How to Use Passkeys with accountedfor

Passkeys are the easiest and most secure way to sign in to apps and websites and a major step toward a future without passwords.

Can I use Passkeys?

You can use a Passkey to sign into accountedfor if your device, operating system and browser support Passkeys. Passkey-enabled devices, operating system software and browsers are supported for billions of people today so the chances are that you are ready to begin using Passkeys.

Here is a list of the most popular platforms in use today, along with their support for Passkeys:

Apple

Apple has committed to making Passkeys available to billions of its users who already use Face ID or Touch ID to secure their own devices.

To make use of Passkeys on Apple with accountedfor you must have:

An iPhone, Mac or iPad
Run at least iOS 16, macOS Ventura or iPadOS 16
Use iCloud Keychain
Use a popular browser such as Safari or Google Chrome

For more information on Apple's specific platform support, see: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/iphone/iphf538ea8d0/ios

Google

Google allows billions of its users to sign into their Google account with a Passkey from either their Android device or any device that supports Passkeys.

To make use of a Passkey on Android you must have:

Android 9.0 (Android Pie) and up
Have a screen lock turned on

For more information on Android's specific platform support, see: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/13168025?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&oco=0

Microsoft

Microsoft was one of the earliest supporters of Passkeys, and continues to help its users easily use Passkeys today.

To make use of a Passkey on Windows you must have:

Windows 10 or Windows 11
Facial recognition (Windows Hello Face), Fingerprint recognition (Windows Hello Fingerprint) or a PIN (Windows Hello PIN)

For more information on Microsoft's specific platform support, see: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/learn-about-windows-hello-and-set-it-up-dae28983-8242-bb2a-d3d1-87c9d265a5f0

How do Passkeys Work?

Passkeys work by replacing your password with a much longer secret (a private key) that is stored on your device's hardware (and optionally backed up, encrypted to the cloud).

When a Passkey secret is created, it also creates another key (a public key) which is sent to accountedfor.
Each time you sign in with your Passkey, accountedfor requests your device to solve a mathematical problem (sign a challenge) using its private key.
Your device will only sign the challenge if it can verify you are in control of your device, such as by reading your biometrics or asking you for a PIN.
Once your device has verified you are in control of it, it will sign the challenge and send it to accountedfor to verify.
As the challenge can only be signed once, accountedfor will verify the signature and sign you in!

You are now successfully authorised to manage your business accounts and make payments!

Are Passkeys secure?

Passkeys are more secure than passwords, because they are much more complex than passwords and cannot easily be read or seen by a human.

Passkeys are also locked to the website that they are created on, and therefore cannot be used on a website that looks similar to accountedfor that has been setup by someone else for the purposes of discovering the password of a user.

Passkeys are also only saved to the device a user has, and only backed up to a cloud service using end-to-end encryption.

Finally, Passkeys are protected by a second layer of security which requires a device unlock to be performed by the user before a Passkey can be used to sign into a service.

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For more information on the security of Passkeys, see Apple's article or Google's article.