Apple, Microsoft, or Google: Whose platform authenticator rules our passkey future?

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET's key takeaways

• Passwords are on track to be replaced by passkeys as a more secure login credential.
• There are three types of authenticators: platform, virtual, and roaming.
• Apple, Microsoft, and, to some extent, Google are the main providers of platform authenticators.

Coming soon to a website or application near you (if it hasn't already) will be the opportunity to login with a passwordless passkey instead of the typical user ID and password. 

The three big ideas behind passkeys are:

• They cannot be guessed (the way passwords can -- and often are).
• The same passkey cannot be reused across different websites and apps (the way passwords can).
• You cannot be tricked into divulging your passkeys to malicious actors (the way passwords can).

Also: How passkeys work: Going passwordless with public key ...