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You may know this method by different names, including “FIDO2”, “U2F”, “security key verification”, “universal second factor” or simply “security key”.

The advantage of this method is its simplicity - you do not need to grab your smartphone, open an app and type in a code, you just confirm the authentication e.g. by pressing a button or using your thumb for fingerprint. You may register various devices and use a different method of authentication in each one depending on the device’s capabilities.

In order to use WebAuthn, you need to use one of the supported web browsers together with the operating system capability, an app or a physical authenticator (e.g. a YubiKey).

If you want to learn more, check out webauthn.io and webauthn.me.

Operating systems with WebAuthn built in

• Windows 10+ (Windows Hello)

• macOS 10.15+ (only some browsers depending on version)

• Android 7+ (a screen lock has to be set - e.g. a fingerprint or face recognition))

• iOS 14.5+ (Touch ID, Face ID)

• For Linux, you can try Rust U2F or tpm-fido.