Unlocking Amazon: How to Easily Set Up and Use Passkeys for Login

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• Amazon Announces Passkey Support

Amazon is one of the first major retailers to offer passkey sign-in . You no longer need a password to log into the Amazon website, as you can save a passkey directly to your phone or computer instead. Sadly, Amazon’s passkey implementation is a little clunky, and Amazon’s apps still lack passkey support.

UPDATE: 2023/10/24 09:54 EST BY ANDREW HEINZMAN

Amazon Announces Passkey Support

Amazon formally announced passkey support in a press release on October 23rd. The company is also extending passkey functionality to the iOS Amazon Shopping app. Android support will come at a later date.

Passkeys offer a more secure and convenient login experience than traditional passwords. Because passkeys are saved to your device, they don’t need to be memorized, and they can be triggered by typing in a PIN, using Face ID, or scanning your fingerprint. Also, if someone wants to hack into your passkey-protected accounts, they need to physically access your phone or computer. To enable passkey sign-in on Amazon, open the Your Account page on the Amazon desktop website and click the “Login & security” card. Under your phone number, you’ll find the option to add a passkey to your account. Amazon will generate a passkey that is automatically saved to Windows Hello, iCloud Keychain, or any third-party passkey manager you use (such as 1Password ).

It’s great to see passkeys on the Amazon website. In theory, this should accelerate passkey adoption and get us on track for a passwordless future. But Amazon’s passkey implementation isn’t great. None of the Amazon apps (including the Amazon shopping app) support passkey sign-in, and Amazon still forces users to type in a 2FA verification code when using passkeys.

Plus, as Corbado notes, passkeys are domain-specific. A passkey made for amazon.com won’t work on the German-language amazon.de domain, and so on. European users who like to shop on other countries’ Amazon listings (to find good prices) must create a passkey for each domain (or simply rely on a username and password when visiting other Amazon domains).

Of course, Amazon isn’t forcing anybody to use passkeys, and you’re free to sign in with a username and password after setting up passwordless login. As for Amazon’s funky passkey implementation—well, things will improve with time. Amazon hasn’t even announced passkey support in a press release, blog post, or earnings call. This feature is fresh, new, and still in the works.

Source: Amazon via TechCrunch

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