What Is a Passkey Manager?

A passkey manager is a tool that aids users in generating, storing and managing the passkeys they use to log in to their accounts. There are many types of passkey managers available on the market, including ones that come built into your devices, browser-based passkey managers and dedicated passkey managers that allow you to access your passkeys from anywhere.

Continue reading to learn more about what passkey managers are and why you should use them to store your passkeys. 

What Are Passkeys?

To fully understand what a passkey manager is and how it works, you first have to know what passkeys are. A passkey is a new way to sign in to online accounts without entering a password. When a passkey is created for an online account, it’s made up of a private key and a public key – both of which are needed to authenticate who you are before logging in. The private key is stored wherever you created the passkey, such as on your device or passkey manager, while the public key is stored with the company you have the account with. 

Once you’ve created a passkey for your account, and go to log in, you’ll simply verify your identity using biometric authentication or click “use passkey” if you use a passkey manager. 

Passkey Manager vs Password Manager: Are They the Same?

Any password manager that enables you to also store and manage passkeys is considered a passkey manager. If you haven’t already heard of a password manager before, here’s a quick explanation of what they are.

Password managers are tools that help users create, securely store and manage passwords for their online accounts. With a password manager, rather than having to remember multiple strong passwords or reusing passwords across multiple accounts so they’re easier to remember, users only have to remember their master password – which is what they use to sign in to their password manager’s vault. When a user logs in to their online account using a password manager, the password manager autofills their credentials for them so they don’t have to manually type them. 

How Passkey Managers Work

For passkey managers to work, a passkey has to first be created. Passkeys are generated automatically, so all you have to do is click a button to create it in your account settings. While the passkey is being created, the passkey manager should intercept the creation process so it can be saved in your passkey manager vault. Once the passkey is saved, every time you log in to the account you created the passkey for, your passkey manager will ask if you want to use your passkey to log in. With the click of a button, you’ll be signed in.

Why You Should Store Your Passkeys in a Passkey Manager

You should store your passkeys in a passkey manager because you’ll be able to log in using your passkeys from anywhere and you’ll be able to track and manage your passkeys with ease. 

Ability to easily sign in with your passkeys from anywhere

When passkeys are created and stored on your device or a browser-based passkey manager, signing in with them on other devices is inconvenient. For example, if you create and store a passkey on your iPhone but want to sign in using a Windows computer, you’d have to scan a QR code with your iPhone to prove that you have the private key and are authorized to log in to that account. If you don’t have your iPhone with you, you will not be able to sign in using your saved passkey. 

With a dedicated passkey manager, you’ll be able to sign in with your passkeys from anywhere, on any platform and on any device. 

Helps you keep track of which accounts you’re using passkeys on

Passkeys are still new, meaning only certain websites and applications support them at the moment, so you may only start with a few of your accounts having passkeys enabled. By storing your passkeys in a dedicated passkey manager, you’ll be able to easily track which of your accounts have passkeys enabled and which ones don’t. As soon as a website or application you have an account with releases passkey support, you’ll be able to log in to the account right away, enable passkeys for it and save it in your vault. 

Makes it easier to manage multiple online accounts

With so many online accounts, managing them all on your own can be difficult. Not to mention, if you’re not securely managing your online accounts, you’re placing them at risk of becoming compromised. With a dedicated password and passkey manager, you’ll be able to manage all your online accounts in one place, and know which accounts are secured with passkeys and which are still using passwords. For accounts that are still using passwords, you’ll be able to easily audit them to find weak and reused passwords that can be updated easily using the aid of the password manager.

The better managed your online accounts are, the more secure they’ll be from common cyber threats. 

The Best Passkey Manager For Managing Your Passkeys

While the built-in passkey manager on devices and browser-based passkey managers may seem convenient, they’re only convenient if you stick to using a single Operating System (OS) like Apple or always use the same browser like Chrome. With a dedicated passkey manager like Keeper®, you’ll be able to access and log in with your passkeys across different browsers and operating systems.

Ready to start managing your passkeys using a dedicated passkey manager? Start a free 30-day trial of Keeper today.