Amazon Adds Support for Passkeys, Allowing for More Secure Logins
Amazon today announced that it has added passkey support to its desktop sites and mobile apps, allowing customers to sign in to their accounts without the need for a password.
Passkeys are a more secure alternative to passwords because a passkey cannot be shared with another person through a phishing attempt or leaked online through a database hack. Passkeys do not require customers to remember a password or add a two-factor authentication code, but they do require a verified device.
Passkeys can be set up in the Amazon settings, and on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, logging in to an Amazon account can be done with a Face ID or Touch ID scan once the feature is turned on. To enable it, go to Your Account > Login and Security, and choose the Set up option next to Passkeys.
Apple implemented support for passkeys with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura. Passkeys work through a public key that's stored on a website server and paired with a private key that's kept on a specific device. On Apple's devices, passkeys are authenticated with Face ID or Touch ID, and two keys must match to allow for a user to log in.
Passkeys rely on iCloud Keychain, which in turn requires two-factor authentication for further protection. Passkeys sync across all of a user's iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, but they can also be used on non-Apple devices through a QR code system.
Amazon says that passkey support is available today for all Amazon customers using browsers, and that it will be rolling out to the Amazon app for iOS devices in the near future.
Popular Stories
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. ...
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple's all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple's consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were...
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple's upcoming "Let loose" event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's event invite shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Apple CEO Tim...
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its "Let Loose" event on May 7. First, Gurman now believes there is a "strong possibility" that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple's next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro and iMac six months ago. He said a ...
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Top Rated Comments
If the bad guy is holding you and your phone hostage... and plans to use violence... you're gonna have a bad time.
Reminds me of this:
Hint: the wrench will win. ;)
But what's more likely to happen is someone from far away trying to get into your accounts remotely. They could be in another state or another country. It happens all the time.
It's those hackers who will be stopped by these new protective measures since they don't have your phone in their hands.
In short... there are more hackers online than people in the real world following me around with a wrench.
:p
edit: others are saying it’s available?
The Keychain option to populate the 2FA field for sites that don't support Passkey is also very good.
A website or app can theoretically let you use a passkey with no password if they chose to allow it. It’s up to each individual website or app to do this, and pretty much none have so far.
Your passkeys are on device, so my guess (I don’t have a way to confirm this without trying to get banned myself) is even without iCloud your passkeys are accessible by you on your device, you just can’t use your backups and you have to migrate your accounts. Not many people get banned from iCloud without straight up fraud happening with their account.
Most websites will be kind enough to let you recover your account through email or text messages even if you lost your passkey. So you will be able to migrate your account off passkeys if you had to.
If you switch to Android, as long as you can sign in with some method or another, you can add another passkey to your account. Android supports passkeys (with certain devices) so you can add them to your account, you can also use a USB key to sign in. You’re not restricted to one device forever on the FIDO standard.