WebAuthn: Difference between revisions
→In the media: “ - ” × 3 |
→Passkey branding: clarification |
||
| Line 163: | Line 163: | ||
== Passkey branding == | == Passkey branding == | ||
''Passkey'' is the [[de facto]] [[technical language|non-technical]] term for a WebAuthn credential.<ref name="docsrs-webauthnrs" /><ref name="imperialviolet-webauthn" /> It is widely used in situations where jargon is unhelpful, such as consumer marketing, and most user interfaces that support WebAuthn use only ''passkey'' to refer to WebAuthn credentials.<ref name="arstechnica-not-usable" /> | |||
When Apple first introduced passkeys to the public in 2022,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clemons |first1=Taylor |title=WWDC 2022: Apple announces Passkey feature to eliminate passwords across platforms |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/wwdc-2022-apple-announces-passkey-feature/ |access-date=4 July 2025 |publisher=ZD Net |date=6 June 2022}}</ref> they emphasized their first-party platform integrations. This, combined with the lack of clear communication from other industry leaders, led some to speculate that passkeys were proprietary to Apple (this was not the case).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shakir |first1=Umar |title=Reminder: passkeys are not just from Apple |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/5/23293643/apple-passkeys-fido-alliance-passwordless-google-microsoft |access-date=4 July 2025 |publisher=The Verge |date=6 August 2022}}</ref> As browsers and websites began to implement WebAuthn, the inconsistent feature-sets resulted in a variety of understandings of what exactly counted as a passkey. Some people assumed that a passkey had to be managed by a platform authenticator, or that it had to be synchronized using the cloud. A better definition is that a passkey is any WebAuthn credential managed by any WebAuthn authenticator.<ref name="docsrs-webauthnrs" /> This definition covers most of what different vendors refer to and accept as "passkeys". | When Apple first introduced passkeys to the public in 2022,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clemons |first1=Taylor |title=WWDC 2022: Apple announces Passkey feature to eliminate passwords across platforms |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/wwdc-2022-apple-announces-passkey-feature/ |access-date=4 July 2025 |publisher=ZD Net |date=6 June 2022}}</ref> they emphasized their first-party platform integrations. This, combined with the lack of clear communication from other industry leaders, led some to speculate that passkeys were proprietary to Apple (this was not the case).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shakir |first1=Umar |title=Reminder: passkeys are not just from Apple |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/5/23293643/apple-passkeys-fido-alliance-passwordless-google-microsoft |access-date=4 July 2025 |publisher=The Verge |date=6 August 2022}}</ref> As browsers and websites began to implement WebAuthn, the inconsistent feature-sets resulted in a variety of understandings of what exactly counted as a passkey. Some people assumed that a passkey had to be managed by a platform authenticator, or that it had to be synchronized using the cloud. A better definition is that a passkey is any WebAuthn credential managed by any WebAuthn authenticator.<ref name="docsrs-webauthnrs" /> This definition covers most of what different vendors refer to and accept as "passkeys". | ||