Passkey for iPhone

@lspeterman

Passkeys are still at the very early stages of rollout, both to websites and to end users, so right now we're only really seeing information about how platform vendors like Apple, Google, and Microsoft are planning to implement them for themselves, and there's very little information forthcoming about how third parties, like 1Password, will be able to coexist with that.

If we use passwords as the closest parallel, Apple allows third-party apps to register with iOS as data providers for its own Password AutoFill system. iOS then manages the detection and filling of forms using the data it requests from the third-party app. This is how 1Password is able to (indirectly) autofill into apps and browsers on iPhones and iPads.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see something in iOS similar to this in which iOS itself deals with the registration and presentation of passkeys but delegates their storage to a third-party app. It's possible, but nowhere near confirmed right now. We'll have to wait for more details to emerge from Apple about this before we can connect the dots any further.

On a Mac, things will probably be a bit more straightforward. Because 1Password already controls autofill in the browser without going through macOS first, we should be able to handle passkeys from end to end, much like we do with passwords and other items now.

As the passkey standard develops, and as the rollout progresses, we'll be able to learn more about how it will look to our customers when they use it, and we'll be able to bring that to you. Keep an eye on our Blog or sign up for our monthly(-ish) Newsletter to see what's going on in that regard.

The actual nuts and bolts (so to speak) of how passkeys will be managed are still to be confirmed by our platform vendor partners, and this is why we joined the FIDO Alliance – to make sure that our perspective as a password manager, and more importantly, the perspective of our customers, is heard and acted upon. We want to be a prominent voice in the room to make sure that 1Password is the best way to use and manage your passkeys, just as it is for your passwords and other data.