WhatsApp for iOS is rolling out passwordless logins with passkeys


One more app joins the passwordless future we’ve been promised. WhatsApp says it’s now rolling out support for passkeys in the iOS version of the app. With the feature enabled, users of Meta’s encrypted messaging app can use iPhone biometrics for login — that is, Face ID or Touch ID — or their phone’s passcode.
WhatsApp already supports unlocking its iOS app with one of these options, but this takes that a step further. Passkey support comes to the iPhone version several months after Meta started distributing it to Android WhatsApp users in October. WhatsApp spokesperson Zade Alsawah iOS users will see the app “in the coming weeks,” so if you don’t see it now, keep checking.
Passkeys are supposed to be the secure (or, at least, more secure; even passkeys have tradeoffs) wave of the future — a version of authentication that does away with passwords and SMS two-factor authentication. It also means you can sign in even when you’re not connected to a network since your phone holds the authentication key. To see if you have the feature already, WhatsApp says you’ll see the option under Settings > Account > Passkeys. Rollouts like this can take time, though.
Alsaweh said users will still scan a QR code from the “Linked Devices” menu in the smartphone app to log into WhatsApp on other devices, “since Mac, Windows and web can’t be primary devices for an account.” That’s similar to, if a tiny bit clunkier than, how passkeys sometimes work when logging in to a service on desktop web browsers — except there, all you have to do is scan the passkey QR code using your phone’s default camera app.
Update April 24th, 2024, 6:26PM ET: Added comment from WhatsApp spokesperson.
One more app joins the passwordless future we’ve been promised. WhatsApp says it’s now rolling out support for passkeys in the iOS version of the app. With the feature enabled, users of Meta’s encrypted messaging app can use iPhone biometrics for login — that is, Face ID or Touch ID…
Recent Posts
- Rivian’s new Dune edition lets you channel your inner Fremen
- Here’s when and where you can preorder the new iPhone 16E
- The Humane AI Pin debacle is a reminder that AI alone doesn’t make a compelling product
- This 1.9-pound smartphone’s massive battery offers six months of standby
- Movie sales – including 4K Blu-ray – fell again last year, but if you’re going streaming only, you’re massively missing out
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010