2 ms·
I tell people a website is like a payment terminal. Your device is like your debit card. A password is like a PIN on the card. A Passkey is like a chip on the c
by jmbwell 13d ago
I tell people a website is like a payment terminal. Your device is like your debit card. A password is like a PIN on the card. A Passkey is like a chip on the card.
Logging into a site with your device is like putting your card into the terminal. The site can ask for a password the way the terminal asks for a PIN, but if your device supports Passkeys, that’s like your card having a chip, and it’ll use that instead.
So think of Passkeys like using a chip card.
I dunno how well this analogy works down to the last detail but it has gotten it across to all the parents I’ve used it with
- dgunay 13d agoDo most people understand why cards have a chip in them now?
- Telaneo 13d agoProbably not. The magnetic strip was easy to explain (it contains some info the terminal checks, it's functionally just a long password), but it's also pretty easy to explain why skimming was a problem. Explaining how chips fixed that (signing keys and cryptography) is probably beyond a 30 second explanation with Joe Schmo. Then again, I doubt most people care to know, which is why that explanation works. They're not going to ask 'where is the passkey in my computer?'.
- seirim 13d agoGreat analogy, am going to use that going forward, thank you.