Tech

Firefox to get a random password generator, like Chrome

Firefox's random password generator expected to launch later this fall.

Written by Catalin Cimpanu, Contributor June 27, 2019 at 12:54 a.m. PT

Mozilla is adding a random password generator to Firefox. Google added one to Chrome and Chromium-based browsers in the fall of 2018, with the release of Chrome/Chromium v69.

The Firefox random password generator is expected to become publicly available for all Firefox users with the release of Firefox 69, scheduled for release in early September, roughly a year after Chrome 69.

Currently, the random password generator is only available in Firefox Nightly, a Firefox version for testing new features before they land in the stable branch.

How to enable the Firefox random password generator

When Firefox 69 will be released, the random password generator is expected to be available as a checkbox in the Firefox settings section, under "Privacy & Security," under "Logins and Passwords."

But until the feature is widely available, Firefox Nightly users can enable it by tinkering with the browser's more secretive settings, which can be found by accessing the about:config URL in their browser.

Here, they must enable two settings, signon.generation.available and signon.generation.enabled.

Firefox random password generator about:config 1 — Image: ZDNet

Firefox random password generator about:config 2 — Image: ZDNet

Once these two settings are set to true, a checkbox that reads "Suggest and generate strong passwords" will appear in the Firefox Nightly settings.

Firefox random password generator settings — Image: ZDNet

After this, users will be able to double-click on a password field inside registration form, and they'll be provided with a randomly-generated password.

Firefox random password generator demo — Image: ZDNet

Work on this feature is happening on the #1548387 and #1548391 Buzilla tracker entries. Per the latter entry, the password generator only works with password fields that use the autocomplete="new-password" HTML attribute; however, the general plan is to support the random password generator on all password fields, not just those using this attribute.

Earlier this month, Mozilla launched a password manager for mobile devices. The project is named Firefox Lockwise and allows users to access passwords that have been stored inside Firefox from their mobile devices.