In a reply to Tomsguide , Apple’s leadership said that iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura will help free users from using passwords.
Passwords have long been unsafe, especially when there are so many services and users often have the habit of sharing the same password for all. If hackers are able to obtain passwords through attacks on the service or through phishing, identities and personal information could be at risk.
There are now alternatives to manual password entry, such as password managers, but they are still vulnerable. Apple, Google, Microsoft and major technology corporations have joined the FIDO Alliance to work towards replacing passwords.
In response to Tomsguide , Apple said that the Passkeys solution will be officially introduced this fall on iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, which can help users get rid of the worry with passwords.
senior director of platform product marketing Apple , said Passkeys are the only digital keys that are easier to use, more secure. They are never stored on the server, but only on the user’s device. Hackers cannot steal Passkeys in an attack on the service or trick users into sharing them.
Passkeys requires Touch ID or Face ID for biometric verification. Meanwhile, iCloud Keychain helps sync Passkeys between iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV devices with end-to-end encryption.
The principle of Passkeys is a public and secret key pair. The private key is stored on the user’s device, while the public key is on the web server. So this Apple feature makes phishing impossible because the user never gives the secret key, they just authenticate using their device.
Darin Adler, vice president of internet technology at Apple, said that verifying with Face ID and Touch ID brings convenience. Users don’t need to buy another device, don’t even need to learn new habits.
In case the device to authenticate is not Apple. For example, a user subscribes to an online movie streaming service on an iPhone but needs to sign in on Roku. At this point, the device will generate a QR code that the iPhone or iPad can read. The iOS operating system will use Face ID or Touch ID to confirm whether the user really wants to sign in, thereby confirming or denying the request for the application or website running on the device.
And in case if you want to sign in to the service with an iOS device or a Mac that is not yours, Passkeys can be shared through AirDrop.
This will also be the same when the user has an iPhone and wants to log in on a Windows computer. They will then open the QR code image and then use the iPhone to scan it, then use Face ID or Touch ID on the phone to authenticate.
In order for Passkeys to work across multiple Apple devices – including iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs, the iCloud Keychain feature will do the job of syncing. This extension is used to keep user passwords and other sensitive information like credit cards in sync across devices.
In the event a user loses access to their iPhone, the iCloud Keychain feature will also help restore previous keys through iCloud if an Apple device is lost or stolen.
Passkeys will be integrated into iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura operating systems. Apple is also working with developers to integrate Passkeys support into the app. Apple has not mentioned which apps that support Passkeys will be available at launch.
Adler said those public keys really don’t have any value to steal. This will help reduce liability for developers, and they are looking to take advantage of this. Kurt Night thinks that with the new operating system, this will be the way to completely replace passwords and it is starting.