Showing last character of password - good usability?

Design & UX
1

Hi,

I’m thinking of adding example 2 of the following page to my password field.

https://css-tricks.com/examples/iPhonePassword/

Would you say showing the last letter of the user’s typed password is good usability?

Any thoughts would be great!
Thanks!

1 Like
2

It can be, but what about security wise? There’s a reason why there’s a password attribute on input fields and why the passwords are dotted out.

3

I like the feature because a quick look lets me know if I’ve typoed. (a not uncommon thing for me)
But then, I don’t need to worry about prying eyes.

4

I’m so used to the password field not showing what I’ve typed that if I typed a character and it appeared, I’d probably assume I’d entered it in the e-mail field or elsewhere by mistake. (I’ve done that before. )

I’ve seen sites which offer the option to display the password. The problem with that is, of course, human error. Not everybody has the gumption to only use that if they’re somewhere private. But then you could argue that those folk are responsible for any ill which befalls them as a result of their lack of thouht.

5

I like it. Another pattern that’s becoming popular is having a Password Visibility Toggle that allows the user to show their entire password. I really like that pattern and use it frequently on websites, especially on mobile where I can fatfinger stuff easily.

Here’s a random codepen I found showing it:

6

I find this a useful feature on my iPhone but perversely I think I would find it off-putting on a desktop login.

7

Hmmm, good concept, but in the example it appears that it’s not perfect when it comes to only showing the last letter you’re typing. If you type fast, a lot of your password can become visible almost at once.

Again, I like the idea, but in practice I find it to come a little too close to defeating the purpose of turning the password into dots. On mobile it seems fine because there’s a smaller chance of people looking over your shoulder, but on desktop it seems like the kind of thing some people might want to have the option to turn off…and at that point, you might as well just toggle the password being entirely visible.

Personally, I really like the password being toggle-able as visible anyway. It feels nice in part because it shows that the creator of the form has the confidence in you to put whether or not you can see your password into your own hands, in addition to simply being convenient.

8

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