Passkeys are a replacement for passwords that provide faster, easier, and more secure sign-ins to websites and apps and work across multiple devices.
What is a passkey?
A passkey is a cryptographic key pair that includes one public key (stored on the relying party side) and one private key (stored in your LastPass account). Both of these keys are required for a successful authentication and login to an account that has been protected with a passkey.
How do passkeys work?
Instead of logging in with a regular username and password, the site will ask you if you want to log in using your passkey. LastPass can automatically authenticate you using your passkey, and you can access your passkeys everywhere you already use LastPass, regardless of the operating system or platform. When logging in with a passkey, an additional user verification might be required.
How are passkeys different from passwords?
Passkeys are much more secure by default, as they’re unique and cannot be reused across multiple websites and apps. Only one half of a passkey – the public key – is saved on the website or app, whereas the other half – the private key – is stored in your LastPass account.
Passkeys use strong encryption algorithms, making it much harder for attackers to hack them.
Passkeys are safer than passwords as they can't be phished or stolen. They are not displayed on websites and applications, so shoulder surfing is also prevented.
Passkeys are part of the FIDO2 WebAuthn authentication protocol that is one of the most secure authentication methods defined by the FIDO Alliance.
How can I use LastPass for passkeys?
You can save your passkeys used for logging in to websites in your LastPass vault. When logging in to a website with a passkey, LastPass will offer you to use your passkey from your vault, and you can log in with your passkey using LastPass regardless of your platform.
Note: Only certain websites support passkeys and you do not need to create a passkey for every item you have in your vault.
Tip: LastPass supports FIDO-approved implementations of the passkey standard. You can view a list of websites that support passkeys at
https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys-directory/
.
Why should I save passkeys in LastPass?
You can access your passkeys saved in your LastPass vault on any device where you already use LastPass, as LastPass helps you to easily and securely use the same passkey on multiple devices and platforms.
What are the limitations and compatibility for using passkeys?
LastPass account-related:
- You cannot add a passkey manually to your vault.
- You cannot log in to your LastPass account using a passkey.
- If you're a LastPass Business or LastPass Teams user, your account might have the "Allow passkeys" policy disabled that prevents saving passkeys to your vault.
- You cannot log in to your LastPass account using a passkey saved in your LastPass vault.
- Passkeys cannot be created and used to log in to websites or apps using the LastPass for Desktop app (new experience).
Security-related:
- Your security score does not include passkeys.
- Dark web monitoring is not applicable for passkeys.
- A passkey can only be used on the domain where they were registered. A technical limitation prevents using passkeys on equivalent domains of the domain where they were registered.
- You cannot share your passkeys.
- Passkeys are not available in linked personal accounts.
- Passkeys are not supported in vault identities.
- Passkeys are not shared with trusted contacts who requested emergency access.
- Only one passkey can be added for a website or app on one device for one account.
Notice: If you have stored a passkey in a different service, in some cases or for some websites you need to disable it before adding a passkey to LastPass.
- You cannot reveal and view your passkeys.
- You cannot edit the Relying Party ID and the Username fields of a passkey as this would invalidate the authentication.
- You cannot copy or clone a passkey.
- You cannot restore a passkey if you deleted it.
- Passkeys cannot be exported to a CSV file.
- Passkeys cannot be imported from a CSV file.
View the "Related Articles" below for instructions on managing and using passkeys.
For instructions on the LastPass Password Manager app for mobile, view the following articles based on your phone's OS:
