Meta today announced that passkey support has been added to Facebook, making it easier to sign in securely without a password. Passkeys are compatible with all Apple devices, so iPhones and iPads can use passkeys for Facebook logins instead of passwords.
Passkeys will be available on iOS devices "soon," with Meta rolling out support to Messenger in the coming months. The same passkey that's set up for Facebook will also work for Messenger when Messenger passkey support launches. Meta says that passkeys are only available on mobile devices for the time being, so logging in on a computer will still require a username and password.
Apple devices have supported passkeys as an alternative to traditional passwords since 2022, and websites have increasingly added support over the last several years. Passkeys use on-device authentication like Face ID or Touch ID for account verification instead of a password.
Passkeys are more secure than passwords, and protect users from phishing, malware, and other attacks that are aimed at getting access to online accounts. Passkeys work as a two-key authentication system where an on-device key must match an account key, and as the second key is on-device, there is no login information that can be stolen by a malicious person.
On Apple devices, passkeys are securely stored in the Passwords app, and they sync across all of your Apple products.
Meta says that users can set up a Facebook passkey by going to Accounts Center in the Settings menu and choosing the Passkey option under Password and Security. Users may also see a prompt to upgrade to a passkey when logging into Facebook.
