passkey

plural passkeys

1. A key, especially in a hotel, that allows someone in authority to open any door.

   Jourdain stood by with a quiet sad smile, holding his passkey in his hand, and giving me time to take it all in.

   1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 23

   1 more example

   With the universal pass-key of imagination we open the dingy door, pass down a dark passage and up a narrow stair.

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   Synonyms: master key, passe-partout

2. A key for entering a house or other building.

   Now, Balmy, here's the passkey to that house. The windows are wired, but the front door isn't. Get inside that door as quietly as you can, and find out as much as you can.

   1917, Hearst's, volume 32, page 293

3. especiallycomputingA cryptographic key that is tied to specific devices or cloud accounts and is meant to be used instead of a password.

   Google is starting to nudge users to try out passkeys, a replacement for traditional passwords that can stop phishing attacks and make sign-ins easier.

   2023 May 3, Michael Kan, “Go passwordless: Google accounts now support passkey sign-ins”, in PCMag, retrieved 03 May 2023

   3 more examples

   Based on FIDO standards, passkeys are a replacement for passwords that provide faster, easier, and more secure sign-ins to websites and apps across a user's devices. Unlike passwords, passkeys are always strong and phishing-resistant. Passkeys simplify account registration for apps and websites, are easy to use, work across most of a user's devices, and even work on other devices within physical proximity. Why passkeys? Passwords are a problem.

   2023, FIDO Alliance, “Passkeys: accelerating the availability of simpler, stronger passwordless sign-ins”, in FIDO Alliance, retrieved 03 May 2023

   Sign in with passkeys on iPhone / Passkeys give you a simple and secure way to sign in without passwords by relying on Face ID (supported models) or Touch ID (supported models) to identify you when you sign in to supporting websites and apps. / Intro to passkeys / Based on industry standards for account authentication, passkeys are easier to use than passwords and far more secure. A passkey is a cryptographic entity that's not visible to you, and it's used in place of a password. A passkey consists of a key pair, which—compared to a password—profoundly improves security. One key is public, registered with the website or app you're using. The other key is private, held only by your devices.

   2023, Apple Inc., iPhone User Guide, retrieved 03 May 2023, iOS 16

   The NCSC said this week it would no longer recommend using passwords where passkeys were available. They should be consumers’ first choice of login across all digital services because passwords were not secure enough to stand up to modern cyber threats. […] Even if an app or website using passkeys is breached, it is of no use to an assailant because the device holds the “private” passkey needed to complete a login.

   2026 April 24, Dan Milmo, “What is a passkey, how does it work and why is it better than a password?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

4. datedcomputingSynonym of password.

   The router then generates a random numeric passkey and delivers it to the user […]

   2007, Harold F Tipton, Micki Krause, Information Security Management Handbook

   Synonyms: password