It seems clear that the future of the Internet will dispense with passwords. This movement has already started and more and more proposals are following this path, using some well-known solutions. One of the most talked about are passkeys. WhatsApp had already implemented this solution on Android and now takes another step by ensuring support on iOS, making the iPhone more secure.
WhatsApp brings even more security
With this new feature activated, users of the Meta messaging app can use their iPhone's biometrics to authenticate themselves, whether through Face ID, Touch ID or the iPhone's own password. WhatsApp already supports app unlocking on iOS with one of these options, but now it goes one step further. Support for Passkey comes to the iPhone version several months after Meta brought it to Android.
Passkeys are supposed to be a more secure form (although with advantages and disadvantages) of authentication for the future. This form of authentication eliminates passwords and two-factor authentication via SMS, focusing everything on just one very secure element of the user.
This also means that users can log in even when they are not connected to a network. This happens because the iPhone contains the authentication key. To find out if you already have access to this feature, WhatsApp says it will have this option available in Definitions > Access keys > Create access key.
Although it has already been launched, the functionality may reach users at different times.
For now, this new feature appears to only be available on Android and iOS. WhatsApp's plan for making it available on other platforms where the service is available - Web, Windows and macOS - is not known.
Still, authentication requires using the "Associated Devices" menu and scanning a QR code using another connected device. This is similar to how passkeys generally work when logging into a service on a computer.
This is a clear way that Meta is continuing to invest in WhatsApp's security on several fronts. After ensuring the protection of messages between users, it is now time for access to be truly more secure and with a layer of protection above normal, using industry standards, passkeys.
