Google brings passkey support to Chrome and Android.
Google today (13 October 2022) announced its “password-less” passkey support for Android and Chrome.
According to Google’s Keyword blog and Android Developers Blog, users can create and use passkeys on Android devices with Android 9 or later, which Google’s Password Manager manages. Similarly, website developers can integrate passkey support for Chrome and Android users.
Example of creating passkeys on Android device.
If you’re a user, creating a passkey on Android requires only two steps: creating and confirming your passkey account information, and verifying your passkey with your preferred login style (face unlock, fingerprint unlock, or screen PIN). Each time you wish to sign in, the system prompts the user for an unlock.
To sign in on a nearby device (for example, Chrome browser on another Windows computer), users can rely on QR codes generated to log in accordingly. According to Google, passkeys are built on industry standards. They are, therefore, interoperable across Windows, macOS, iOS, and ChromeOS, and provide a uniform user experience.
Passkey support on Google and Android is currently available in beta. The public rollout will come “later this year”.
What’s a passkey?
(Image source: Towfiqu barbhuiya / Unsplash).
We’ve covered it in detail in this article, but here’s a quick summary of what passkeys do for the user and why there’s a transition away from passwords.
Passkeys are an industry standard backed by other Big Tech brands, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. They are part of the FIDO Alliance (FIDO stands for Fast ID Online). Prior to Google’s passkey support announcement, Apple introduced this password-less system in iOS 16 for iPhones.
These brands have jointly said that passwords pose a weak point in personal digital security systems. Arguments put forth claim that passwords can be stolen, but users also tend to make easy-to-guess ones and would also forget passwords.
A passkey does not use passwords. Instead, it uses WebAuthn cryptographic keys in a pair. The private half of the key is “held” by your device. Backups of your private keys are generally held by the cloud network it’s subscribed to. The other half (public “key”) is held by the service, website, or app you are trying to access.
For instance, Apple users would have their passkeys backed up with iCloud Keychain, while Google and Android users would see theirs stored on Google Password Manager.
Passkeys are not as guessable as a password, and the authentication is unique to each service, website, or app. So, if you’re trying to log in to your Chrome browser, it will pull up the key you’ve given it before. The user verifies identity by presenting a private key to match the pair.
Wrong pair, no entry. Right pair, off you go.
Source: Google (blog), Android Developers Blog
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