Skip to main content

What are passkeys? How they’ll replace your passwords forever

The predominant way of signing on to a service is an alphanumeric password. Over the years, physical security keys have emerged to offer a more secure method of logging in to accounts or a device. But thanks in no part to hackers breaching the conventional password system with tactics like email phishing and keylogging (among other techniques), solutions like authenticator apps and two-factor verification emerged.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

10 minutes

What You Need

But each solution comes with its own set of drawbacks, with ease of usage being one of them. Even with two-factor authentication, the arrival of the 2FA code depends on cellular connectivity. To solve these security shortcomings, tech giants — including Microsoft, Google, and Apple — joined hands to pioneer a system of passwordless sign-ins.

Passkey login.
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

What are passkeys?

The solution was passkeys, a system that ditches passwords in favor of more secure on-device verification methods like face match, fingerprint verification, or even the PIN that users enter to unlock their phone. The idea is to get rid of the system of passwords and, with it, all the risks and hassles that come with it. Plus, passkeys also remove two-factor authentication from the equation because passkeys are essentially a confirmation that you are in ownership of your device.

Developed in collaboration with the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), passkeys are finally ready to end your password sign-in woes across all your computing devices, including smartphones. If all that sounds convenient and reassuring, read on to learn the steps for enabling the passkey system on your phone and tablet.

Passkey log in on a phone
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

What you need to enable passkeys

Passkeys can be enabled on both mobile and desktop platforms. If you seek to enable passkeys on your smartphone, make sure that it is running at least iOS 16 or Android 9. Also, if you are planning to use a physical security key, like those made by Yubico, make sure that is at least FIDO-2 certified.

In order to set up passkeys on desktop, make sure that your PC is running Windows 10 or macOS Ventura. Plus, the browser of your choice must also be updated to Edge v109, Chrome v109, or Safari v16, or a later version. The final requirement is that your device must already have a screen lock set up and should support Bluetooth connectivity, as well.

If you aim to enable the passkey system on your iPhone or iPad, they are stored as part of your iCloud Keychain and also sync across all devices on which you have signed in with the same Google account. Thankfully, you can recover your passkeys if you ever lose or misplace your device.

All you need to do is access your Google account and enter the authentication key — PIN code, pattern, or password — of your lost device. However, do keep in mind the passkeys stored on a physical security key can’t be recovered if the device is lost. Another important aspect to keep in mind is that you should enable passkeys on your personal devices only.

How to create a passkey on your phone or tablet

Since we are dealing with mobile platforms here, we’ll focus on Android and iOS. If you are an Android phone user, passkeys are stored in your Google Password Manager, and they are synced between all devices with the same Google account signed in. For Apple device owners, it's the iCloud Keychain that lends a helping hand.

The steps for creating a passkey are largely the same for most websites, though there may be some subtle differences depending on which site/app you're making a passkey for. As an example, here's a step-by-step guide for creating a passkey for your Google account — on both Android and iOS.

Step 1: On your phone, open the web browser of your choice and open the passkey website. You will now land on a page where you need to sign in with your Google account.

Step 2: Depending on your two-factor authentication, you will get an email notification and/or a Google notification prompt asking you to verify whether it was really you that entered the password and tried to log in. If you haven’t enabled two-factor authentication, you will directly be taken to the next page after entering the password.

Step 3: On the passkey's set-up, you will see a list of all the devices on which you have signed in. For some of the devices, passkeys have been automatically created because Android devices automatically create passkeys when you access your Google account. For others, like an iPhone or iPad, you need to tap on the blue Use passkeys button.

Step 4: After you tap on the blue button and verify the iCloud keychain prompt, a prompt will appear on the screen telling you that a passkey has been created for the device. Tap on the blue Done, and you’re good to go. Next time you try to access your Google account, your device will verify your identity with a face scan, fingerprint authentication, or screen lock.

Step 5: You can verify a passkey has been created for your iPhone or iPad by going to Settings and following this path: Passwords > google.com > Passkey Options. If the passkey has been created, you will see Created Today written against the passkey option.

Passkeys are a great security addition because they lock your account credentials and rely on the unique identity of the device in your hand. If you are selling your device or switching to another, you can always delete the passkey from your iPhone's Settings section or by visiting the device dashboard of your Google account.

Editors' Recommendations

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is a tech journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started writing…
How to use photo cutout to cut and paste images in iOS 17
The image background remover feature from iOS 16 being used on a photo of a dog.

The iPhone has so many clever and fun little features that it's easy to miss some of them. One of the most whimsical features to come along in recent years is the ability to lift the subject of a photo away from the background so you can use it elsewhere — whether that's sharing it in an email, pasting it into a photo editing app, or even turning it into an iMessage sticker in iOS 17.

What's especially fascinating about this is that it seems like such a simple thing to do — and Apple does make it really easy — but there's a ton of number crunching going on under the hood to make it happen. This means you'll need an iPhone with a reasonably modern processor, but the good news is that it doesn't have to be the latest and greatest iPhone 15 Pro. While the insanely powerful A17 Pro chip in Apple's flagship smartphone surely helps things along, this feature can be used on any iPhone with an A12 Bionic chip or later, which goes back to the 2018 iPhone XS and iPhone XR.

Read more
How to get new emojis on your iPhone or Android device
Emoji reactions on Google Messages running on OnePlus 11.

Text messaging has quickly become the default form of communication on smartphones. Sure, you can give your buddy a call to update them on your plans for the weekend, but it's not quite as quick and streamlined as a simple text. And combined with the ever-growing library of emojis available on iPhone and Android, it's easier than ever to ensure your tone and true meaning are received loud and clear by your recipient.

Read more
iPhone not holding charge? How to replace an iPhone battery
How-to-replace-iPhone-battery-feature-image

When smartphones were in their infancy, battery packs were easy to replace. Most products let users open a flap on the back of the device to easily remove the battery, giving them a quick way to ditch a dead battery and install a new one. Fast forward to 2024, and that's a rarity. Replacing batteries is much more difficult today than it was a decade ago, and that's especially true for all iPhone models.

Whether you're working with the new iPhone 15 or an old iPhone 12, you can't just run out to the store and snag a new battery for your smartphone. Instead, you'll need to contact Apple directly or go through elaborate workarounds to install the battery yourself.

Read more