I’ve avoided “passkeys” like the plague, but with Google [promising a password-less future](https://safety.google/authentication/passkey/) and Apple [forcefully moving people to passkeys going forward](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2024/10125/?time=258), I guess it’s time to figure out what they are.
I consider myself a tech person, but the more I hear about these *passkeys*, the less I understand. Apple’s [overview](https://developer.apple.com/passkeys/) says that they’ll be used “alongside” passwords, so I don’t get what’s being **replaced**, and why the hell we need them. Fido Alliance (the folks that apparently invented the damn thing) says that [passwords are a problem](https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys/), but reading this, it doesn’t seem like it’s **my** problem they talk about.
What I **do** understand though, is that one day I’ve had someone walk into my hotel room in Poland, and walk out with my laptop and cell phone while I was asleep^1.
**So, overnight, I ended up without access to any of my devices or phone number abroad**.
Luckily, because I was still in the password-ful past, I could log into my email and Skype from hotel’s computer, and let my wife know that I need some help.
what this scenario wood look like in the future when everything gets switched to passkeys.
____
^(**[1]:**) ^(I have forgotten to lock the door – learn from my mistake. To Krakow police’s credit, they *actually caught the thief* several months later.)
In: Technology
What is unclear to me is if you’re already using a password manager like 1Password and (at least everywhere that allows this) use an incredibly long and complex password that is unique for each place a password is used… how is a passkey any more secure? I understand if you’re the kind of person that uses “password1” as your password to everything you use that passkeys are an enormous upgrade, but if you already have very good password opsec what is the net benefit?
Latest Answers