William Gallagher
The FIDO Alliance standards body has published specifications that should lead to passkeys being able to get shared seamlessly between platforms and also different password apps.
Apple first joined the Fast Identity Online Alliance (FIDO) in 2020, several years after competitors such as Microsoft, Google, and Samsung. It's since extended its support for FIDO's aim to replace passwords with biometric passkeys.
Now FIDO has unveiled what it calls a working draft of specifications which "will enable users to securely move passkeys and all other credentials across providers." The new specification details how passkeys, and passwords, can be transferred in a secure way when a user moves to a different password manager app, or to a different platform.
Passkeys were developed by FIDO and others, and were first supported by Apple in 2022's macOS Ventura and iOS 16. It allows users to log in to services with Touch ID, or Face ID.
FIDO specifies that this working draft was developed in collaboration with members including Apple, 1Password, Google and others. The draft is now open for review with the draft online and feedback welcomed through Github.
The Alliance has not as yet given a deadline for review submissions, nor a planned schedule for the specifications to be implemented by its member firms. It has, though, said that there will be an updated version of the specification published on October 18, 2024.
Apple devices now prompt users to use passkeys. The feature is becoming increasingly supported by apps and services.
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1 Comment
That would be great – one common complaint is the lack of a standard format for transporting passkeys between different apps (on different platforms).