With good discipline and the help of a manager, forgetting passwords should be a thing of the past. However, there's always that account or app with a strange password that we can't recall no matter what. If the browser on your Android device can log in directly without a login process, it most likely has a copy, and to view saved passwords on Android, just follow this article.
Passwords. Everyone hates them, but they are our first line of defense. Many companies have tried to replace or eliminate them entirely, like Microsoft, which announced passwordless support for general consumers, originally a feature aimed at enterprise users. What’s the trick? In essence, adopting an official app (Microsoft Authenticator), a biometric solution, or a physical key like Yubikey.
However, the most common thing is to leave our passwords saved in the browser to simplify login processes. This is very convenient… until we have to change devices and discover that we don’t remember any password. Fortunately, it’s not that complicated to view saved passwords on Android, as long as Chrome is the one storing them. Want to know more?
How to view saved passwords on Android under Chrome
- Open Chrome, and tap the three dots at the top right
- Go to Settings, then tap the Passwords option
- The list of saved passwords will appear below
- Tap the account you want to explore
- Select the eye to reveal its password
- Confirm your identity (PIN, fingerprint or pattern) if the device asks
What can I do if the password is saved in an app?
In the vast majority of cases, not much. Unless the app has an internal recovery mechanism, extracting the password will be virtually impossible. In fact, some apps don’t even save the password (they use hashes to verify its integrity), and most likely any copy is encrypted, making the process even harder.
In summary: You should be using a manager
We never get tired of recommending this: The password manager is one of the most important resources you can add to your digital life. On one hand, it eliminates the need to view saved passwords on Android, and on the other, everything will be more secure and easier to manage. KeePass has at least four Android-compatible projects that can read its databases without difficulty, and as if that weren’t enough, they are free and open source. Give it a try!
