Passkeys are an easier and more secure sign-in method introduced by Apple in iOS 16. They are intended to replace traditional passwords. Here’s how to use passkeys on iPhone and authenticate website accounts with Face ID, Touch ID Where Access code.
4 Advantages of iPhone Passkey in iOS 16
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1. Security keys prevent phishing
According Applethis new authentication method makes phishing almost impossible!
Security keys never leave your device and are specific to the website you created them for.
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2. No Website Leaks with Security Keys
Since private keys are never kept on a server, they cannot be leaked. This means that your accounts on websites and apps are no longer at risk of being compromised.
Do: Open Settings -> Passwords -> Security Recommendations and note how many of your saved passwords could be compromised due to reported data leaks for various websites. More details here.
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3. Sync passkeys across devices
These private keys are end-to-end encrypted and able to sync across all your Apple devices via iCloud Keychain.
This means that once you set a passcode on your iPhone, you’ll have it available on iPad, Mac, and all your other devices that use the same Apple ID.
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4. Connect on other devices
Plus, you can even use Passkeys to sign in to websites and apps on other Apple and non-Apple devices. Simply scan the QR code with iPhone or iPad and use Face ID (Touch ID or Passcode) to authenticate.
How to Use Passkeys on iPhone
This new authentication method must be supported by third-party websites and applications to work.
If a specific website has been updated for Passkeys, you will be able to set one up in the Settings section of your Account on that specific website.
For example, one of the early adopters is BestBuy.com. If you have an account with them, log in the usual way, using the strong password generated by your iPhone when you initially set up your account.
On the BBuy website, go to Settings -> All Accounts Settings -> Face or fingerprint login -> Set up on this device
iOS 16 prompts you with the following:
“Do you want to register a password for [email address]? Passkeys are saved in your iCloud Keychain and are available to sign in on all your devices.
Faucet Continue and allow Face ID to scan your face.
That’s it, you’ve just set up a password for your BestBuy account!
How to log in with access keys
From now on, whenever you want to log in to a website account for which you have saved a password, you will be prompted to:
“Do you want to connect to [website name]” with your registered password for [your email address]?”
Faucet Continue and Face ID will kick or will go for Other connection options.
First users supporting passkeys on iPhone
While testing Passkeys in iOS 16, we had success using this new feature with accounts on the following websites:
- AOL (only works if you remove the App Authenticator if you have one configured)
- Best Buy (works as primary authentication)
- drop box
- GithubGenericName
- come on daddy
- Google (passkeys may conflict if you have multiple Google accounts for which you have saved the private keys)
- WordPress
- Yahoo (only works if you remove the app authenticator)
Passkeys vs Passwords
You could say that logging in with a password works the same way as authenticating with strong passwords, using iCloud Keychain and Face ID.
In both cases, you choose an identifier among those available, authenticate yourself with biometrics and log in.
However, that’s very the end of the similarities:
- Signing in with iCloud Keychain automatically fills in your saved username and password into the normal text fields required by a sign-in form.
- Access keys do much more. iOS 16 generates a unique key accessible only when the user authenticates with biometrics. This makes security keys much more secure as they are stored in iCloud Keychain and not visible to the user.
Have you used management to use access keys with another popular website? Share them in the comments and we’ll check them out and update the list!
What do you think of the new Passkey login feature in iOS 16? Do you think it will completely replace passwords? Share your opinion in the comments.
Related: For more improvements coming to iOS 16, please see our full list of features.