Passkeys Are Ready. Here Is How to Add Them to Your App

I finally added passkey support to a side project last month, and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The UX improvement is dramatic — users authenticate with a fingerprint or face scan instead of typing a password. Here's how to implement it from scratch. What Are Passkeys? Passkeys are the consumer-friendly name for WebAuthn/FIDO2 credentials. Instead of a password, the user's device generates a public-private key pair. The private key never leaves the device. Authentication is a cryptographic challenge-response — no shared secrets, nothing to phish. The key insight: passkeys are synced across devices via iCloud Keychain (Apple), Google Password Manager (Android/Chrome), or Windows Hello. This solves the old "I registered my security key on my laptop but I'm on my phone" problem. Browser Support in 2026 We're in great shape: Browser Passkey Support Synced Passkeys Chrome 118+ Yes Via Google Password Manager Safari 16.4+ Yes Via iCloud Keychain Firefox 122+ Yes Via third-party