Reveal the password hidden behind asterisks

Many of you have your passwords stored in your browser and never enter them again. When you log into Facebook, the password is automatically filled in and eventually you forget it.

So it’s very frustrating to see the password field hidden behind dots or asterisks… and yet there’s a relatively simple way to see what’s behind it. So we’re going to show you how to show a hidden password…

Use your browser's developer tool to display a hidden password

Most modern web browsers have tools available for developers to tinker with a number of things or test their developments (websites, extensions, etc.). We will use these tools to reveal the passwords hidden in your browser!

On Chrome and Edge

1- Right click on the password field and select Inspect in the drop-down menu that opens.

This will open an inspector window at the bottom or right of your browser. The element we are interested in should already be highlighted. Basically, it should look something like this:

In the code window, in the highlighted line, after input type you should see the word Password.

2- Right click on this part of the highlighted line and choose the option Edit Attribute in the drop-down menu

3- Then replace the word Password by the word text. Then press Enter.

That's it, you should now see your password in clear text in the password field of the site you were on!

Finally, don't worry, if you close the tab and relaunch the site, you will no longer see your password in clear text.

On Firefox

The manipulation is very similar on Firefox even if some elements have slightly different names.

1- Right click on the password field and select Inspect in the drop-down menu that opens.

This manipulation will open the Firefox code inspector and position you directly (normally) on the piece of code that interests us.

In the code window, in the highlighted line that begins with input id= »pass » you should see the indication type = "password".

2- Double click on the word “password” and replace it with “text”.

And there you have it, the password now appears in clear text!

Of course, I demonstrated it with Facebook, but it also works on other sites, like here with Amazon, for example!

As you will have understood, anyone using your computer can easily access your passwords if they are stored in the browser. So, beware and take good care not to save your passwords on computers shared or public, because you see that it is very easy for a third party to recover your password!

Article updated on January 5, 2025 by Byothe