Touch Bar on Mac Showing “Touch ID to Sign In” or “Touch ID to Autofill” Requests in Safari? Here’s Why
MacBook Pro users with a Touch Bar equipped model may find themselves using Safari and have the Touch Bar constantly show a seemingly random “Touch ID to Autofill” or “Touch ID to Sign In” request, even if they’re using a website or a webpage with no forms, nothing to sign into, and nothing to autofill. These random Touch ID requests in Safari can pop up repeatedly on the Touch Bar sometimes, and be a bit confusing or even alarming.
If you are experiencing this issue and you’re wondering what is going on, why, and how to fix it, read along and you’ll have a better understanding of why you might see the “Touch ID to Sign In” type of requests.
Why does Touch Bar on Mac show “Touch ID to Sign In” or “Touch ID to Autofill” in Safari?
The most likely reason that your Mac Touch Bar is showing the Touch ID requests when using Safari is because another Safari tab or browser window is attempting to authenticate with stored credentials from iCloud Keychain – even if that webpage or website is not the foremost active tab or browser window. That latter part is important to recognize because if you’re the type of person who has a lot of different browser windows and tabs open, you’re much more likely to encounter this issue with seemingly random Touch Bar authentication requests.
This can happen if a webpage reloads, a site crashes and reloads, a browser session expires on a page that was logged in before, or if a site automatically logs you out and then requests a sign-in again, or if another browser tab or browser window simply requests a saved password, login details, address info, email address, or other information to autofill.
What should I do with the Random “Touch ID to Sign In” Requests in Safari?
What should you do if you see this request? This is up to you.
If you already know the site that is attempting to authenticate or autofill, you can choose to use Touch ID to authenticate.
Personally I always choose “Cancel”, on the far left of the Touch Bar, because every time I run into this particular issue, I can rarely find which specific browser tab or window is requesting the authentication, and I personally do not ever want to sign-in or autofill or authenticate into something without specific intention to do that.
Just know that this autofill and Touch ID authentication behavior is normal and expected when using Safari with a bunch of browser tabs or windows open if any of those tabs or windows requires authentication. This is admittedly awkward and confusing though, and it would be much better if there was a third option on the Touch Bar when you see these authentication requests for Touch ID, to switch to that specific tab before filling out and authentication with your iCloud Keychain information.
Keep in mind that Apple has discontinued the Touch Bar on the Mac, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see any significant changes in Touch Bar behavior or features that may remedy this issue or prevent it from happening.
Have you ever run into this issue? Do you have a different way of handling it on your Mac? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments.
