1Password passkey support is just weeks away but there's a glaring omission

A person holds their iPhone and unlocks their 1Password account using Face ID. In the background is a laptop.
(Image credit: 1Password)

Passkeys promise to replace the username and password combination that we've all been using for decades and you're probably going to need a way to manage them. 1Password was already known to have plans to support passkeys and now that support is closer than ever.

1Password will reportedly allow people to take its passkey support for a spin starting June 6, although there are some caveats that need to be noted before you go diving in.

Obviously, passkeys aren't yet supported by all websites, but beyond that, there are some issues specific to 1Password — like the fact there's no mobile support for passkeys. Not yet, anyway.

Pass on passwords

Passkeys allow people to sign into their accounts and apps without entering a password with authentication handled by on-device biometrics. That's an over-simplification of course, and passkeys could be awesome. But perhaps not just yet.

The Verge reports that 1Password will allow people to store passkeys in their vaults starting next month, but you'll need to use "the 1Password beta browser extension for Safari, Firefox, or Chromium-based browsers," we're told. Those browsers obviously include Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Arc. But there's no word on official Mac app support as yet.

What's more, there's no mobile support yet, either. Replacing your 1Password master password isn't a thing yet, but that's coming in July 2023 according to 1Password chief product officer Steve Won.

It's still early days for passkeys of course, and 1Password will eventually no doubt support them across all of its apps. But for now, anyone who wants to use passkeys and have them sync from device to device should probably just use iCloud Keychain while 1Password gets all of its ducks in a row.

Once it does though, 1Password could well be the place to save everything — at least until Apple gives us a proper iCloud Keychain app.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.