I know Google implemented it but is it literally just using our phone’s biometrics to access third party apps and websites? How’s it different from an app asking for you fingerprint when you sign in? Is it only an Android thing?
In: Technology
A passkey is basically just a long, randomly generated password that the phone remembers and automatically submits for you so you don’t have to think about it. That’s it.
A passkey is “more secure” than a regular password, but not because the technology itself is all that different from regular passwords. It’s more or less the same thing under the hood. It’s “more secure” specifically because the password is not living in your dumb monkey brain that can forget it or be tricked into giving it up by a well-crafted scam email.
The downside of making your phone responsible for remembering the password for you is that if you lose or break the phone, you’re screwed. Unless you have a backup method to get in, that is, such as a list of one-time-use emergency codes or another authorized device.
The biometric part is just a feature of your phone that is used to lock and unlock the digital safe where the phone keeps the passwords. You are not giving your fingerprint data to apps and websites.
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