PayPal adds Apple Passkeys support on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, and plans to add support for other platforms' passkeys, which are designed to replace passwords
TechCrunchKyle Wiggers
Context & Ripple Effects
Passkeys arrived as a cross-industry project: Apple demoed them in mid-2021 alongside Microsoft and Google as a Face ID/Touch ID replacement for passwords (Apple's passkeys demo), but consumer services were slow to ship them. PayPal is now one of the first major fintech platforms to go live, starting with Apple devices and signaling it will extend to other platforms' passkeys.
The timing matters because the ecosystem was forming around it — weeks later, 1Password unveiled its own passkey support for app logins, positioning password managers as custodians of credentials that were supposed to make them obsolete. For a payments company like PayPal, where account takeover means direct financial loss, login method is a security decision, not just UX polish.
First-order effects
PayPal customers on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS can now sign in with device biometrics instead of a password, shrinking the phishing and credential-stuffing surface on accounts tied to real money.
PayPal's stated plan to support other platforms' passkeys commits it to maintaining multi-platform key infrastructure rather than an Apple-only shortcut.
Second-order effects
Rival consumer platforms face pressure to match the pattern — Amazon's later passkey rollout in its iOS app and web and X's US-iOS passkey support show adoption spreading from fintech to commerce and social, each announcement normalizing the next.
Password managers like 1Password are forced to reposition from password vaults to passkey managers, since native biometric logins bypass the product they sell unless they can store and sync the new credentials.
Third-order effects
If the sequence holds, credential custody migrates from users (memorized passwords) to platform vendors (Apple, Google, Microsoft) who hold the biometric-bound keys — making the OS makers the de facto identity layer for the consumer web.
For high-value accounts in finance and commerce, passwordless login shifts from differentiator to table stakes, raising the baseline security expectation regulators and fraud teams apply to everyone else.
The trend: Consumer authentication is moving from user-managed passwords to platform-vended biometric passkeys, with major services adopting in sequence and OS makers becoming the identity layer.
If passkeys are going to go mainstream, they are going to have to be explained MUCH better than they are now, & desktop users who don't have smartphones superglued to their groins can't be left behind. I understand them but I've worked in this area since the Battle of Hastings.
Important note for folks already on a passwordless path with FIDO platform authenticators: not only does Safari in macOS Ventura/iOS 16/iPadOS 16 change the behavior to that of passkeys, updating Safari to 16.1 for macOS 11/12 also changes the behavior: https://webkit.org/...
Check out this screenshot of Safari 16.1 on iPad. When using Stage Manager, I can create browser windows of many different sizes and different aspect ratios. There is no single “tablet” viewport size! Never was. Really isn't now. https://webkit.org/... https://twitter.com/...
How about AVIF? Safari 16.0 brought support for AVIF still images to iOS 16. Safari 16.1 adds support for AVIF animated image sequences. Now both still and moving images saved in the AVIF format are supported on iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura. https://webkit.org/...
Huge news today! “PayPal... is adding passkeys as an easy and secure log in method for PayPal accounts. The... option will first be available to iPhone, iPad, or Mac users...” https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/ ... Once people experience passkeys for themselves, they'll want them …
Safari 16.1 is now available with Web Push for macOS Ventura, animated AVIF, passkeys in more places, new viewport sizes on iPadOS, hover with Apple Pencil, scroll to text fragments, screen capture improvements, and more — plus lots of fixes and polish. https://webkit.org/...
Let's talk passkeys in Safari. In September, iOS 16 introduced passkeys. Now with Safari 16.1, passkeys are supported everywhere Safari 16 is supported — including iPadOS 16, macOS Monterey, macOS Big Sur, and macOS Ventura, as well as iOS 16. https://webkit.org/...
Today, we are adding passkeys as an easy & secure log in method for PayPal accounts. Once PayPal users create a passkey, they won't have to remember their password, allowing them to check out with greater ease and removing friction for PayPal merchants. https://newsroom.paypal-co…
This is interesting or more accurately disappointing, PayPal now supports PassKeys in the US, not “FIDO”, despite being “a founding member of the FIDO Alliance”. https://www.prnewswire.com/...