The modern digital landscape is rife with cyber crime, and protecting yourself with passwords doesn’t cut it anymore. Thankfully, biometric authentication is now mainstream and readily available even on thebest budget Android phones. Leveraging this, severalpopular password manager appsand social media platforms are adopting passkeys for user authentication. After a month of beta testing, WhatsApp is the latest app to announce passkey support for all its users.
Passkeysreplace your conventional password with unique cryptographic key pairs to ensure only you can log in. The key stored on your device is provided after successful biometric authentication, thereby eliminating the need for two-factor authentication methods like OTP delivery through SMS and email. Passkeys also protect users from the dangers of password reuse and phishing attempts. After announcing passkey storage support in its password manager, Google revealed the new system allows forfaster user authenticationas well. Such significant advantages prompted the best password managers like1Password,BitWarden, andEnpassto support storing passkeys. Some of these platforms are going the extra mile, offering you the option to replace the master password with a passkey too.
WhatsApp’s work on passkeysupport came to light in early August, andbeta testing commencedlate in September this year. Now, around a month later, the messaging app took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce support for passkeys rolling out in the stable channel. The feature replaces the SMS-delivered one-time password in the login process, making it much more secure. The app allows using your screen lock methods such as on-device fingerprint, face unlock, PIN, or swipe pattern to authenticate yourself. Meanwhile, the cryptographic key is automatically stored in Google Password Manager. This passwordless login system can save you time when setting up WhatsApp on a new phone, even if that’s something you may not do very often. We also appreciate WhatsApp for thoroughly explaining how passkeys work to secure your account.
The process of setting up a passkey for WhatsApp in beta
Passkeys for signing in to WhatsApp shouldn’t be conflated with in-app utilities likeWhatsApp chat lock, which still relies on biometric authentication. Importantly, passwords for conventional user authentication on WhatsApp will still be available alongside passkeys.
That said, WhatsApp hasn’t clarified if the feature will be immediately available worldwide. We believe passkey support will roll out gradually in the stable channel, like every other new WhatsApp feature. Nonetheless, it is great to see WhatsApp reiterating its commitment to user privacy and security with features like this.
