Key Takeaways
- Passkeys are the future of passwords, with 1Password leading the way.
- Android users can now use passkeys with 1Password app, improving security.
- Passkeys available on Android 14 devices, expanding to Chrome support soon.
Passkeys sure look like the future of passwords, and password managers are slowly adapting to the new technology. 1Password was one of the first services to add support for passkeys, and now that extends to the 1Password app for Android.
1Password announced today that Android phones can now use passkeys stored in 1Password, in the same way as the existing 1Password browser extensions and the company’s app on iOS. Passkeys on Android use the Google Password Manager by default, but that data is only accessible on your other Android devices, the Chrome browser, or Chromebooks. 1Password is a more cross-platform solution, and it’s currently our top choice for the best password manager.
1Password said in a blog post, “Today’s announcement builds on the passkey support we released for the desktop version of 1Password in the browser and 1Password for iOS last year. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android – no matter your platform preference, you can now go passwordless and start unlocking the web in a faster and more secure way. We’re thrilled that so many people have started using passkeys, and are delighted that Android device owners can now embrace them too.”
You can view, organize, share, and delete your passkeys from any Android device, but using them requires a device with Android 14 or later. That leaves out a lot of phones and tablets—all currently-supported Google Pixel devices have Android 14, as well as many Samsung Galaxy devices, but most other phones and tablets are still on Android 13 or older versions. Google stopped regularly publishing the market share of each Android version back in 2020, because it made Android look bad, and there’s no data for how widespread Android 14 is yet.
Passkey support requires the latest version of 1Password for Android, an Android app that supports passkeys, and (as mentioned) Android 14 or higher. The company mentioned that 1Password can’t create and use passkeys in Chrome for Android yet, but Google is “working on a new API” to allow that functionality that 1Password might be able to use. Presumably, that requirement also applies to other Android web browsers based on Chrome, like Microsoft Edge and Vivaldi.
Source: 1Password