The shift from password managers to passkeys feels like 2010 all over again

I remember back in 2012 when I finally got my dad to use a password manager after he got hacked on eBay. That was a game changer back then. But now I'm seeing more sites push passkeys and I'm honestly on the fence. Last month I set up a passkey on my Google account and it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to back it up across devices. Meanwhile my old LastPass setup still works fine for the 47 accounts I've got saved. Has anyone else switched fully to passkeys or are you sticking with the old way?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy6287d ago

My dad still uses the same password he had in 2005 on his bank account and I can't even get him to switch to a manager, so passkeys are completely out of the question for him. I tried setting up a passkey on my Amazon account and then my phone died and I panicked because I didn't know if I could get back in from my laptop. It ended up being fine but the whole thing felt way more stressful than just typing in my password. I get why people like them but I'm not ready to ditch my old setup yet either.

taylorellis7d ago

@wendy628 hit on something I don't think enough people talk about. Passkeys are great until your ONLY device craps out on you and suddenly you're locked out of everything. Your dad's password situation is honestly pretty common too. People forget that not everyone has the tech literacy to handle something that's supposed to be "easier." It's like the industry designed passkeys for people who already have their whole life synced across devices and never lose their phone. The panic you felt is exactly why I'm sticking with my password manager for now. I'd rather memorize a bunch of random passwords that I can type in from any computer than trust my accounts to something that might not work when I need it most.

brian_smith67d ago

Wendy's dad story reminds me of my uncle who still writes passwords on sticky notes under his keyboard. I think passkeys work great for people who already have their whole digital life locked into one ecosystem, but for everyone else it just adds another layer of confusion.