Passkeys are a new way of authenticating on the web. They replace passwords with an advanced cryptographic technique to help you be more secure. Passkeys don't need to be remembered and they're resistant to server hacks and phishing. They're also easier to use once they've been setup. It's still early days for passkeys but they are becoming more widely used every day. This is great news for everyone, except hackers of course!
You can save passkeys directly to your Strongbox database, allowing you to sync a single passkey across multiple devices. Doing so also means that you have a backup of your passkeys, so that you won't lose access to them if you lose your device.
We recommend visiting webauthn.io in order to test out passkeys for yourself. And for a list of sites/services that currently support passkeys, check out Passkeys.io.
For more info about passkeys, see our blog post.
Please note: on Mac, saving new passkeys is currently only supported in Safari; you cannot save new passkeys to Strongbox in Chrome or Firefox. We know that Chrome are currently working on this and support is available in their latest preview build. Please contact Mozilla to lobby for full native Passkey integration for Firefox on macOS.
Requirements
- iOS 17.0+ or macOS Sonoma (macOS 14.0+).
- AutoFill must be enabled for at least one of your databases in the Strongbox app.
- In Password Options (Settings/System Preferences app > Passwords > Password Options):
- 'AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys' must be turned on
- Strongbox must be enabled under 'Use Passwords and Passkeys From:'.
How To Add a Passkey
On iPhone/iPad (in All Browsers)
- Head to the website or app that you want to create a passkey for (e.g. webauthn.io)
- Select to create or log in with a passkey
- When prompted, choose Continue
- If you're using more than one database, choose the one you want to save the passkey to (this step will be skipped if you only have one database)
- Unlock your database
- Choose to Create a New Entry or Add to an Existing Entry
- Select Save Passkey
On Mac with Safari
Please note: currently only Safari is supported on Mac; you cannot save new passkeys to Strongbox on Mac with Chrome or Firefox, though Chrome support is coming soon. Please contact Mozilla to request similar support.
- Head to the website that you want to create a passkey for (e.g. webauthn.io)
- Select to create or log in with a passkey
- When prompted, choose Continue
- If you're using more than one database, choose the one you want to save the passkey to (this step will be skipped if you only have one database)
- Unlock your database
- Choose to Create a New Entry or Add to an Existing Entry
- Select Save Passkey
On Mac With Chrome, Brave and Other Chromium Based Browsers
Chrome, Brave and other Chromium based browsers work in a very similar same way. The wording can be confusing however and you may need to select 'iCloud Keychain' in order to initiate Strongbox:
If you select iCloud Keychain, you will then be able to save your passkey to Strongbox:
How To Sign In With a Passkey
On iPhone/iPad
- Head to a website or app for which you've already created a passkey for
- Select to log in with a passkey
- When prompted, authenticate with Face ID
- That's it!
On Mac
- Head to a website or app for which you've already created a passkey for
- Select to log in with a passkey
- Press Continue
- When prompted, authenticate with Touch ID
- That's it!
A Note on KeePass Interoperability and other Database Formats
Not all KeePass apps currently support passkeys. Your passkey data is viewable and can be recovered by opening your database with another KeePass app, but many of these apps will not allow you to create and save new passkeys, or to authenticate with your existing passkeys. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, we cannot support passkeys on KeePass 1 or Password Safe format databases. We recommend migrating to a standard KeePass 2 format database, which should be very straightforward and will provide you with a host of other improvements. Drop us a line if you need some help with that.