It appears that a toggle in the Chrome app settings can delete or remove your saved passwords from all devices synced to your account. Members of the development team have confirmed that they will take action in this regard.
Here's how you can accidentally delete all your saved passwords in Google Chrome
Last week, Redditor harish9294 reported a situation that ended very badly. After feeling like their browser on their Pixel phone was a bit slow, they resorted to the 'Clear browsing data' option. Their intention was to just delete data and cache, but they didn't realize that for some reason 'Saved Passwords' was enabled by default. So the Redditor touched the “Clear data” option.
Then the Redditor realized that their password vault had been emptied. The passwords were deleted not only from their Pixel phone, but from all their devices synced with their Google account. This is because Google Password Manager (GPM) syncs the changes you make across all your devices connected to your account. It can be very useful to always have your passwords at hand. However, a poorly organized settings menu can cause this kind of situation.
The really serious thing about it is that the “saved passwords” switch was enabled by default. After a quick check in my Chrome app, that item was disabled. However, I also noticed that it's easy to ignore whether it's enabled or not. To check this, you'll need to tap 'More Options', but the 'Clear Data' option is before that menu.
A solution is on the way
Google's support team could do nothing to help the affected user. Luckily, the Redditor had a backup of most of their passwords on Bitwarden. They even moved from Bitwarden to GPM to enjoy a synchronized experience across all their devices. However, they returned to Bitwarden after this accident.
After recounting what happened on Reddit, another user created a report on the Chromium issues page. After a few days, Google team members confirmed that this was the case will customize the Chrome menus to avoid accidentally deleting your saved passwords. However, there is still no ETA for the rollout of the tweak.
