---
title: "Passkeys are set to replace passwords"
description: "Apple Passkeys is warming up to make passwords redundant. Will it succeed? Let me explain Passkeys and give a demo."
url: "https://hoeijmakers.net/passwords-passkeys/"
date: 2022-12-07
updated: 2026-04-21
author: "Rob Hoeijmakers"
site: "hoeijmakers.net"
language: "en"
tags: []
---

# Passkeys are set to replace passwords

In that latest update, Apple presents Passkeys, their application of a new industry standard that aims to make passwords obsolete ([FIDO2](https://fidoalliance.org/fido2/)). In this article, I explain what that new way of security is and what it looks like for you as a user.

## What is Passkeys?

The name Apple gives to the new way of logging in their ecosystem is Passkeys. And Passkeys is a passwordless way of logging in with the use of face recognition or fingerprint reading.

Now, I myself still use the built-in password manager, but passkeys is going to greatly reduce the hundreds of passwords you maintain and promises a more or less frictionless way of logging in.

A passkey is like a special key or code that allows you to unlock something, like a door or a secure area, but in the digital world. It's a secret combination of characters, usually letters, numbers, or symbols, that you use to prove that you have permission to access a computer, a website, an app, or some other online service.### Make account

Because what do you do with Passkeys? You create a new account and in doing so, you get a personal key. A string of digital characters that is stored in a personal device, such as computer or mobile, and synchronized via the cloud. The account also comes with a unique, public key.

The personal key goes into a key box which only you can open. This also makes it tied to a device of yours, and the locker can only be opened with bionic information (fingerprint, for example) or your Mac password.

### Log in

The personal key must always remain local, but can be shared encrypted, via iCloud, across multiple devices. If you then log in, the public key will give you a challenge, a puzzle so to speak, that only you can solve with the personal key. You send that back and you get access.

To demo I recorded both flows, make an account and log in, on an iPhone and made this video. With a thanks to [passkeys.io](https://www.passkeys.io) for sharing a test website.

## Key cabinet

So if FIDO2 and Passkeys catch on, you will soon no longer need passwords. You will manage a key cabinet. The disadvantage is of course that you can't do much without the key cabinet, which is local to your devices, but this is partly solved by working with [QR codes](https://hoeijmakers.net/qr-code-explained/). But if you then want to help a six- or eighty-year-old, I predict it will be a challenge.

Anyway, we are not that far yet. I have not yet come across Passkeys in the wild, am curious when that will happen for the first time. But as a site owner I would prepare for it, maybe it can give you an edge over the competition for some time.

---

**Related**
- [2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on Apple Keychain](https://hoeijmakers.net/2fa-within-apple-keychain/)