101 UX Principles – 2nd edition - Second Edition

#47

Pre-Fill the Username in “Forgot Password” Fields

If your user has tried to sign in and failed, it’s a safe bet that their next action will be to click “forgot password.” Don’t make them enter their email again—pre-fill the username field with the entry from their earlier sign-in attempt, so that the user can just tap “reset password” and be on their way.

The forgot password flow of an app is—certainly from metrics I’ve seen—a very well-used feature. In fact, a user who uses a difficult password, forgets it, then resets it every time is probably more secure than a user who just uses a weak password. So, let’s make the forgot password process easy by following these rules:

• If the user gets their password wrong, pre-fill the username field ...