Passkeys are a new type of passwordless login technology developed by the FIDO Alliance, whose members include tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, that’s designed to provide better security and convenience compared to traditional passwords and user verification methods like 2FA or SMS.
Passkeys allow users to replace traditional passwords when logging into websites and services with their device’s own authentication methods. That way you can sign in to Gmail, PayPal, or iCloud just by activating Face ID on your iPhone, your Android phone’s fingerprint sensor, or with Windows Hello on a PC.
Built upon an API called WebAuthn (or Web Authentication), two different keys are generated when you create a passkey: a public key which is stored by the website or service on which you’re creating an account, and a private key which is stored on the device you’ll use to verify your identity.
Both of these keys must match to sign the user into their account. That means passkeys provide greater security than passwords in two ways. There’s no fixed password sequence for someone to guess or steal, and phishing attacks are harder to pull off because it uses your phone or laptop’s security to make sure you’re logging into a legitimate site.
Of course, if passkeys are stored on your device, what happens if it gets broken or lost? Since passkeys work across multiple devices, you may have a backup available. Many services that support passkeys will also reauthenticate to your phone number or email address or a hardware security key if you have one. Meanwhile, other services like Gmail won’t let you completely remove the password from your account yet, just in case.
The hope is that passkeys will eventually replace passwords entirely. Several platforms already support the feature, including Apple and Google’s password vaults, and password managers like 1Password and Dashlane. There aren’t many services where passkeys can actually be used yet, however, with Best Buy and PayPal as notable early adopters, but third-party services need to integrate their own support. If you want to stay up to date then 1Password has created an online directory listing services that allow users to sign in using a passkey.
