Google Chrome’s support for master keys will kill passwords forever

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(Pocket-lint) – Google Chrome now supports passkeys, removing another barrier to entry and helping the internet move closer to a passwordless world.

While Google previously added passkey support to Chrome Canary, the feature is now available in Chrome Stable M108, allowing more people to take advantage of this new security option.

Passkeys are a more secure alternative to passwords that can’t be used, which means they’re less likely to cause a huge security breach when a single account is compromised. Additionally, server breaches and other leaks cannot reveal your security key, while passwords can be compromised and have been in the past. For added security, each key is stored on the device.

Google isn’t the first to support security keys, and there’s a whole standard out there. But by including support in Chrome, it instantly opens the door to more users who otherwise might not have been aware of security keys. Once setup is complete, Chrome users can also autofill their passkeys at will.

According to Google, the new security key support is available on Windows 11, macOS, and Android.

All of this is of course good news, but it’s not all it takes to get people to use security keys. Web developers still need to add support to their sites and services, which is starting to happen more and more.

Written by Oliver Haslam.