this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2026
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A rebuttal to an anti-passkey, pro-TOTP post that has made the rounds on Lemmy as well.

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[–] RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Passkeys have inherent advantages over passwords. They are more secure.

  1. Public-private cryptography vs shared secret
  2. They can be stored in an authenticator that can never leak your private key.
  3. You can have many passkeys for the same account and they are all unique and can be revoked individually.
  4. Can be put in a password manager. (less secure, but still better than password. see point 1)

The standard requiring the authenticator to report attestation if asked, opens up for abuse though.

Even if the standard allows them asking for attestation; the nice thing is that they can't force the passkey in to protected storage, as long as there is a browser like firefox in between you and them. (don't use non free apps) So store all your passkeys how you wish and the day they start asking you to replace those passkeys with their better storage options, you just don't. If they lock you out of your account, then stop using their service. Don't use shitty services when they abuse you.

They are turning off passwords before they start asking for attested authenticators anyway. So might as well enjoy the convenience of passkeys while they are working like you want them to.

[–] Ferk@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

they can’t force the passkey in to protected storage, as long as there is a browser like firefox in between you and them.

You also need to not use Windows Hello, or Apple Touch ID / Face ID (which actually is the default in Windows & Apple, even if you are using Firefox). Otherwise the browser will relay the request through them and provide the attestation.

The problem is when the mainstream people do use those methods because it's the default, they don't know, or it's simply more convenient since it's bundled in their proprietary OS that they (stupidly) trust.

If having your own non-attested custom method of providing your passkeys becomes something niche amongst the users of passkeys, then I would not be surprised if many places flip the switch and start requiring attested methods.

Of course one can always switch to more consumer-friendly alternatives even if they are more niche, but as long as they remain niche it won't stop the big services from pushing for anti-consumer practices.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I get the anti-phishing notion, but they are buggy pieces of shit so you can't use them even if you wanted to

[–] RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Passkeys are not perfectly implemented on every service and not exactly widely available. I use passkeys on a handful of places. Where they work, they are nice. I want my accounts passwordless and no multi-hassle-authentication any more.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 days ago

They should stop pushing them since they don't work. It takes more clicks now to get to the regular password options because they try the non working passkeys first now. You have to click "show more options to log in" .

That's why it is So frustrating.