Safari Will Support Password-less Face ID And Touch ID Logins Later This Year

Apple’s WWDC opening keynote on Monday gave us plenty of insights into what we can expect from Apple’s next round of software updates, coming later this year. We’re still learning more about them though, with the news that we’ll soon be able to log into websites using Face ID and Touch ID being some of the best yet.

What’s more, we’ll be able to do it across any device running Safari 14, so that includes iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

The news appeared in an unassuming release note for Safari 14, with the text simply saying that the feature available will depend on the technology offered by the device being used.

Added a Web Authentication platform authenticator using Face ID or Touch ID, depending on which capability is present.

That would suggest that we won’t be able to use Face ID on an iPhone to log into websites on a Mac, for example. Apple already does something similar by allowing users with an Apple Watch to unlock their Mac and automatically enter their password into some on-screen prompts. Being able to do something similar here would be much appreciated.

In this instance, the move is made possible by WebAuthm an API that’s part of the FIDO2 standard that hopes to replace passwords with public-key cryptography. That should make them more difficult to crack and, in this instance, easier to gain access to if you’re the authorized user. It’s important to note that this isn’t using your biometric data to allow a password to be entered. Instead, it’s replacing the password altogether.

And anything that means we don’t have to deal with passwords is a very, very good thing!

You can watch Apple’s WWDC video on this subject, here.

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