PayPal just adopted passkeys as an easy and secure log in method for user accounts. Users with an iPhone, iPad or Mac will be the first able to take advantage of the passwordless biometric security system because Apple built support for it into its devices.
Passkeys are an improvement over passwords, as they can’t be phished, stolen or guessed.
PayPal gives Passkeys biometric system a huge win
Passwords are hideously insecure. Most online user accounts that get hacked do so as a result of password stealing and guessing.
Passkeys are an emerging alternative created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. For Apple users, Touch ID and Face ID are used to create a unique digital key (a passkey) that is sent to a website to authenticate the user.
Apple’s support for passkeys debuted in iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura, all of which are now available as of Monday. And PayPal immediately jumped on board with support for getting rid of passwords.
“Launching passkeys for PayPal is foundational to our commitment to offering our customers safe, secure and easy ways to access and manage their daily financial lives,” said Doug Bland, SVP and GM, Head of Consumer, PayPal. “We are excited to provide our customers a more seamless checkout experience that eliminates the risks of weak and reused credentials and removes the frustration of remembering a password.”
The digital payment service is used by more than 429 million consumers and merchants in more than 200 markets. PayPal’s adoption of passkeys is a big step toward it becoming mainstream.
Apple is killing the password
Once a user creates a passkey with their iPhone, etc. device, they won’t have to remember a password. The passkey is synced with iCloud Keychain so it’s available to other Apple devices.
Those who are using a device that doesn’t support passkeys can still use an iPhone to log in with PayPal. Use the handset to scan the QR code that will appear after they enter their PayPal User ID.
Passkeys started rolling out Monday to PayPal customers in the U.S. The company promised the tech will become available in additional countries early in 2023.
Google has already committed to adding passkeys to Android, and PayPal promised it will support other platforms that adopt passkeys.
Source: PayPal
