Hi,

It seems the issue was the "passwords" column size was too small (50 chars). Switching it to 255 should have made a difference but it did not in my test last night due to me not repopulating the column. Others in another forum suggested I repopulate and I read their suggestion just now and it is working after I repopulated it. Just sharing this knowledge on all forums I opened threads on this issue so it benefits other newbies too. I know this is nothing "learnable" for pros.
http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?366069-Why-password_verify-Not-Passing-The-Verification&p=1516863#post1516863

And so, this code is no longer getting the password_verify to false when I type the correct password.
Code:
[code]
<?php
 
/*
ERROR HANDLING
*/
declare(strict_types=1);
ini_set('display_errors', '1');
ini_set('display_startup_errors', '1');
error_reporting(E_ALL);
mysqli_report(MYSQLI_REPORT_ERROR | MYSQLI_REPORT_STRICT);
 
include 'config.php';
 
// check if user is already logged in
if (is_logged() === true) 
{
    //Redirect user to homepage page after 5 seconds.
    header("refresh:2;url=home.php");
    exit; //
}


if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == "POST")
{ 
    if (isset($_POST["login_username_or_email"]) && isset($_POST["login_password"]))
    {
        $username_or_email = trim($_POST["login_username_or_email"]); //
        $password = $_POST["login_password"];
        
         
        //Select Username or Email to check against Mysql DB if they are already registered or not.
        $stmt = mysqli_stmt_init($conn);
        
        if(strpos("$username_or_email", "@") === true)
        {
            $email = $username_or_email;
            $username = "";
            
            $query = "SELECT ids, usernames, passwords, emails, accounts_activations_statuses FROM users WHERE emails = ?";
            // i = integer; s = string; d = double; b = blob.
            $stmt = mysqli_prepare($conn, $query);            
            mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, 's', $email);
            mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
            //$result = mysqli_stmt_get_result($stmt); //Use either this line (if you need to get all data of the array without associating them to variables like you do with mysqli_stmt_bind_result), or ...
            //Note from line below that the variables "$db_username", "$db_account_activation_status" are related to the tbl columns selected on $query ("SELECT ids, usernames, accounts_activations_statuses From users .. WHERE).
            $result = mysqli_stmt_bind_result($stmt, $db_id, $db_username, $db_password, $db_email, $db_account_activation_status); // ... this line. But not both.
        }
        else
        {
            $username = $username_or_email;
            $email = "";
            $query = "SELECT ids, usernames, passwords, emails, accounts_activations_statuses FROM users WHERE usernames = ?";
            // i = integer; s = string; d = double; b = blob.
            $stmt = mysqli_prepare($conn, $query);
            mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, 's', $username);
            mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
            //$result = mysqli_stmt_get_result($stmt); //Use either this line (if you need to get all data of the array without associating them to variables like you do with mysqli_stmt_bind_result), or ...
            //Note from line below that the variables "$db_email", "$db_account_activation_status" are related to the tbl columns selected on $query ("SELECT ids, emails, accounts_activations_statuses From users .. WHERE).
            $result = mysqli_stmt_bind_result($stmt, $db_id, $db_username, $db_password, $db_email, $db_account_activation_status); // ... this line. But not both.#
        }           
        
        //$rownums = mysqli_num_rows($result); // To get number of row matches
        //echo "$rownums";
        //Which of the following to do and why that one over others ?
        $row = mysqli_stmt_fetch($stmt);
        //$row = mysqli_fetch_array($query, MYSQLI_ASSOC);
        //$row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC);
        
        mysqli_stmt_close($stmt);
        
        printf("%s (%s)\n",$row["usernames"],$row["passwords"]);
        
        if ($result == false)
        {
            echo "'$result == false' on line 73! IF got triggered on line 73! !<br>";
            exit();
        }
        elseif ($row['accounts_activations_statuses'] == '0')
        {
            {
                echo "You have not activated your account yet! Check your email for instructions on how to activate it. 
                Check your spam folder if you don't find an email from us.";
                exit();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            echo "'$result == true' on line 73! Else got triggered on line 86! <br>";//This ELSE is getting triggered on the test. That means $result = TRUE;
        }
        
        if (password_verify($password, $db_password))        
        {
            echo "IF triggered for password_verify! password_verify ok";
            //If 'Remember Me' check box is checked then set the cookie. 
            //if(!empty($_POST["login_remember"])) // Either use this line ....
            if (isset($_POST['login_remember']) && $_post['login_remember'] == "on") // ...or this line. But not both!
            {
                setcookie("login_username", $username, time()+ (10*365*24*60*60));
            }
            else
            {
                //If Cookie is available then use it to auto log user into his/her account!
                if (isset($_COOKIE['login_username']))
                {
                    setcookie("login_username","","");
                }
            }
            $_SESSION["user"] = $username;
            header("location:home.php?user=$username");                
        }
        else
        {
            echo "Else got triggered on line 111: Incorrect User Credentials ! 'password_verify = FALSE';<br>";
            exit();
        }
    }
}
    
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title><?php $site_name?> Member Login Page</title>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
</head>
<body>
<div class = "container">
<form method="post" action="">
<center><h3><?php $site_name ?> Member Login Form</h3></center>
<div class="text-danger">
<div class="form-group">
<center><label>Username/Email:</label>
<input type="text" placeholder="Enter Username" name="login_username_or_email" value="<?php if(isset($_COOKIE["login_username_or_email"])) echo $_COOKIE["login_username_or_email"]; ?>"</center>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<center><label>Password:</label>
<input type="password" placeholder="Enter password" name="login_password" value="<?php if(isset($_COOKIE["login_password"])) echo $_COOKIE["login_password"]; ?>"></center>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<center><label>Remember Login Details:</label>
<input type="checkbox" name="login_remember" /></center>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<center><input type="submit" name="login_submit" value="Login" class="button button-success" /></center>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<center><font color="red" size="3"><b>Forgot your password ?</b><br><a href="login_password_reset.php">Reset it here!</a></font></center>
<center><font color="red" size="3"><b>Not registered ?</b><br><a href="register.php">Register here!</a></font></center>
</form>
</div>
</body>
</html>
[/code]

I am making a few changes on the above post's mentioned code because I was told in that forum (which I mentioned in my previous post):

1. Checking if $result is true/false is meaningless, as it will always be true if my code is bug-free, and likely always false if not. 
2. Similarly, mysqli_stmt_fetch() will return true if it found a result row, otherwise false. 
I, instead need to check the value bound to $db_password to see if it's correct. So it might be something like:

[code]
if($row && password_verify($password, $db_password)) {
// good to go...
} 
[/code]

I have been advised 6 nights ago there on that forum to trim down my code to this:
[code]
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == "POST") // not really needed since you're checking $_POST
{
    if (isset($_POST["login_username"]) && isset($_POST["login_password"])) {
        $username = trim($_POST["login_username"]); //
        $password = trim($_POST["login_password"]); //
        $hashed_password = password_hash($_POST["login_password"], PASSWORD_DEFAULT);
        $sql = "
SELECT
  ids,
  usernames, 
  passwords, 
  emails, 
  accounts_activations_statuses 
FROM users 
WHERE usernames = ?
  AND passwords = ?
";
        $stmt = mysqli_prepare($conn, $sql);
        mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, 'ss', $username, $hashed_password);
        mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
        if (mysqli_stmt_num_rows($stmt)) {
            // found a match, we're good to go...
        } else {
            // whatever you do when user/password not found...
        }
    }
}
[/code]

This forum Mod also managed to figure it that I got the column size wrong:
https://www.webmastersun.com/threads/18216-why-password_verify-function-not-logging-me-in