Here’s how passkeys work: password replacement is also coming to 1Password

Passwords are one of the biggest weaknesses in digital security. The successor is the passkey: safer and harder to steal. Soon also available in the popular 1Password.

A password can be leaked, stolen, accidentally told to the wrong person or forgotten. All disadvantages that are solved with the passkey. This allows you to access accounts by identifying yourself biometrically with a trusted device. Simply put: with a scan of your face or fingerprint, via a scanner on your smartphone, tablet or laptop.

More and more services support the passkey, which was developed by the FIDO Alliance: an industry association that wants to reduce dependence on passwords. Large companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft are affiliated with FIDO and already support the passkey. On your iPhone, for example, you log in to a certain site with only a face scan: a password is no longer there, so you cannot lose it. .

1Password: passkeys without dependency

Unfortunately, the systems of those large companies are limited to their own ecosystems. So at Apple your passkeys are stored in your iCloud Keychain, on Android and in Chrome in your Google Password Manager. That is difficult for those who use different systems at the same time, or who do not want to be dependent on one of the tech giants.

Luckily for those folks, 1Password comes along from June 6 also with passkey support. The feature was promised at the end of last year, but was delayed. Passkeys will soon work the same as passwords in 1Password: you save them, and they will then be available on every system and in every browser where you are logged in with 1Password.

No more remembering any password

You then only have to remember your 1Password password to log in anywhere. The big advantage of an external password app like 1Password is the lack of dependency. You can use it just as easily on your own phone as on your work laptop, regardless of system. The competing Dashlane now also supports passkeys.

1Password will soon automatically indicate if you can exchange your password for a passkey. In a database 1Password keeps track of where you can all use a passkey. You can also submit a request for a new site there. 1Password cannot force such sites to support passkeys, but popular requests are a clear signal to a site.

In time, 1Password will also offer the option to replace that one password for 1Password itself with a passkey. Support for traditional passwords and 2FA solutions will also remain in 1Password. It will take some time before all sites and services have replaced the old-fashioned password with a passkey.

Also listen to the Bright Podcast: