I know the concept of passkeys isn't new to the HN crowd, but 2023 seems to be the year where it is rapidly expanding to normal users. There are some major play

I know the concept of passkeys isn't new to the HN crowd, but 2023 seems to be the year where it is rapidly expanding to normal users. There are some major players that now allow for passkeys as a genuine replacement for a password. While I am comfortable using a password manager and creating a new login for new website, I see friends and family who are exasperated whenever they have to log in to their email account or streaming service on a new device, or dumbfounded when something breaks with their iCloud Keychain/Google Password Manager. Managing dozens or hundreds of passwords just seems to be really difficult for "non-tech" people. I'm not sure what the password/passkey landscape will look like in a couple of years, but I can't help but thinking, once the rough edges are smoothed out, that passkeys will make managing accounts a lot easier for people, at least make a lot more sense to people. Physically picking something up off the table and saying "here are my keys" just makes sense. It will be interesting to see what problems are solved and what new problems arise if there is a strong shift away from passwords to passkeys, and how much lock-in there is with the big players like Apple and Google. I'm hopeful that the FIDO2 WebAuthn alliance will create an industry standard that prevents a strong lock-in, but Apple and Google do have a way of making their offerings convenient. A large shift away from passwords would be huge, and I hopeful that it will be a net-positive change.