
For example, a passkey created on your iPhone will also be available on your other Apple devices if you're logged in to the same iCloud account. " Backup" key. Some platforms securely back up your passkeys and sync them with other devices.If you create a passkey for your laptop-or for each device you own-you won't need your phone anymore to access your Google account. Synchronizing the passkey to the device isn't needed as long as the phone is near the device and you approve the sign-in on your phone. In that case, you can use this passkey to access that Google account on other devices like a laptop. Guaranteed access. Suppose you created a passkey on a Google account you access with your smartphone.The blog authors identified some benefits users could get out of using Google passkeys: 2SV (2FA/MFA) helps, but again puts strain on the user with additional, unwanted friction and still doesn’t fully protect against phishing attacks and targeted attacks like 'SIM swaps' for SMS verification. In addition, even the most savvy users are often misled into giving them up during phishing attempts. Choosing strong passwords and remembering them across various accounts can be hard. "Using passwords puts a lot of responsibility on users. It also means the account cannot be subject to an attack as a result of a weak password or password re-use, because there is no password. This method of authentication makes accounts significantly more resilient, because, unlike a password, the key can't be phished, stolen from the website it's stored on, or intercepted in transit. When a Google user logs in to their account using a passkey, Google checks if the website has a corresponding public key.

Websites have no access to the value of the passkey. The public key is stored on the side of the app or website, while the private key, a main component of the passkey, is stored on the device. Passkeys are generated using public-key cryptography, or asymmetric encryption, which involves using a pair of public and private keys.

In a recent blog post, the tech giant introduced the option to create and use a safer, more convenient alternative to passwords: Passkeys, a form of digital credential. So, how do they work? Google has just brought users closer to a passwordless future.
