WhatsApp Passkey Support for Apple Devices in Development Work on iOS 17 Version All Details

WhatsApp for iOS is reportedly working on adding Passkey support. It is a passwordless authentication technology that allows you to log in with your biometrics. The Passkeys feature was first added to WhatsApp for Android, but it seems that the feature will soon be available on WhatsApp for iOS.

Features tracker WABetaInfo has spotted a new Passkey-related menu in the latest version of WhatsApp beta for iOS 2.24.2.73. sawwhich suggests that support for the feature will come to iOS soon. The Android version of the app already allows users to set a passkey that can be used to instantly log in to their account on the same device.

Passkey is a hardware-backed authentication system designed by the FIDO Alliance with companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft that uses cryptography on the user’s device for passwordless sign-in, authenticated with Touch ID or Face ID. This also reduces the risk of phishing attacks. On Android, the WhatsApp Passkey is stored securely in Google’s password manager, while on iOS it is expected to use Apple’s Keychain system.

While the latest version of WhatsApp beta for iOS includes the code for the new Passkey menu, you can’t actually use it, as it hasn’t been enabled yet. WhatsApp will first make the feature live for users on the beta testing channel (via TestFlight) before rolling out Passkey support to all users on the stable version of the app.

However, not all iOS users will have access to Passkeys. While Passkeys are supported on Android phones running Android 9 or newer, only iPhone models running iOS 17 will support third-party access to Passkeys. This means that if you have an iPhone XR or newer model that’s updated to iOS 17, you’ll be able to use Passkeys to log back into your WhatsApp account with Face ID or Touch ID in the future.