WhatsApp Rolls Out Passkey Authentication For Android. What Does It Mean?

WhatsApp has announced that it is rolling out support for a passwordless passkey feature to all Android users.

The latest security feature enables WhatsApp users to employ their device's facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, or personal identification number (PIN) for gaining access to their accounts.

Passkey authentication will be an opt-in feature and will replace SMS based one-time-password login method with user’s permission.

The feature will roll out for Android users over the coming weeks. Meta has not released any details on passkey for iOS devices.

This comes on the heels of Google announcing passkeys as default sign in option, replacing the password sign-ins.