As someone who uses a single password manager on my computer and phone, I don't see the problem with passkeys. I use Safari on both and I never even had to "set up" anything.
I can see why they would be problematic for people who otherwise live life with a single love2025 password though.
Imagine you lose your computer and phone. How do you recover your digital accounts? This happens every day to someone. The most common scenario being a house fire or robbery.
Receiving an email at your backup email address? Getting a text message? It’s whatever you have decided to set up in your account, the same as with a password.
I think the point with a passkey is that those very loose backup methods are required, since just knowing the password is not a thing. Everyone gets a new phone and is at risk of the previous one being unavailable. So passkeys mean that there's no way to deal with that reality, and also be truly secure.
Or use a password manager that syncs to the cloud and log in with the same passkey using another device? I just got a new iPhone and logged into a bunch of things on-device using synced passkeys. It worked just fine.
Every conversation about this seems to involve someone asserting that improving upon passwords in any way at all is unacceptable unless the solution is perfect in every possible way, with the goalposts constantly moving.
etatester · · focus · HN ↗
I can see why they would be problematic for people who otherwise live life with a single love2025 password though.
flerchin · · focus · HN ↗
karlshea · · focus · HN ↗
flerchin · · focus · HN ↗
karlshea · · focus · HN ↗
flerchin · · focus · HN ↗
karlshea · · focus · HN ↗
Every conversation about this seems to involve someone asserting that improving upon passwords in any way at all is unacceptable unless the solution is perfect in every possible way, with the goalposts constantly moving.