neil/32/102150_2.png) [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)
#### Post date: [29 Abril, 2014 19:13 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/9 "2014-04-29T19:13:31Z")

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I tried this today on Safari 7.0.3 and on iOS 7.1.1. It worked for me. On desktop, I got these prompts:

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/2X/f/f4168b156200db0b4468e7ada841829985f16e45.png)

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/2X/e/ed472ab5a193c1d22340508b028522e7950607bf.png)

And of course I had to enable the feature (which I normally don’t):

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/2X/0/03a164e831f661d772d351bf68bb71fb52f9beb6.png)

So… Works On My Machine™?

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/2X/3/31a07d1c5aeade5a0f5ae806c6a2f76f6fc37dfe.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [19 Diciembre, 2014 23:31 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/autocomplete-off-disables-safari-password-manager/14472/10 "2014-12-19T23:31:57Z")

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