Setting up Emergency Access#

This guide will show you how to set up emergency access in Bitwarden. If you need more help, you can check out the official Bitwarden documentation.

What is Emergency Access?

If you do not know what emergency access is, you can read more about it here.

Does my trusted emergency contact need my MFA?

No, emergency access bypasses MFA. They should still have MFA set up on their account though!

Inviting an Emergency Contact#

First, you need to invite your emergency contact to have access to your Bitwarden vault. Make sure you are logged into Bitwarden in your browser. Once you are logged in, on the left side of the screen, you should click Settings and then Emergency Access.

Once you are on the Emergency Access page, you should see a button that says Add Emergency Contact. Click on that button to start the process.

Now, fill out the email of the emergency contact, give them Takeover access, and make the wait time. I personally would recommend 1-2 days, but you can set it to whatever you feel comfortable with.

Confirm the Email

Make sure you are using the correct email for your emergency contact. It should be the same email that they use to log into Bitwarden.

Accepting Emergency Access#

The emergency contact should check their email. They should follow the link in the email from Bitwarden, and log in to their Bitwarden account.

Confirming Emergency Access#

Now that your emergency contact has accepted the invitation, you have to confirm that they should have access to your vault. Navigate back to the Emergency Access page (Settings -> Emergency Access). Next to the emergency contact, you should hit Options and then Confirm.

That is all you need to do. Your emergency contact can now get into your vault if you are unable to.